Figure 1.--This portrait of two unidentified Polish children was taken in a Warsaw photographic studio just before the Germand invaded in 1939. |
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No country suffered during World War II more than Poland. Of all the terrible situations during World War II, Poland was the worst place to be and the Polish people suffered terribly. Poland was part of an alliance with Britain and France that confronted the NAZIs in World War II. Both Poland and France were defeated and occupied. Unlike the French, Poland continued to resist and was a valiant and valued ally throughout the War. World War II began with the German invasion of Poland (1939). The Soviets of course also invaded Poland in 1939, but Britain and France wisely only declared war on Germany. The subsequent Cold War between the Soviets and the western Allies also had its origins in Poland. Stalin's repressive measures in Poland, especially the murder of Polish officers in the Katyn Forrest was revealed by the NAZIs in 1942. Soon Soviet measures against the Polish Government in exile, the creation of a rival Polish Governmrent, and the abandonment of the Polish Home Army in Warsaw (1944) were some of the major issues which began the separation of the Soviet and Western Allies even before the end of World War II. Poland was a major issue at both Yalta and Potsdam. Many critics hav charged that tht President Roosevelt in particula abandoned Poland to the Soviets. [Olson and Cloud] The simple fact is, however, that the Red Army destroyed the Whermacht. If it had not been for the relentless pressure of the Red Army in the East, D-Day would have never been possible. The Soviet domination of Poland and Eastern Europe after the War was a simple reflection of that basic fact. America and the Western Allies could not have rescued Poland from the Soviets without war. In the end it was the Polish people who would prevail. It was in Poland with Solidarity in the 1980s that the Soviet empire began to unravel.
The Polish nation once the most powerful in Europe disappeared as a result of three partitions in the 18th century carried out by Austria, Prussia, and Russia with the major share and Warsaw going to Russia. The Poles resisted these empires and in reaction the Russians in particular set out to destroy Polish national identity and Russify the Poles. Polish nationalism was largely preserved by the nobility and the Church. The Polish peasantry was largely a political. Although there was no Polish state, Poles participated in the War as part of the armies of the three empires that had partioned the country. About 2.0 millions participated in the War. Nearly 0.5 million were killed. Polish nationalists were divided in the conflict. Many right-wing Poles led by Roman Dmowski's National Democrats promoted the Allied cause which on the Eastern Front meant the Russians. Dmowski thought that a grateful Russia might agree to autonomy for Poland, perhaps even independence in the future. Josef Pilsudski led the Polish Socialists. He also commanded the Polish Legion in the Austrian Army. He thought that Russia might be knocked out of the War. Austria which had gained Galicia in the partition had been the most willing to allow a measure of Polish autonomy. The poor performance of the Austrian Army on the Eastern Front resulted the Germans assuming command. Marshal Pilsudski refused to take an an oath of allegiance to the Kaiser. German authorities arrested him and imprisoned him in Magdenburg Castle. Russian collapse changed the political situation in the East. America had joined the war. President Wilson promoted the 14 Points wgich included national self determination. With Russia no longer in the war Britain and France came out for Polish self-determination. Although the Germans had achieved their goals in the East reverses in the West changed the political landscape. Revolts broke out in German cities. The Kaiser abdigated and fled to Holland. German authorities released Pilsudski Magdenburg (November 10, 1918). He immeditely headed for Warsaw. He arrived there on the same day the Armistice on the Western Front went into effect (November 11). The Germans had set up a Regency Council in Warsaw. Understanding that a Polish national rising was about to take place, the Regency Council turned to Marshal Pilsudski. The German garrison in Warsaw chose to evacuate by train. The Allies recognized the new Polish state set up by Pilsudski. At Versilles the Poles demanded the boundaries of Poland before the 18th century partitions. The boundaries of the new Polish nation were only established by diplomacy and military engagements (1919-21). Inter-war Poland included a German minority in the west and eastern areas where Lithuanians, White Russians, and Ukranians outnimbered Poles.
