[Legbreaker]

I agree that Germany is the key and often overlooked by many.

With Germany being the agressor (yet again!) the Poles aren't likely to be switching sides any time soon, even though their "allies" the Soviets hadn't exactly been the nicest of people to them.

The entry of the bulk of NATO on the German side would likely turn public opinion against them as well.

As the war progressed however, it is possible some small towns may change their opinion, but only in the areas Nato troops spent significant time in and were well behaved. If the Nato units misbehaved on the other hand....

Nato only occupied the bulk of Poland for a relatively short period of time. The German / Poland border was crossed in April 1997 and the Soviet / Poland border in early July. Just days later the leading units were nuked and the retreat back to Germany began. The seige of Warsaw was lifted on the 15th of September and most of Nato's forces had withdrawn across the German border sometime around October 1997 (give or take a month or so).

Given that central Poland was occupied from only mid June to mid September (3 months), it seems unlikely that Nato would have had a lot of time to change the minds of the majority of Poles (the east was occupied for only days). However, in the west of the country, where German is a comon language, it's quite possible there would be a significant number of western (specifically German) supporters.

Why would three months not have been long enough to turn public opinion? Probably due to the war still raging a few hundred short miles away to the east. Much of Nato's energies would be focused squarely on the ongoing hostilities, commanders knowing full well that unless the USSR was beaten before China collapsed, they'd be hard pressed to hold the line, let alone win the war. There'd be precious few resources available to devote to propaganda behind the lines.