During the night of 22 to 23 September, the Polish forces managed to get 56 men to the north bank. This was a great achievement given the small, vulnerable rubber boats in which they could only transport a maximum of one or two men and their equipment at a time.

The men of the 3rd battalion, 8th company were deployed in the defence of the south-west side of the perimeter, where German forces pressed forward after having captured the Westerbouwing building and the ferry port in their attempt to cut off the Allies in Oosterbeek from the Rhine.

The sector was defended by the Breese Force, which was composed of various (remnants of) British units. Their line of defence ran roughly from the Hoofdlaan (main avenue) via the Kneppelhoutweg road to the gas factory on the edge of the floodplains. Lieutenant Albert Smaczny and his men were also part of Breese Force and they took up positions in and around Villa Transvalia, a building that was there at the time.

In the afternoon of the 22 September 1944, the men of the anti-tank units from the Hartenstein area, who were already present, also moved to the south side of the perimeter. Therefore, on the morning of the 23rd, around 100 Polish troops were present on the south of the perimeter.