Kent: Saw the Philip Noyce (Michael Caine/Brendan Fraser) version of The Quiet American a few months ago. Well worth a look. The original is a Joseph L Mankiewicz talkfest misfire. Confess I don’t remember the book, having read everything by Greene in the 70s and 80s, but I intend to reread a number of them and began with one of his ‘Entertainments’, A Gun for Sale, filmed as This Gun for Hire with Alan Ladd & Veronica Lake – it’s still a great ‘crime’ novel IMHO. The kind of thing automatically branded ‘noir’ these days. (Which seems to be everything bar The Wizard of Oz.)
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Catalina: The Poles fought valiantly during World War Ii on their soil as well as in other parts of Europe, but they were defeated by Germany in 1939 and the country was then partitioned between Germany and the Soviet Union. After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 that nation ruled Poland until it was overrun by the Red Army in 1945. After the war Poland was a Soviet satellite and remained so until the Solidarity movement in the 1990s. I’m not sure what your husband is getting at but I respectfully disagree with him that the Poles beat back or in any way defeated the Soviet Union in World War II. Quite the opposite.
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Correction: Germany ruled Poland from 1941-45.
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Let them sweep the ice.
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I should also note that a number of Polish pilots fought in the Battle of Britain. There’s a movie about them. Can’t recall the title. The Poles understandably thought their country had been abandoned by the Western Allies at the Yalta Conference, but after the war ended it was the Russians who denied Poland and other countries of eastern Europe the right to self-determination.
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Roger, Have to check Grant’s point on the Poles. He might have been referring to PolishbResistance efforts. But yes, Poland was split when the dust settled.
Kent: Saw the Philip Noyce (Michael Caine/Brendan Fraser) version of The Quiet American a few months ago. Well worth a look. The original is a Joseph L Mankiewicz talkfest misfire. Confess I don’t remember the book, having read everything by Greene in the 70s and 80s, but I intend to reread a number of them and began with one of his ‘Entertainments’, A Gun for Sale, filmed as This Gun for Hire with Alan Ladd & Veronica Lake – it’s still a great ‘crime’ novel IMHO. The kind of thing automatically branded ‘noir’ these days. (Which seems to be everything bar The Wizard of Oz.)
Catalina: The Poles fought valiantly during World War Ii on their soil as well as in other parts of Europe, but they were defeated by Germany in 1939 and the country was then partitioned between Germany and the Soviet Union. After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 that nation ruled Poland until it was overrun by the Red Army in 1945. After the war Poland was a Soviet satellite and remained so until the Solidarity movement in the 1990s. I’m not sure what your husband is getting at but I respectfully disagree with him that the Poles beat back or in any way defeated the Soviet Union in World War II. Quite the opposite.
Correction: Germany ruled Poland from 1941-45.
Let them sweep the ice.
I should also note that a number of Polish pilots fought in the Battle of Britain. There’s a movie about them. Can’t recall the title. The Poles understandably thought their country had been abandoned by the Western Allies at the Yalta Conference, but after the war ended it was the Russians who denied Poland and other countries of eastern Europe the right to self-determination.
Roger, Have to check Grant’s point on the Poles. He might have been referring to PolishbResistance efforts. But yes, Poland was split when the dust settled.