Book Reviews and Notices : Six Centuries of Russo-Polish Relations. By W. P. AND ZELDA K. COATES. (London: Lawrence & Wishart. 1948. Pp. vii, 235. 21s.)

• Published date: 01 September 1949
• Author: John N. Hazard
• Date: 01 September 1949
• DOI: 10.1177/106591294900200314
• Subject Matter: Articles

431
As the law of the Hague Conventions has not been revised or abol-
ished but continues to be the positive law, and as so much has happened
in the two World Wars, the law of belligerent occupation, like the laws
of war as a whole, is in urgent need of revision. But such revision pre-
supposes a scientific investigation as to how the law worked in the two
World Wars. That is why we hope that the author will give us the
announced second volume, containing a detailed investigation of the law
of belligerent occupation from 1914 to the present day.
JOSEF L. KUNZ.
University of Toledo.
Six Centuries of Russo-Polish Relations. By W. P. AND ZELDA K. COATES.
(London: Lawrence & Wishart. 1948. Pp. vii, 235. 21s.)
A better brief for the Soviet position against the Polish government
in exile during the last war has not appeared. The Coates team, which
has specialized , in presenting Soviet events to British readers, has its heart
with the USSR. The authors find the Soviet government on the right
side in all conflicts with the Poles.
The study is documented with innumerable quotations from British
correspondents, the Dean of Canterbury, and military commentators.
There is a despatch to the effect that General Anders found excuses
to refrain from using his Polish army on Soviet soil against the Germans
so as to save it for evacuation and ultimate use against the USSR after
Germany’s defeat. There is the quotation from an official Polish paper
of an article stating that the Poles hoped to place the Polish-Soviet
boundary on the Dnieper after the war. To add credibility to such quo-
tations the whole history of Polish-Russian relations for six centuries
is traced briefly. A sordid history of intrigue, betrayal and fratricide
it has always been, and the Coates gloss over none of it. After such
a history the seemingly mad dreams of the Polish government in exile
are, apparently, to take on credibility.
The conclusions are that the historic homeland of the Poles is within
their...