740.0011 European War 1939/341: Telegram
The Ambassador in France ( Bullitt ) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 17—8:15 a.m.]
2014. The Polish Ambassador in Paris has just informed me that last night Molotov summoned the Polish Ambassador in Moscow and handed him a note stating that since the Polish Government was no longer able to protect the population bordering on the Soviet Union, Soviet troops would enter Poland for the protection of those populations. The Polish Ambassador refused to receive this note whereupon Molotov stated to him that he would address a communication today to [Page 430] the entire Diplomatic Corps in Moscow saying that the Soviet action was merely for the protection of the population on the Polish side of the Russian border and that the Soviet Union expected to remain neutral in the war now in progress. The Polish Ambassador in Paris added that he had received from the Polish Minister in Riga official information that the Soviet Army had already invaded the extreme northeastern portion of Poland, that the Polish troops there stationed had resisted and that fighting was in progress between the Polish Army and the Soviet Army.