Poland was in part created by the Versailles Treaty (1919) ending World War I and a war with the Bolsheviks which extended Poland's boundary east into areas with populations that were not predominately Polish. As a result Poland was a muti-national, multi-ethnic, and mult-relogious state. About 60 percent of the populatin waas Polish-speaking and prediminately Catholic. The largest minority was the Ukranians in the east which cobstituted about 15 percent of the population. About 10 percent of the population was Jewish. The Jews were scattered thriughout the country, but mostly in urban areas, both cities and villages. As a result, about 40 poercent of the population of Warsaw was Jewish. There were other minorities, including Germas in the west and Lithuanians and Belorussians in the east.
Geography prordanined dissaster for Poland. The country was located between the two most evil totalitarian powers in world history and both were determined not only to defeat Poland, but to destroy Polish nationalism. The Soviets carried out four invasions of Poland (1919, 1919, 1939, and 1944). After the Revolution in Russia, the Bolshevicks were determined to export revolution to Germany, the industrial heartland of Europe where they believed the Revolution should have occurred. Te Red army nearly reached Warsaw, but were defeated by the Poles. Stalin sought to regain territory losdt to the Poles. Hitler's drem of Lenensraum meant land in the east. This meant Poland and Soviet territory. To get to Soviet territoey, Hitler first had to crush and annex Poland. The NAZIs added a new dimension to to the conflict, a racial war targeting both Jews and Slavs. Thus in 1939 Poland was caught between two emensely powerful totalitarian powers who targeted not only the country, but the Polish people for a range of issues including ideological, social class, religion, and race. The result would be the dearh of 20-25 percent of the Polish people.
Poland in 1939 was a small country wedged between two giants, that were her bitter enemies--the Soviet Union and NAZI Germany. The Poles had been able to seize large areas of the old Russian Empire after World War I. The Red Army had been weakened by the Civil War and Marshal Pilsudski succeeded in extening Polish borders to areas largely populated with Ukranians, White Russians, and Lithuanians. The NAZIs were equally opposed to Poland because areas of the former German Empire such as the Polish Corridor with ethnic Germans were awarded to Poland after the Workld War I. Poland in the inter-war era maintained a substantial army, but did not equip it with modern armaments. Nor did the Poles adequately plan a military strategy. Its principal diplomatic approach was the Franco-Polish Alliance and Military Convention of 1921. Under e terms of this treaty, a German attack on Poland would trigger a French offensive against Germany in the West. This treaty was premised on the French maintaining a clear military superiority over Germany. French military policy soon evolved into a defensive outlook of resisting Germany behind the fortified Maginot Line. The French pledge to Poland was confirmed just before the War (May 1939). The French did not, however,come to Poland's assisstance when the NAZIs staged a border incident to justify the invasion of Poland (September 1939). Poland also counted on the antigonism between the NAZIs and the Soviets would make itdifficult for either to invade Poland.
Polish codebreakers cracked the German Enigma machines in the months before World War II began. The work by the Poles played an important part in the success of the British code breakers at Blechly Park.
The War in Europe began in 1939 when the German blitzkrieg smashed Poland in only a few weeks. The invasion was made possible the preceeding week when
Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler. NAZI Foreign Minister Ribbentrop and newly appointed Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov on August 23,
1939, signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. At the time of the signing, British and French delegations were in Moscow trying to reach an understanding with Stalin. He was convinced, however, that they were tring to draw him into a war with Hitler. The two countries which until that time had been bitter foes, pledged not attack each other. Any problems developing between the two countries were to be delt with amicably. It was last for 10 years. The Pact shocked the world and the purpose was immedietly apparent. It meant that Germany could attack Poland without fear of Soviet intervention. Thus after defeating Poland, Germany did not have to fear a full-scale European war on two fronts. What was not known at the time was that there was a secret protocol to the pact which in effect divided Eastern Europe betwen the two countries. This protocol was discovered after the end of the World War II in 1945. The Soviets continued to deny this protocol until 1989. The NAZIs 8 days after signing the Pact invade Poland on September 1, 1939, launching World War II. Although the Soviet's did not enter the War against Britain and France, the Soviets were virtual NAZI allies as they provided large quantaies of strategic materials, especially oil. Communist parties in Britain and France opposed the war effort. The Communist Party in America opposed President Roosevelt's efforts to expand defense spending and assist Britain and France.
