Poles apart

Description

Most readers rate this book 4-5 stars out of 5. This book is a must for fans of Operation MARKET GARDEN during WW2 which was made famous by the movie "A Bridge Too Far". The often under-rated and barely mentioned efforts of the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade have finally be justified with this highly engrossing book. The Poles provided a lot of input regarding the creation of the British airborne forces (especially in terms of training methods like the jump tower). They also performed heroically while fighting to relieve the besieged British fighting across the Lower Rhine. General Sosabowski's wish was to drop with his brigade into Warsaw and liberate it from both the Germans and the incoming Russians. Such zeal was not appreciated by British General Browning who wished to use the Poles for his own airborne missions; the result was to have the Poles come under British command for the fatally flawed Operation MARKET GARDEN. All this is covered in detail and I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in both the battle and the unfortunate politics that went on behind the scenes. It highlights very well the fact that the main reasion behind the often sluggish advances of the Allied armies in North-West Europe during 1944 was not caused by the Germans but by poor operational planning by Allied generals.

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