Maj. Gen. Stanislaw Franciszek Sosabowski was a Polish general in World War II. He fought in the Battle of Arnhem (Netherlands) in 1944 as commander of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade.

Following the Polish surrender, Sosabowski was a prisoner of war, and was interred at a camp near Zyrardow. However, he escaped and remained in Warsaw under a false name, where he joined the Polish resistance. He was ordered to leave Poland and reach France with important reports on the situation in occupied Poland. After a long trip through Hungary and Romania he arrived in Paris, where the Polish government in exile assigned him to the Polish 4th Infantry Division as the commanding officer of infantry.

Initially the French authorities were very reluctant to hand the badly-needed equipment and armament for the Polish unit. The soldiers of Sosabowski had to train with pre-WWI weapons. In April 1940 the division was moved to a training camp in Parthenay and was finally handed the weapons that were awaited since January, but it was already too late to organise the division. Out of more than 11 000 soldiers only 3 150 were given arms. Knowing this, the commander of the division general Rudolf Dreszer ordered his unit to withdraw towards the Atlantic coast. On June 19, 1940, Sosabowski with approximately 6 000 Polish soldiers arrived to La Pallice, from where they were evacuated to Great Britain.... More • http://www.answers.c ... sosabowski View • Books • Images • Videos • Search Related • Soldiers • 1940s • Conflict • Poland • War • WW2 • People