740.0011 European War 1939/503: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 23—7:30 a.m.]
595. The communiqué of the General Staff for September 22, published this morning states that on September 22, the units of the Red [Page 209] army occupied the town of Belostok11 and the fortress of Brest Litovsk12 and continued mopping up the remnants of the Polish Army in the forest of Antust to the northwest of the town of Grodno.13 The communiqué continues that units of the Red army have cleared out the remnants of the Polish Army and “officer groups” in the region of Sarny and that in the region of Lwow14 6 Polish infantry divisions and 2 regiments of sharpshooters, headed by General Langer, had surrendered. The communiqué concludes that in the period from September 17 to September 21, 120,000 officers and men have been taken prisoner with the capture of 380 cannon and 1,400 machine guns.
[For the note of protest made on September 30, 1939, by the Polish Government against the Boundary and Friendship Treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union signed at Moscow on September 28, 1939, see Foreign Relations, 1939, volume I, page 462. The text of the treaty is in Nazi-Soviet Relations, 1939–1941, page 105; or, Reichsgesetzblatt, 1940, Teil II, No. 1 (January 5, 1940), page 4, including the additional protocol of October 4, 1939; or, Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918–1945, Series D, volume VIII, page 167.]
[A statement by the Secretary of State was issued on October 2, 1939, wherein it was declared that, although Poland had become the victim of force, the United States continued to regard the Government of Poland as in existence. For text, see Department of State Bulletin, October 7, 1939, page 342.]