In February 1941, Wanda Półtawska was arrested by the Gestapo. She was nineteen years old. Charged with aiding and abetting the resistance movement—a heinous crime in Nazi-occupied Poland—she was sent to the notorious Ravensbrück concentration camp.

Originally written nearly fifty years ago, this powerful story is an enduring testament to the courage of the human spirit.

This is the story of the few who are rarely remembered today. Some 17,000 men and women passed through the ranks of the Polish Air Force while it was stationed on British soil in World War II. They not only played a crucial role in the Battle of Britian in 1940, but they also contributed significantly to the Allied war effort. They received 342 British gallantry awards.

Winston Churchill speaking about the Battle of Britain in 1940 said, "Never was so much owed by so many to so few."

"...excellent and authoritative...Such an extraordinary national trajectory demands an accessible and scholarly accounting. Zamoyski succeeds admirably in providing both." - The Daily Telegraph

"fresh, different, and brilliantly readable...It is the perfect introduction for those who know nothing about the country, yet will also provide some positive food for thought to those who imagined they knew it all too well." - The Spectator