For Your Freedom and Ours: Poland, Scotland and the Second World War

"For Your Freedom and Ours" tells the story of the exiled Polish forces in Scotland, whose fight for freedom was, in the end, unsuccessful. In 1940, the Polish army - or what remained of it after the German invasion of Poland - arrived in Scotland. For the next two years, the Poles re-grouped and re-trained, defended Scotland's eastern coast and prepared for combat in North Africa and Italy. They also played a crucial role in the Normandy landings of 1944. The Poles were welcomed and respected by the Scots, and many of them married Scottish women. With the end of the war and the Communist domination of Poland, many Poles chose not to return to their homeland, feeling that it was not the free democracy they had fought for. Instead, they settled in Scotland, becoming part of the fabric of Scottish life.