On 24 September, Sosabowski was ordered to report to Horrocks for a staff meeting. Sosabowski’s adjutant Dyrda describes the drive to Valburg: “The jeep careered down the narrow roads with a steady 50 miles an hour. At some point bullets were spotted past us from a German patrol but we could not release our grip on the grab handles to reply to shoot back for fear of falling out of the jeep”

During this briefing it was decided that the 4th Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment, a unit of the 130th British Infantry Brigade, and the remaining Poles would cross the Rhine that night. Much to Sosabowski’s dismay, this would happen at the ferry, at the bottom of the Westerbouwing, which was now in German hands. From here the Germans had a clear view and field of fire on the Rhine and its banks.

The reception in Valburg is very distant, Dyrda is not even allowed by General Horrocks to accompany Sosabowski as an interpreter at first. Only after intervention by British Major General Browning (commander of the First Allied Airborne Army) is Dyrda allowed into the tent where the meeting is taking place.

According to Dyrda, the setting is more like a council of war than a meeting of British officers. Browning, Lieutenant General Horrocks (commander of XXXth Corps) and Major General Thomas (commander of the 43rd Wessex Division), all in their neat uniforms, take a seat on one side of a long table opposite tired Sosabowski in his battle dress. There is no chair for Dyrda, he has to remain standing.

After the British explain the plans for that night, Sosabowski's objections are brushed aside and the conference ends. The general and his brigade have to follow the orders given.

As Sosabowski expected, the attempt of the Dorsets to cross the Rhine ended in failure and was abandoned. The following night, the withdrawal of the British and Poles from the perimeter on the north side of the Rhine took place.