Quote:
Originally Posted by Hood
And there's me thinking the Poles fought to kill Germans when all along it was to preserve the British Empire.
Put yourself in the position of Britain in 1945. Stretched, tired, broke and with an empire in tatters. Then look at what they'd have to face to contest Poland by force.
Betrayal, no. Invasion by an unstoppable force, certainly. There's a whole world of difference between turning your back or just accepting what has happened because the costs of doing something are too high.
I reckon the Soviets could have driven their tanks up Pall Mall quite quickly if they'd wanted to.
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+1
My folks (both departed) were married in '42, had two weeks together, then Dad was off to war flying out of England (RAAF) '42 - '45. They next saw each other when Dad was demobbed Fall '45 and he returned to Canada. They both told me that all everyone wanted by that time was for the war to be over. By any means possible. Put Hitler and Tojo out of business and get the troops home ASAP. Period.
Both politicians and (most) military commanders of the day recognized there was no stomach for military adventurism, opportunism, or even consolidation of "liberated" (ie Poland, Balkans, etc) countries. The Allied population -- the voting population -- didn't care about who got what at war's end. They just wanted to have Johnny come walking home again. And any politician that wanted to keep his elected office was fully aware of that. And so was Stalin.