Poland was to orove the most dedicated and determined member of the Allied coalition. Poles inflicted considerable casulties on the Germans (more than the French) when the Germans invaded. Poles were involved in the defense if France, and the Battle of Britain. Poland had the largest resistance movement of any of the occupied countries. After the German attack on the Soviet Union, Poles fought with both the Soviets and the the British 8th Army in North africa and Italy. No other country fought more vigorously and suffered such geart caulties for so little reward. [Davies]
World War II began with the German invasion of Poland (1939). The Germans more than any other military, correctly assessed the lessons of World War II. The War in Europe began in 1939 when the German blitzkrieg smashed
Poland in only a few weeks. The invasion was made possible the preceeding week when Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler. The Panzers crossed the Polish frontier on September 1 along with a devestating strike by the Luftwaffe. The Polish Army and Air Force was shattered. Over 1 million German soldiers surged into Poland. Hitler emerged from the Reich Chancellery in a new grey uniform with his World War I Iron Cross. In a speech at the Reichstag before cheering NAZIs he declared, "I myself am today, and will be from now on, nothing but the soldier of the German Reich." Whithin 6 days Cracow, the center of Polish nationhood, fell. Pincer movements began on September 9 to encirle the major remaining Polish forces. Once certain of Polish defeat, Stalin ordered the Red Army to attack from the East. German and Russian forces met at Brest-Litovsk on September 18. Warsaw fell a few days later after a ruthless bombing assault. The Blitzkrieg tactics that were to prove so devestaing in the West during 1940 were all on display in 1939. Neither the British or French showed much attention, abscribing Polish defeat to military incompetance. The French had promissed the Poles an offensive in the West. It never came. [Fest, pp. 602-603.]
The Soviets of course also invaded Poland in 1939, but Britain and France wisely only declared war on Germany. The shattered Polish forces fall back east and attempt to organize a new defensive line. Once certain of Polish defeat, Stalin ordered the Red Army to attack from the East on September 17. The demoralized Polish Army which valiantly fought the Germans, offers little resistance to the Soviets. German and Russian forces met at Brest-Litovsk on September 18.
President Ignacy Moscicki on September 17, 1939, who was in the small town of Kosow near the southern Polish border appointed Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz, the Speaker of the Senate, as his successor. Raczkiewicz realizing that the Polish Army had been defeated and wanted to make sure that a Polish Government be established to resist the NAZIs from overseas. Raczkiewicz was in Paris and took the oath of office at the Polish Embassy. Raczkiewicz appointed General Wladyslaw Sikorski as Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces and Prime Minister. The Government was recognized by the French, British, and Americans. The Polish Government at first was located in Paris, but with the fall of France moved to London. The Government in Exile was a coalition government of National Unity. As other War-time goivernments in exile, the Polish Government was a government of national unity. It was made up of representatives from the four important political parties: The Christian Democratic Labor Party, The National Democratic Party, The Polish Peasant Party, and The Polish Socialist Party (PPs) as well as members without party affiliation. The participants put domestic dfferences aside to focus on liberation of their country. General Sikorski was killed in an controversial aircrash near Gibraltar (July 1943). General Sikorski was succeeded as head of the government in exile by Stanislaw Mikolajczyk. The Polish Government-in-Exile placed great emphasis on the procecution of war criminals after the War.
