The first impression on taking this book into one's hands is that the title is correct. Poland was attacked by Hitler and Stalin in 1939 and handed over by the West to the latter in 1945. Thus seemingly the period 1939-1945 might appear to be in order, but this is not so. The fate of this unfortunate country was finally settled in 1947, when Stanisław Mikołajczyk escaped from Poland and when even the most naive western politicans understood that Stalin had no intention whatsoever of fulfilling his obligations. By moving Poland to the West and establishing there a ‘friendly’ pro-Soviet government, the western leaders assumed or rather pretended to assume that the Soviet dictator would keep his word and that Poland would be a free country. Mikołajczyk tried to bring this about. He joined the ‘Provisional Government of National Unity’ as the deputy premier in the hope that his Peasant Party might win the election, but in the end he was forced to flee the country to keep his freedom, perhaps even his head.

The book is in two parts. The first presents pre-war Poland, her political and diplomatic situation, but its main theme is the activity of the Polish Government abroad during the war, in France and later in London. The second part discusses the struggle for power in Poland after the war and the establishment of Communist rule. Both parts are based on numerous documents and in this respect the book is solid and correct. The authors tackle the Polish case with sympathy, but they discuss it not from the Polish, but from the international point of view. This helps them to be realistic in presenting the fate of a country which entered the war as an ally of the Western powers and finished as a victim of their political manipulations. This should have been foreseen.

The authors have concentrated on the political aspect of events, so, in the first part, they almost completely neglect the Polish military effort, considering only the political activity of General Sikorski and his government. By doing so, they have omitted an important aspect of Polish participation in the war, but it must be admitted, that the presentation of political documents, contacts, discussions and facts is correct. Of course, in collecting so many small details and quoting so many names, the authors were bound to make some mistakes.