Poles

From Turtledove

Poles are the indigenous inhabitants of Poland.

[edit] Poles in Southern Victory

In 1916, Germany established a client kingdom in Poland on historically Polish territory conquered by the Germans from Russia in the Great War. Though officially aligned with the Central Powers, the Poles were ambivalent in supporting the German-backed kingdom because they traditionally considered the Germans enemies on an equal level with the Russians. When war broke out between Germany and Russia in 1941 and Russia invaded Poland, some Poles supported the Germans and their client king while others supported the Russian invaders. Both great powers attempted to support their own Polish factions by providing them with weapons.

[edit] Poles in Worldwar

The Poles were divided over whether to support the Race when it invaded Poland and drove out German forces shortly after the landing of the Conquest Fleet. On one hand, the Race was raging a war against humanity; on the other hand, their options for human powers to support were limited to Germany and the Soviet Union, two bitter enemies who had abused the Poles through centuries of history and had done so again when they invaded Poland in 1939 at the onset of World War II.

After the war against the Race, Poles saw that they could live comfortably under the Race's relatively benign colonization policies despite ethnic tensions with the Jews and the lingering nationalistic wish for their own sovereign country. The Poles maintained an independent militia, and promised the Race that they would offer its services to the Race in the event of another war against either Germany or the Soviet Union. In 1965, when Germany attempted to conquer Poland, the Polish militia was as good as its word. Along with the Jewish militia under Mordechai Anielewicz, the Poles provided the majority of the Race's infantry forces in their successful defense against the Germans.