Polish soldiers were interened by the NAZIs after they were taken prisioner. Camps did not exist for the number of prisoners taken. They were placed in camps under the most horific conditions. Many were simply forced to live in the open surrounded by barb wire. The Polish POWs were in NAZI custody longer than any other World War II combatant. As a result, very few of the Polish POWs taken by the NAZIs survived the War. Polish soldiers were also internened in camps by the Soviets. Available accounts suggest that the conditions in the Soviet POW camps were for the most part tollerable. [L. Gladun] The exception of course were the Polish officers. The Soviets like the NAZIs at this stahe of the War wanted to irradicate Polish nationalism and military officers were considered to be among the most partriotic elements in Polish society.
The NAZI occupation of Czecheslovakia had been brutal. The ocupation of Poland was savage. The NAZIs were determined to destroy every vestage of Polish national culture in an effort to wipe out the very idea of Poland. Their plan was to destroy the entire Polish intelegencia and reduce Poland to a kind of ignorant labor pool of mannual laborers for German industry and agriculture. The NAZIs began the process even while figting was still going on. Some children were actually shot, but many more died in the mass expulssions of Poles and Jews living in the areas of Poland annexed to the Reich.
The Cold War which followed World War II between the Soviets and the western Allies had its origins in Poland. World War II histories often focus on the NAZI brutalities in occupied Poland. The Soviets also invaded (September 17). The Soviet occupation also was extremely brutal. Soviet policy like NAZI policy was to destroy Polish nationalism. The Soviet occupation, however, did not have the racil component of NAZI policy.
Stalin ordered the NKVD to execute thousands of Polish Army officers that had been interened in 1939 when the Soviets invaded and occupied eastern Poland. After the NAZI invasion (June 1941) Stalin allowed the interened Poles to form military units to fight the NAZIs. They could either join Polish units that sould fight with the Red Army or join the Wesern allies. At this time the Poles began reporting thousands of unaccounted for officrs. Stalin's repressive measures in Poland, were revealed by the NAZIs when they found mass graves especially the murder of Polish officers in the Katyn Forrest (March 1942). Te Soviets claimed the NAIS shot them. The Polish Government in Exile demanded a Red Cross investigation. Many British and American officials, including Harry Hopkins, criticized the Poles or stirring up troublw with the Russians. Hopkins to whom the Soviet alliance was critical, claimed it was rumors planted by Polish landlords who might loose their land holdings to the Russians. [McJimsey, p. 293.] (I'm not sure to what extent Hopkins was aware that the NAZIs had already targeted landowners.)
World War II began in Poland with invasions by the NAZIs from the west abd Soviets from the east Large numbers pf Polish children were displaced as a result of those invasions and subsequent occupation by twoi brutal totalitarian regimes. Poland was devestated by World War II. Poland along with Yugoslavia were the two countries most devestated by the War. About a quater of the Polish population perished at the hands of both the NAZIs and Soviets. And children were among the groups most affected. Polish children were caught up in both the fighting and in forced poulation transfer carried out by NAZI and Soviet authorities. There wee several resons for this and our information is incomplete. Substantial numbers of Polish children were displaced by the initial NAZI and Soviet occupations. The Germans began deporting Poles from western Poland to the Government General (1939). Ethnic Germans, many from the Baltics, were moved into these provinces. Jewish children along with their parents were interned in ghettos set up in the major cities. In the process there wee also killings. Children left orphaned were mong the most vulnerable. And when the mass killing began, the NAZIs especially targeted children. The Soviet occupation was only somewhat more brutal as far as non-Jewish Poles were concerned (1939-41). The Soviets deported large numbers of Polish families to Central Asia. Large numbers of Poles died in the process. The NAZIs targeted more Polish children in the Lebensborn profram (1939-44). More Polish children were dis placed, first in the NAZI anti-partisan campaigns (1943-44) and subsequently in the fishing as the Red Army reentered Poland (1944-45). The final tragedy was after War when the Soviet Govrnment fircibly removed Poles living east of the new boundary imposed upon Poland.
