Exile Armies

Operating from outside their homelands, exile armies have been an understudied phenomenon in history and international politics. From avoiding the fate of being a mere tool for a patron power to facing issues regarding their military efficacy and political legitimacy, exiled armies have found their journey home a tortuous one. This collection of essays covers the experience of exiled forces in the Second World War, principally in Europe, and also covers their activities around the globe during the Cold War and beyond.

Through three historical periods--the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II-- Poles were forced to fight in other nations' armies to defend a Poland that had been erased from the map. Stefancic addresses such questions as how the soldiers' maintained their national identity while serving in a foreign army and the ways in which they related to foreign cultures.

The author was a general and Commander of the Second Polish Corps during W.W. II.

Paul Robinson traces the fate of the tens of thousands of soldiers of the anti-Bolshevik White Armies who fled Russia at the end of the Russian civil war. Even as the troops dispersed throughout the world, they continued to think of themselves as soldiers, kept their organization intact and in some cases even continued their military training. This book provides the first detailed history of this remarkable phenomenon. It outlines the activities of the White Army in exile, including its underground struggles against the Soviet Union, the humanitarian aid it supplied to its members, the ideological debates in which it participated, and its efforts to collaborate with Germany in the Second World War. The story of the afterlife of one of the largest combat forces ever dispersed in this way is a fascinating one, and Robinson's account gives due attention to several of the remarkable individuals who were involved. He sheds new light on the history of the White Movement in general, as well as on the personal histories of those Russians caught up in the mass emigration of the interwar years.

Cromwell's alliance with France in 1657 opened for the English Republic and Charles II's army in exile a new theater of war in Flanders - in addition to England's ongoing war with Spain. It resulted in the old opponents of the Civil Wars in Britain meeting in combat once again. This book tells the story of the two armies: Charles II's polyglot army of Irish, Scottish and English soldiers - fighting for the Stuarts for a variety of reasons - and the expeditionary force dispatched by Cromwell to assist his French allies, with the objective of securing Dunkirk as an English possession. The book, the first detailed study in English, will relate how the two armies were raised and equipped; the commanders and their colorful personalities; and the lives of the soldiers and their campaigns - climaxing with the Battle of the Dunes and the siege of Dunkirk. It will examine the English garrison, and the later history of this and of Charles II's 'forgotten army'. It will also look at the Spanish and French armies, with which Royalists and Republicans were allied. Full use will be made of contemporary and more modern sources - including the letters, journals and memoirs of participants on both sides. The book will be of interest to historians and students of the period, re-enactors and wargamers, and to all interested in a little-known conflict fought across an area much more familiar to English readers for its later wars.

One day, in 1915, American journalist PAUL FORTIER JONES saw a newspaper article calling for men to assist in relief efforts in the far-flung land of Serbia. He signed up that day and changed his life forever. With Serbia into Exile is Jones's autobiography of his adventures. He worked in Serbia during the First World War and recounts his harrowing escape from the advancing armies as the Serbs were pushed toward the sea. Told in a personal, conversational style, Jones makes the plight of the Serbs a deeply affecting tale of suffering and hardship punctuated by moments of tender human kindness. This firsthand account is a unique history that students and scholars will find difficult to put down.

During World War II, London experienced not just the Blitz and the arrival of continental refugees, but also an influx of displaced foreign governments. Drawing together renowned historians from nine countries—the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia—this book explores life in exile as experienced by the governments of Czechoslovakia and other occupied nations who found refuge in the British capital. Through new archival research and fresh historical interpretations, chapters delve into common characteristics and differences in the origin and structure of the individual governments-in-exile in an attempt to explain how they dealt with pressing social and economic problems at home while abroad; how they were able to influence crucial allied diplomatic negotiations; the relative importance of armies, strategic commodities, and equipment that particular governments-in-exile were able to offer to the Allied war effort; important wartime propaganda; and early preparations for addressing postwar minority issues.