Quote:
Originally Posted by sglancy12
If I were HMG I sure as heck would be mulling over the possibility of recruiting all those Americans and Canadians.
Besides the language barrier, I've always wondered why US forces are always treated so hospitably by Poles in TW2000. Sure, the Sovs are brutal douche-nozzles, but the Americans sure did toss a lot of nukes around the Polish country-side. Even if there is such a thing as pro-NATO Polish Free Congress, I can't imagine their attitude towards Americans is going to be anything other than "Thanks for the Rads and for the mauling the Red Army... now f@*& off."
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Scott,
As tempting as that might be to HM's government to poach such personnel, Canada is still an ally (and Commonwealth member), still at war and who still needs all the personnel it can get. There might be a political cost, perhaps a diplomatic break some time in the future. Granted, Canadian and British personnel have been welcome in each others' ranks in wartime due to Canada's close relationship to the "mother country". Perhaps there would be some kind of quid pro quo with British personnel stuck in Canada being taken into service in the CF (as opposed to merely being part of the Anglo-German brigade).
Your point about Poland is well-taken. This element tends to be glossed over because American PCs (and other NATO countries, particularly German) would otherwise be put into a rather difficult position. I would imagine that even in games where NATO was fighting against a communist Polish government (v1 and v2/v2.2, depending) even the considerable numbers of Poles sympathetic to Solidarność and the Free Polish government will have a complicated relationship with their "liberators".
In Raellus' T2K game (running for a few years now at least) I play a Pole who in the past was a little ambivalent about his companions. Near the start of the game, my character had a philosophical discussion with a fellow Pole about the group's commanding officer, a German, as they passed through the ruins of Nowy Huta floating down the Wisla:
[Dawid] slouched over the rail, thinking about what [Griet] said. "Well, let us say I trust Kapitan Bayer as a leader, even though as a Pole I have little love for the rest of his people. After all, we're perhaps only 50 kilometres downriver from Oświęcim... what the Hitlerites called "Auschwitz"."
"I am proud to be a Pole and I love Poland! It hurts me what's been done to our country. The North Atlantic Pact [aka NATO] soldiers say they came to liberate us, but," he gestured at the destroyed city around them, "please, let us not ask the good people of Nowy Huta if they feel "liberated" in their graves. Those that have graves, that is."
While playing this game I also came to the realisation that the people of Poland, communist and non-communist, were getting a raw deal with the "RESET" situation. There were suggestions in "Free City" about how different factions could benefit from the plans and how the players could turn a profit. Nothing about how the Poles could benefit from what is one of the few remaining Polish national treasures (so to speak) that was likely gained at the expense of the lives of many or most of the remaining Polish scientific community. At least in "Black Madonna" there is the option of benefiting the Polish people via supporting the
Wojsko Ludowa ("People's Army").
Tony