We have absolutely no disagreement.
I said few others had experienced War like the Germans. The Poles and Russians are among the few. I have cited the fact that the Poles suffered more in proportion to their population than any other people from World War II, with the exception of the Jews, more than once in other threads. One of the most frustrating aspects about the fate of the Poles is that they were probably the least deserving of that fate; they prepared as best they could for the War and fought valiantly against Nazis and the Russians simultaneously.
In September 1939 there were five German divisions between the Rhine and Berlin. The Belgians and Dutch could mobilize 30 divisions between them. If the Belgian Army had invaded Germany in September 1939, it would have been a race between the Germany Army in the East and Belgians to see who would have gotten there first. Don’t. Even. Talk. About. The. French. Sheltering. Behind. The. Maginot. Line.
The suffering of the Poles was imposed by both the Germans and the Russians.
Speer said that the Nazi leadship comprised people who had, for the most part, never or rarely traveled outside of Germany. Most Germans holidayed in Paris or London or Rome occassionally, and would never have looked forward to the destruction of those cities.
I love discussing history. And you are correct about them fighting a losing battle.
On hindsight except for ONE option there was absolutely no way for Poland to have had anything but the fate it had.
in 1920 a young nation, just recreated after 130 years of partition, fought valiantly against a new mongol horde -- the soviet army (read Zamoyski's '1920') and pushed it back, but they spent years rebuilding this nation. They could not have stopped Hitler in 1930 - the French and British could have done this, but they didn't.
The Soviets wanted Poland destroyed utterly -- as revenge for 1920 and going further back, for Poland standing in Muscowy's way for centuries. Zamoyski has a good description of the Soviet march on warsaw -- to the Poles, they were fervently Catholic and to them their love of their nation bordered on religious fanaticism. The Bolshevik ideals of atheism and globalism had no fancy for Poles. the Bolsheviks had been used to fighting in the steppes and gathering people to their cause as they moved, but in the Polish heartlands they got none. They couldn't understand the Poles and arguably forcing communism on Poland (as Stalin said 'putting a saddle on a cow') was the worst mistake the Soviets made and was the root of their downfall.
On the other side you had the Nazis who raised their love of Germania to pagan worship levels. To them, the Poles stood in the way of their living room. To them, the Poles had been the enemy since the Wends moved into Brandenburg, since the defeat of the Teutonic knights at Grunwald.
There could be no compromise for the Nazis -- Poland was to be eliminated, utterly. Warsaw was to be made a railway terminus, nothing more. All Polish people: Gentile or Jew were to be eliminated - either killed or deported.
the Poles has no chance between these two.
the only nation that can roughly compare is Finland, but even the Finns had the Germans supporting them as being a "warrior race".
the ONE option was Piłsudski's Międzymorze -- between the seas -- it was viable then and it is viable now. the idea was that Central Europe was neither to fall under Germanic or Muscowite influence, but to form a splendid alliance from Latvia to Bessarabia -- a modern-day Rzeczpospolita (Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth).
The more I read of Piłsudski, the more I admire him compare to Dmowski (a Polish ultra-nationalist) -- Piłsudski's idea of a Poland that was not "pure Polish" but one where Jews, Armenians, Germans, Ruthenians, Poles, Lithuanians. etc. were equal partners, went against the nationalist tones of the late 1800s, but it would have worked -- however Polish, Lithuanian and Ukrainian ultra-nationalists with their non-compromising attitudes, destroyed this and laid central europe open to misery for 70 years.
one thing about the Poles -- admirable or deplorable, or perhaps both, is that they won't back down. They will throw caution to the winds and be brave and hussar-like. The Russians have a metaphor -- dumny jak polak -- proud as a Pole. And they are right
the name "poland" or "polska" is derived from pole -- fields. And most of Poland is flat - perfect land to farm or for a small invading force to easily conquer (but not to hold). They could have retreated to the Beskid and Tatra mountains and defended it successfully, but to them giving up their land was unthinkable. Unfortunately it meant they lost everything
The same thing happened at the Warsaw Uprising. Warsawianki today sneer at Prague that the Czechs didn't fight for their independence and so kept their city intact. The Poles, seeing that the Russians were advancing, were determined that warsaw would be freed by Poles. Brave and foolhardy and trusting -- yes, trusting. The Russians were on the eastern banks of the Vistula, but they just sat and watched the Germans level Warsaw. The Allies did nothing. And Polish hopes were dashed.
This nation is brave and foolhardy, yet they somehow have survived through the odds -- you can only say that the Jewish nation and the Armenian nation have done it better
but yet, about Belgium and the Netherlands — in WWI, ypres etc. were on Belgian soil — they saw millions die on Belgian soil. To start another cataclysm so soon was too shocking.