Poland:

Poland was attacked by Germany in September, 1939. This action led to Great Britain and France declaring war on the Axis in 1940. Poland was then partitioned between the USSR and Germany. The Polish government set up a government-in-exile in France, and later in London. The Nazis established numerous concentration camps in Poland and began the systematic extermination of the Polish people. By the end of the war, over five million Poles had been killed, of which only 600,000 were military casualties. By 1944, Soviet armies were pushing into Poland against the Nazis, and their liberation had begun. A Polish resistance movement called the Home Army recaptured Warsaw in 1944, but in October of that year Germans had taken it back. They burned the city to the ground before being forced out in 1945. A liberation government then took over, based out of Lublin. When the government-in-exile returned, there was a short conflict, but under Soviet direction a coalition government was formed.

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