parsifal
Colonel
Any thinking person cannot deny that Poland has suffered greatly at the hands of her neighbours. No-one should attempt to belittle or cover up the suffering they have endured. I hope that people can understand that for me at least, that is not my intention. Moreover one wrong doing or injustice is not reason to allow the law to be broken. A horse stolen so that a battle can be won, is still just a horse stolen for the owner of that horse.
Countries are not about justice, in the sense that it applies to the individual. Nations can be guilty of crimes and still be judged as being justified. The dropping of the bomb on Japan was probably a war crime in the narrowest of views, but in my view entirely justified. In the end it saved more lives than it cost.
In the case of the Russians, I cant make much sense or justify the crimes committed after the war. But whilst I don't condone , or even profess to know what it might have been like, I have to come forward and say that I can understand why the individual soldiers of the Red Army behaved that way. They had fought a most terrible war, and fought and died in their millions. Most of them did not believe they would live to see the next day. They ran amok and committed some pretty heinous crimes. Only a few were caught, or more correctly brought to justice. Those that were caught usually were punished by execution, so in a perverse way there was at least some justice. .
The allies, in the finish did sell out Poland, but an entire war was fought because of promises that had been made to that country. Britain fought and virtually destroyed itself in the name of a principal.....the sovereign right of Poland to exist. We can quibble about details and subsequent events, but that was the reason Britain went to war. Unquestionably. In the same way as it had done for Belgium in 1914.
In a perfect world, we could have restored full polish sovereignty to Poland in 1945. The west was given promises in 1945 by the Russians that free elections would be held. That never happened, and by the time this became apparent, our ability to do anything without destroying ourselves had passed.
My background is that I have a step father who fought for Germany, a grandfather who fought for the allies (WWI), and a grandfather-in law who fought for Stalin. in the various conversations I had with all of them, a few things that come clear, is that most of your actions during a war are so that you can survive. Its not about morals or the rule of law. cicero said that in war the first casualty is the law, or truth.
What we know is that Poland suffered terribly, and we could not keep all the promises that we gave. Germany invaded the country, was intent on destroying the population, they were stopped by the Soviets, but Soviet rule itself contained many injustices.
Countries are not about justice, in the sense that it applies to the individual. Nations can be guilty of crimes and still be judged as being justified. The dropping of the bomb on Japan was probably a war crime in the narrowest of views, but in my view entirely justified. In the end it saved more lives than it cost.
In the case of the Russians, I cant make much sense or justify the crimes committed after the war. But whilst I don't condone , or even profess to know what it might have been like, I have to come forward and say that I can understand why the individual soldiers of the Red Army behaved that way. They had fought a most terrible war, and fought and died in their millions. Most of them did not believe they would live to see the next day. They ran amok and committed some pretty heinous crimes. Only a few were caught, or more correctly brought to justice. Those that were caught usually were punished by execution, so in a perverse way there was at least some justice. .
The allies, in the finish did sell out Poland, but an entire war was fought because of promises that had been made to that country. Britain fought and virtually destroyed itself in the name of a principal.....the sovereign right of Poland to exist. We can quibble about details and subsequent events, but that was the reason Britain went to war. Unquestionably. In the same way as it had done for Belgium in 1914.
In a perfect world, we could have restored full polish sovereignty to Poland in 1945. The west was given promises in 1945 by the Russians that free elections would be held. That never happened, and by the time this became apparent, our ability to do anything without destroying ourselves had passed.
My background is that I have a step father who fought for Germany, a grandfather who fought for the allies (WWI), and a grandfather-in law who fought for Stalin. in the various conversations I had with all of them, a few things that come clear, is that most of your actions during a war are so that you can survive. Its not about morals or the rule of law. cicero said that in war the first casualty is the law, or truth.
What we know is that Poland suffered terribly, and we could not keep all the promises that we gave. Germany invaded the country, was intent on destroying the population, they were stopped by the Soviets, but Soviet rule itself contained many injustices.