The Polish underground resistance to the NAZI occupation began almost immediately after the NAZI and Soviet occupations began. As far as we know if was largely fovcused ahainst the NAZIs. The resistance effort continued throughout the War. The resistance was carried out primarily by the Home Army (Armia Krajowa) which was loyal and under the control of the London-based government-in-exile. The Polish resistance was active, but impaired by Soviet actions against non-Communist Polish POWs and resistance groups. The Polish resistance played a role in soome of the major efforts of the War. Perhaps its most important role was at the very beginning of the War. The Poles played a role in the British cracking of the German Enigma code machines. The Polish resistance managed to obtain information on the German missile program and get it to London. The most notable action by the resistance was the Home Army's uprising in Warsaw.
Polish Jews were the first to feel die in what has become known as the NAZI Holocaust. Poland had the largest Jewish population in Europe with the exception of the Soviet Union. It was in Poland that mass murder of the Jews began and was perfected. The death camps were located in Poland not Germany. And in Poland the Germans found many willing to help them and few Poles intersted in protecting the Jews. Heydrich in September 1939 layed out the NAZI plan for the Jews to SS officers. Einsatzgruppen began killing Polish Jews with the German invasion (September 1939). Most Polish Jews were forced into Ghettos. These ghettos were liuidated by the SS in 1942 following the Wannsee Conference: Lublin (March 1942); ghettos of Eastern and Western Poland (Spring 1942); and the Warsaw Ghetto (July-September 1942).
The Battle of Britain in many ways changed the course of the War. An invasion of Britain was impossible without air superiority. Hitler, fearing a cross-Channelinvasion, decided that the only way to force the British to seek terms was to destroy he Soviet Union. He began shifting the Wehrmacht eastward to face the enemy that he had longed to fight from the onset--Soviet Russia. The nature of the War changed decisevely in the second half of 1941. The Germans invaded Russia in June 1941, launching the most sweeping military campaign in history. The Soviets were surprised and devestated. Stalin ignored warnings from the British who as a result of Ultra had details on the Germna preparations. Stalin was convinced that they were trying to draw him into the War and until the actual attack could not believe
that Hitle would attack him. The attack was an enormous tactical success. The Soviets were surprised and devestated. The Soviet Air Force was destoyed, largely on the ground. The Germans captured 3.8 million Soviet soldiers in the first few months of the campaign. No not knowing the true size of the Red Army, they thought they had essentally won the War. German columns too the major cities of western Russia and drove toward Leningrad and Moscow. But here the Soviets held. The Japanese decission to strike America, allowed the Sovierts to shift Siberian reserves and in December 1941 launch a winter offensive stopping the Whermacht at the gates of Moscow--inflicting irreplaceable losses. The army that invaded the Soviet Union had by January 1942 lost a quarter of its strength. Hitler on December 11 declared war on America--the only country he ever formally declared war on. In an impassioned speech, he complained of a long list of violations of neutality and actual acts of war. [Domarus, pp. 1804-08.] The list was actually fairly accurate. His conclusion, however, that actual American entry into the War
would make little difference proved to a diasterous miscalculation. The Germans who months before had faced only a battered, but unbowed Britain now was locked into mortal combat with the two most powerful nations of the world. The British now had the allies that made a German and Japanese victory virtually impossible. After the Russian offensive of December 1941 and apauling German losses--skeptics began to appear and were give the derisory term " Gröfaz ".
Eventhough Poland was occupied and by the NAZIs and Soviets in the first military operation of the War, substantial Polish forces fought under British and Soviet commands on the western and eastern fronts and made important contributions. The Polish armies on the eastern and western fronts fought under separate commands during the war. This of course was the result of the political division.
The Poles fought with distinction with the Allies in the fefense of France and Britain (1940), North Africa (1942-43), Italy (1944), and France (1944). Polish soldiers reached France after the German invasion of their Poland. They fought with the French during the German Western OKffensive. Many were taken captive there, but some made it to Britain after the collapse of the French Army. Two Polish squadrons played a key role in the Battle of Britain (1940). Substantial Polish military operations were not possible until the NAZI invasion of the Soviet Union (June 1941). Stalin releasedthe POWs in Soviet custody. They were allowed to join the Red Army or join the British who were fighting the Germans and Italians in North Africa. It was Polish soldiers who finally took Casino and broke the Gustaf Line (1944). There were about 0.2 million Polish soldiers who served with the British Army.
