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On the basis of unpublished witness accounts, documents from archives, memoirs and recent research, in With the courage of despair Mathias Forsberg and Artur Szulc tell the story of the Polish army’s desperate battles in September, 1939, and its continued struggle in exile.

In september 1939 the Poles fought valiantly to defend their homeland against German and Soviet troops. In Warsaw and elsewhere the Poles did not capitulate until the end of September. The promised help from France and Britain never came and there was nothing to do for Poland, which was torn deal between Hitler and Stalin.

But the war had just begun for the Poles. Polish soldiers and politicians fled to France via Romania and Hungary. Soon they formed a government in exile, and new army units. The fight for a free Poland continued militarily and politically during the entire Second World War. With the motto "In God's name - for our and your freedom" Polish soldiers fought in Norway, France, North Africa, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany.

While the soldiers fought on the battlefields the exile government in London did everything it could to make sure that Poland regained its independence after the war. But the peace in 1945 did not lead to independence. Poland came under the Soviet yoke and the ideals that the Polish soldiers had fought and died for ment nothing when the Iron Curtain descended across Europe. For nearly 200 000 Poles in British uniforms, this was an betrayal.

In With the courage of despair - The struggle for Poland 1939-45 Mathias Forsberg and Artur Szulc tells the story of the Polish army´s desperate fighting in september 1939 and its continued struggle in exile.
On the basis of documents from Polish, British, German and Swedish archives, unpublished testimonies, memoirs and recent research the authors shed new light – not only on the Polish war effort, but on the allied warfare in Western Europe. Mathias Forsberg and Artur Szulc also rejects several myths concerning Polands role in World War II.