"No Lie Can Live Forever." Prof. Marek Stella-Sawicki in Conversation with Dariusz Bohatkiewicz on the Betrayal of Gen. Sosabowski by the Allies

A gripping historical testimony uncovering the behind-the-scenes story of Operation Market Garden, the political dimensions of Gen. Stanisław Sosabowski’s dismissal, and the decades-long fight to restore the truth and honour of Polish paratroopers.

In a profoundly moving conversation between Dariusz Bohatkiewicz and Prof. Marek Stella-Sawicki — a historian, military researcher, and guardian of the memory of Polish soldiers in the UK — the uncomfortable truth about Operation Market Garden and the unjust treatment of Gen. Stanisław Sosabowski, commander of the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, is finally brought to light.

Operation Market Garden, launched in September 1944, was intended to be a brilliant Allied strike against German positions in the Netherlands. Instead, it failed — a failure the British military establishment sought to obscure. One of the scapegoats was Gen. Sosabowski — the only Allied commander who questioned the feasibility of the plan from the start. Despite his accurate predictions and the heroic performance of his brigade, he was sidelined and dismissed after the battle.

Prof. Stella-Sawicki cites testimonies from British officers who acknowledged the immense sacrifice and courage shown by the Polish troops, who often covered the retreat of Allied forces. In one dramatic moment, a British major ordered his men to give their red berets to the Poles so the Germans would not distinguish them, since the Germans were ruthless toward Poles taken prisoner.

Sosabowski’s brigade suffered the highest percentage of losses among all the units involved, at around 27%. While other units lost 18–20% of their strength, the Poles were nearly annihilated.

As Prof. Stella-Sawicki explains, an unwritten code of loyalty exists among British officers — graduates of Sandhurst do not publicly criticise one another, even in the face of clear errors. This explains the long-standing silence on Sosabowski. Even British historians encountered resistance when trying to tell their story. Only now, thanks to the work of researchers like Stella-Sawicki, is the truth coming to light.

In his research, he uncovered original, previously unpublished letters from Montgomery and Browning blaming the Poles. He also collected soldiers' memoirs and accessed documents from German archives, including the Bundesarchiv, some of which were only recently returned from Russia.

The general’s postwar fate was tragic. Unable to return to communist Poland and stripped of his pension, Sosabowski was forced to work as a warehouseman in a factory in Acton, where British workers couldn’t understand why other soldiers saluted him. He cared for his blind son, whom he brought from Poland, and lived in poverty, always with dignity and loyalty to his soldierly ideals, only years later, when a commemorative plaque was placed on his home.

Prof. Stella-Sawicki’s new book, Arnhem: Debt of Dishonour 2, promises to reveal more hidden truths. It will include soldiers’ testimonies, archival documents, eyewitness accounts, and previously unknown materials from British, German, and Polish archives. One of the main goals is to present the facts to an English-speaking audience. The previous volume was a success, bringing the Polish perspective to key figures in the UK.

The conversation also covers the fate of missing Polish soldiers, the story of a Silesian chaplain who voluntarily remained with his men and died, and three women who served in the brigade’s communications unit. Archival research is ongoing, and discoveries are still being made, such as evidence that Polish pilot Jan Kazimierz Daszewski was not lost over the English Channel, as long believed, but was shot down and burned in France.

“No lie can live forever”, — proclaimed a banner displayed in Arnhem during a battle anniversary. This message encapsulates the spirit of Marek Stella-Sawicki’s work: restoring justice to forgotten heroes and correcting distorted historical narratives.

The British football club NAC Breda honoured Gen. Maczek’s soldiers by featuring their emblem on team jerseys for an entire season. Will we see similar recognition for Sosabowski’s men? Time will tell.

Editor Maria Anna Furman