I am currently reading a set of archive papers dated 7 September 1944 related to the Warsaw Uprising 1944 concerning Mikolajczyk's written request of 5 September to Lord Selbourne for the "Polish Independent Parachute Company" to be sent to Poland assist the Rising since they were no longer required to support operation "Bardsea" (August 1944) as the swift advance of Allied troops in France obviated the need for Polish paras involvement in operations.
The British war cabinet documents ,in discussions about Mikolajczyk's request, refer to the "Polish Independent Parachute Company" as consisting of just 66 men which the chiefs-of -staff did not consider an effective force to dispatch anywhere given potential losses other than to Italy for the Polish SOE to drop into Poland if the Poles themselves so wished.
My question for those with some knowledge of the Polish paras is:
What was the difference between the "Polish Independent Parachute Company" and the Polish Independent Parachute Brigade at the time? Did the former become the latter at some point after 5 September 1944 when numbers of trained men might have become available? Or were the former a component of the brigade?
If so, it leads to a further question, why did Mikolajczyk only request a company be dispatched to Warsaw and not the brigade?
Any help will be greatly appreciated
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