The exhibition was organised as part of the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the participation of the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade in Operation Market Garden. The opening took place on 26 September 2024. The exhibits were displayed in the Main Hangar of the Museum, positioned beneath the Li-2 aircraft — a Soviet adaptation of the DC-3, whose military versions known as Skytrain or Dakota took part in Operation Market Garden.
In Operation Market Garden, a key role was played by airborne forces, including two American divisions (101st and 82nd), the British 1st Airborne Division, and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade. The Brigade was created by General Stanislaw Sosabowski, a distinguished officer of the pre-war Polish Army and defender of Warsaw in 1939. Thanks to his determination, one of the finest units of the Polish Armed Forces in the West was formed, regarded as both elite and innovative.
Polish paratroopers were trained with a mission to occupied Poland in mind, which, however, never took place. Instead, the Brigade participated in the fighting in the Driel-Arnhem area, which was part of Operation Market Garden. The first parachute drop of Polish soldiers took place on 21 September on the southern bank of the Rhine. Attempting to support the encircled British 1st Airborne Division under General Urquhart, which was tasked with capturing the bridge at Arnhem, the Polish paratroopers encountered fierce German resistance. Planning errors and strong German defences resulted in the operation ending in an Allied failure.
62 years of waiting for justice
Gen. Sosabowski and the Brigade were not decorated for their participation in Operation Market Garden. British commanders (primarily Field Marshal Montgomery and Gen. Browning) sought to conceal their own incompetence in planning and executing the Operation and to shift the blame onto the Poles.
It was not until 62 years after the Battle of Arnhem (in 2006) that, thanks to the efforts of Dutch citizens, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands decorated the 6th Air Assault Brigade (now the 6th Airborne Brigade), the successor to the traditions of the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, with the highest Dutch military decoration — the Military Order of William, while Gen. Sosabowski was posthumously awarded the Bronze Lion Medal.
Both of these original decorations could be seen at the exhibition.
The temporary exhibition 1st Independent Parachute Brigade in Operation Market Garden 1944 was presented in the Main Hangar as part of the permanent exhibition Wings and People of the 20th Century. It contained memorabilia from the collections of the Heritage Room — Museum of the 6th Airborne Brigade and the Heritage Room of the 18th Bielsko Airborne Battalion, as well as from private individuals.
Among the most interesting exhibits was a previously unshown original writing desk of Gen. Stanislaw Sosabowski, donated to the 6th Airborne Brigade by the General’s great-grandson, Professor Hal Sosabowski, in 2023.
FUN FACT
The personal writing desk of Gen. Stanislaw Sosabowski, a gift from the soldiers of the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade as a token of respect and recognition, was made from wood obtained from orange transport crates. If you have a good or even normal sense of smell, leaning over the desk you can still detect a citrus scent to this day.
The exhibition also featured decorations awarded to the General and the Brigade, a replica of the famous Surge Polonia standard, elements of paratrooper equipment from World War II, and numerous period documents and photographs.
Original uniforms with equipment of the soldiers of the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were on display, from both the early training period and the drop near Arnhem — including a Denison Smock parachute jacket belonging to Major Stanislaw Lucjan Karpinski, the Brigade’s intelligence officer, who after the war was a friend of Gen. Sosabowski and head of the Association of Polish Paratroopers in Great Britain. A particularly interesting item was a folding paratrooper bicycle that was also dropped onto the battlefield.
The Surge Polonia standard for the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade was made in Warsaw during 1942, then for over a year it was hidden and moved from place to place. It was not until April 1944 that it was smuggled by air to Great Britain, where on 15 June it was officially presented to Gen. Sosabowski by the President of the Republic of Poland, Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz. The standard never returned to Poland, and the replica presented was prepared specially for the 6th Airborne Brigade.
The aim of the exhibition was to introduce a wider audience to the history of the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade and Operation Market Garden, and to revive the memory of the heroic soldiers who fought near Arnhem.
The exhibition was open until the end of March 2025.
Exhibition prepared by:
Ewa Cuber-Strutynska — curator,
Mateusz Tulodziecki — text and material selection,
Piotr Kolasinski — object selection and description,
Aleksandra Blachnicka — object description,
Arkadiusz Morawski — graphic design,
Marcin Kralka — graphic design.
