From 1795 to 1989 the nation of Poland was essentially under occupation or a puppet to either Germany (Prussia) and Russian (then the Soviet Union). Briefly, post-World War I, Polish ruled Poland from 1918 to 1939 until the horrors of both fascists and communists. This book explores that time and focuses on the five Kościuszko Squadron airmen: Mirosław Ferić, Witold Łokuciewski, Zdzisław Krasnodębski, Jan Zumbach, and Witold Urbanowicz.

This book was given to as a gift from my late grandmother who is directly related to Polish immigrants. As someone who is of Polish decent some of this was hard to take in because World War II was just barbaric to Poland. Both Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt constantly (with murderous Joseph Stalin's direct help) discussed where Poland should go after Adolf Hitler's regime fell; biggest problem was not only was the officially recognized Polish exiled government snubbed in all debates but left virtually in the dark with false political hope. Today, I'm sure Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin would face legal challenges for violating treaties that ensured Poland's freedom.

This book also paint the image that Roosevelt was terrible at foreign policy. He often times showed he didn't really care about Europe's present or future, lied to the American public about the Soviet Union (possibly telling even Hollywood to show Soviets as only as saints), and he actually thought Stalin was a good guy until it was proven to him that the dictator was killing millions who didn't share his ideals.

What is interesting toady is I'm reading this book 10 years after publication, 30 years after Polish freedom, and 80 years after Hitler invaded the nation. In some ways one can see many parallels with Roosevelt/Stalin "friendship" with the current relations with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. However, it's a good things Americans won't be bamboozled by pro-Russian propaganda brought to you by the United States president.

On a happier note thank God for Pope John Paul II and Lech Wałęsa for restoring democracy to a nation that suffered too much pain. ( )

The story of the Polish pilots who fought in the RAF in the Battle of Britain has often been briefly referred to in histories of the war, but it has never, before now, properly told. It is, simply, a great story. Trained by the Americans in the '20's, the Polish fighter pilots fought through the defeat of their own country in 1939 and then alongside the French in the fall of France the following year. Defying the orders of the French government to surrender to the Germans, they made their varied ways to Britain, where, far more experienced than their British counterparts, they became the RAF's most successful aces. In the Battle of Britain, flying as 303 Squadron, they downed 126 German planes, more than three times as many as any other squadron. Described by an American bomber pilot as 'the best damn fighter squadron in the world', they became heroes to the British and idols to young women. According to Sir Archibald Sinclair, Britain's wartime air force minister, without them 'our shortage of trained pilots would have made it impossible to defeat the German air force and so win the Battle.'Olson and Cloud tell the story of the Polish pilots, focussing on a small group of five. in a stunning twist at the war’s end, the Allies rewarded their valor by abandoning Poland to Joseph Stalin.

The only bad thing about this book is that it is so heart-breaking. This is the story of the Polish air force pilots (and crew) who escaped from Poland after the Nazis invaded. They found their way to England and fought with the RAF throughout the war. At the end, Poland was sacrificed to Stalin and the Polish fighters had to decide whether to go home or find another life somewhere else. ( )

This is a book about how Polish pilots tipped the balance toward Englad during the battle of Britian when they made a vital contribution. It also explains the background of Polish history, the events leading up to the start of WWII and how the allies dealth with Poland during and in the closing months of WWII. They went to war to protest Poland's take over by Germany but were abandoned to Russian control at the end of the war.

The story of the Polish fighter pilots was facinating and I had read little about them except a passing mention here or there. This book finally put their story in context of the wider range of the war and the politics that took place around them.

America played a role in this abandonment, from page 306: Unlike Churchill, FDR showed little concern about a pro-Soviet government taking over Poland oafter the war. Indeed, in the spring of 1944, he told Averell Harriman, the U.S. ambassador to Moscow, that he "didn't care whether the coutries bordering Russia became communized."

Poland was the only country never to have a governement that cooperated with the Nazis. Both Germany and Russia wanted to eradicate Poland and Polish people from the face of the earth. Many of the death camps that Jews were sent to to were set up and filled first with Polish people. ( )