ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the relations of the Allied governments to Poland, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. The problems of Greece were, as long as the war lasted, less important in inter-Allied relations, and the relations of the Greek exiled government with the movements at home have already been mentioned in the section on Greek resistance. The British government was keen to bring its old and new allies together. Sikorski suggested sending Polish civilians, and private soldiers as the Soviet authorities might find it difficult to equip, to Persia, where the Western Allies would look after them. The Potsdam declaration in August promised that the Allies would help repatriation of Poles who wished to return, in the expectation that they would have ‘personal and property rights on the same basis as all Polish citizens’. It also took note of the government’s agreement to ‘hold free and unfettered elections’ with universal suffrage and secret ballot.
