delphiandomine I can't help but wonder if that's why the Soviets
The Soviets never fully trusted Polish army or even commie leadership, you can clearly see that when you take a look how Polish ("People's") Army was organized... It was large but largely made of support units for the advancing (in case of war) Red Army (providing supply, building bridges, guarding duties etc.) with few offensive units... Far smaller Czechoslovakia had more tanks than Poland, East Germany had twice more modern airplanes.
delphiandomine It seems to me that as Jaruzelski rose up through the ranks, Poland fell more and more into line. He was, after all, Moscow's man from the beginning
You actually make some sense. Shocking.
delphiandomine the system could never have worked in Poland without the acceptance of a significant minority of Poles.
But... was there any case where Soviet could not find enough collaborators among locals ? They did even in the Baltics after terrible things were done there in 39-41 and post 44. Was there ever any country where collaborators weren't found ? Especially when people were brainwashed with propaganda about common victory, eternal brotherhood etc. Many people here really believed they were doing a good thing. Millions in North Korea believe they protect their country from the agressors trying to steal their... wealth.
delphiandomine He's never (to my knowledge) spoken about how he went from being a gentrified Catholic schoolboy to orphaned forced labourer, only to end up getting selected for Soviet officer training.
I wouldn't have even been so sure If that the same guy.
peterweg The facts is Poland was part of the Warsaw Pact and NATO targeted it for attack. The possibility that the Poles or other nations would revolt against the Soviets was hypothesised but was in no way a given. It was assumed that any intervention in Poland would have resulted in a all out, possibly nuclear war in Poland, leading to its total annihilation. Were the Poles aware that most of Nato battlefield nukes would have been used in Poland in the event of a war?
True. I don't think anyone here really expected that NATO would trigger off WW3 to help Polish opposition... The documents are just a curiosity, that's all.
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