Renewed Polish resistance on the Eastern Front did not occur until the NAZIs invaded the Soviet Union (June 1941). The interened Polish POWs were given a choice of fighting with the Red Army or Westrn Allies. The Poles who chose to join the Red Army were formed into a separate Polish army. There was shortage of officers, in part because of the Soviet executions of Polish officers. So many officers in the Polish Army were Soviets from the Red Army. Stalins concern with controlling the Poles was another factor. This Polish Army was theoretically put under the command of the Soviet-backed provisional created in Lublin. After the Red Army moved into eastern Poland, a recruiting drive was launched. Thes new recruits were added to the existing Polish Army and renamed Polish First Army and placed under the command of General Zygmunt Berling, who had been an officer in the opre-War Polish Army. The Polish First Army later was united with the communist resistance command loyal to the Lublin Government to form the Polish Armed Forces (Wojska Polskie). As more of Poland was liberated, two additional Polish armies were formed (1944). As in the West, the Poles once equipped with modern weapons fought with destinction in the drive west against the NAZIs. The Soviets gave considerable effort to the indoctrination of the Polish soldiers. Soviet officers had major command responsibilities throught the Polish units. In addition to military officrs, about 5,000 to 6,000 political officers were appointed to oversee the indoctrination of the Polish soldiers. We are not sure how effective they were. We do notbknow to what extent the Polish soldiers accepted the Communist ideology or just realized the reality of Soviet control.
Soon Soviet measures against the Polish Government in exile, the creation of a rival Polish Governmrent, and the abandonment of the Polish Home Army in Warsaw (1944) were some of the major issues which began the separation of the Soviet and Western Allies even before the end of World War II.
Ethnic tensions existed in Eastern Europe between Poles and Ukranians. Poles and Ukranians were both subject peoles of the Tsarist empires and there were many areas in which the two ethnic groups were mixed.
The Poles after World War suceeded in eastablishing a new Polish nation which included areas with substantial Ukranian populations. The Ukranians failed and were ansorbed by the Soviet Union. Ukranian nationalists were still acive, especially in the western Ukraine, and hopeful of establishing an indepedent state as a result of World War II. NAZI policy after the invasion of Poland (1939) was to supress Polish nationalism of any kind. Policy toward the Ukranians was more varried and various NAZI officials persued inconsistent policies. The NAZis encouraged the Ukranians before the invasion of the Soviet Union, but then suppressed the natiinalists after Barbarossa and the seizure of the Ukraine (1941). NAZI policy was conflicted because their anti-Slav racial policy and their anti-Bolshevick idelogy conflicted. Ukranians were Slavs, but the nationalists were anti-Bolshecick. NAZI policy changed again as the war in the East began to go aginst them. To reduce resistance to their occupation, the NAZIs encouraged or at least tolerated inter-ethnic violence. Two areas of Poland were the location of this inter-ethnic violence: Volhynia and Galicia. Generally it was the Poles who suffered because the NAZIs armed some Ukranian nationalists to supress resistance activity. The result was extensive attrocities against civilians. This was mostly attacks on Polish villages, because the Ukranian groups were better armed and tolerated by the Germans. The NAZIs permitted or tolerated this because they viewed the Poles as hostile and supporting the partisans. Accounts of the violence give varied estimates of the results. It seems clear that tens of thousands of people were killed, mostly Polish villagers. Different mostly Ukranian groups were involved in the killing. German Wehrmacht military units also wre involved in attacks on Polish villigers as part of their anti-partisan campign. Czechs were also attacked. Few Jews were attacked because they had previously been eliminated by the NASIS. The killings were primarily conducted during summer and autumn of 1943, but actions continued in to 1944 before the Red Army reached the area.
