„7 may 1945: germany’s capitulation is signed in reims and on the following day in berlin. although the war had been won, poland did not find itself among the ranks of the victors. it did not become an independent state but remained in moscow’s sphere of influence. it also lost more than half of its prewar territories, occupied in 1939 by stalin (then by hitler in 1941) and once again by stalin in 1944. poles from the eastern borderlands of poland which were annexed by the soviet union (i.e. the majority of soldiers of the 2nd corps) now found themselves ‘homeless’. the fact that poland’s new borders now encompassed western and northern lands, previously belonging to germany, was no recompense to them. the shifting of borders (and the consequent migration of displaced persons), which had secretly been discussed at the conference in teheran as early as 1943, was now sanctioned by the ussr, the usa and great britain at conferences held in yalta (february 1945) and in potsdam (july 1945). in place of the polish government-in-exile in london (to which the 2nd corps was subject), the allies recognised the pro-soviet government in warsaw. the presence of the polish armed forces, which had fought on all western fronts, now became ‘ an embarrassment’. polish soldiers were not invited to attend the victory parade in london on 8 june 1946 for political reasons. the raf alone invited the polish the polish airmen but they declined to participate.