The most dramatic resistance effort by the Polish Home Army was the uprising against the NAZIs in Warsaw when the Soviets neared the Vistula (July 1944). After Operation Bagration (June-July 1944), Warsaw on the Vistula was the principle barrier standing between thev Red Army and Berlin. The Poles did not greet the Red Army in the same way that populations in the West cheered the Americans and British. They had no illusions about what would follow in the wake of the Red Army, a Stalinist dictatorship. The Home Army (loyal to thev London goverment-in-exile) decided on a desperate gambit at the Red army apprpached the Vistula. They would stage an insurrection and free Warsaw. The Home Army rebelled (August 1) anticipating the support of the Red army. Instead Stalin ordered the Soviet troopds to stop on the far side if the Vidtula. The German reaction was savage. On one day alone the SS rounded up and shot 25,000 Polish men women and children. The Americans offered to drop supplies, but Stalin refused permission for the flights to use needed Soviet air bases to refuel for the return trip. Thev Poles fought valiantly on, finally capitulating (October 2). The Germans at Hitler's orders virtualy razed the city. The Soviets finally took Warsaw with little resistance from the Germans (January 1945). [Davies]
Poland was a major issue at both Yalta and Potsdam. Many critics hav charged that tht President Roosevelt in particula abandoned Poland to the Soviets. [Olson and Cloud] The standard right-wing cant is that Americ won the war, but lost Poland. The simple fact is, however, that the War was never fought to save Poland. The war was fought to defeat the NAZIs. Many of FDR's criticics did not even want to go towar to save Britain--let alone Poland. Also the War was not won by America. It was won by America and Britain and their allies and the Soviet Union. In fact, it was the Red Army destroyed the Whermacht. Eight out of every 10 Wehrmacy soldiers killed during the War were killed on the Eastern Fron by the Soviets. If it had not been for the relentless pressure of the Red Army in the East, D-Day would have never been possible. The Soviet domination of Poland and Eastern Europe after the War was a simple reflection of that basic fact. As it was not America and Britain that won the war alone, America was not in a position to impose a peace settlement and boundries in Eastern Europe. America and the Western Allies could not have rescued Poland from the Soviets without war.
In the end it was the Polish people who would prevail. It was in Poland with Solidarity in the 1980s that the Soviet empire began to unravel. Poland because of its geographic location became the epicenter for the Cold War. For without a compliant Communist Poland, a the Communist East German regime was untenable. Unfortunately for the Soviets, Poland proved the most difficult Eastern European satellite country to control. It is interesting to specuale as to just why Poland proved so difficult for the Soviets to dominate. Poland was the only Eastern European satellite that had until the 18th century been a major European power. With the Polish partitions of the late 18th century, the Polish nation disappeared from the maps of Durope. What did not disappear was the Polish Catholic Church which became the repository for Polish
nationaism for three centuries. Stalin spoke derivisely of the Vatican, asking how many divisions the pope commanded. In fact it was a Polish pope in the 1980s that would play a critical role in the unraveling of the Soviet empire Stalin constructed in Eastern Europe.
Davies, Norman. Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw (Viking, 2004). Davies is critical of The allies, President Roosevelt in particular for allowing Stalin to swollow up Poland. Like other authors making similar charges, Davies does not explain just what could have been done to have prevented it. Davies is, however, on firmer ground when he criticised Churchill and Roosevelt for not making a personal appeal to Stalin for permission to deliver supplies to the Home Army fighting in warsaw.
Domarus, Max. Hitler Reden und Proklamationen 1932-45 Vo. 1-2 (Neustadt a.d. Aisch: Velagsdruckerei Schmidt, 1962-63).
Fest, Joachim C. Hitler (Vintage Books: New York, 1974), 844p.
McJimsey, George. Harry Hopkins: Ally of the Poor and Defender of Liberty(Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1987), 474p.
Olson, Lynne and Stanley Cloud. A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II (Knopf, 2003).
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