760C.61/973: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 17—1:51 a.m.]
1520. General Anders,4 who is to take command of the Polish forces in Russia, informed me today that the military convention between Poland and the U. S. S. R. was signed this morning.5 He said that the Polish prisoners are being released and the plan is to assemble them at a place between Saratov and Stalingrad. He said he has been unable to form any accurate estimate of the number available as the Russians have given him conflicting figures but he hopes to have about 60,000. He is anxious to get them assembled and equipped because “you can never tell what will happen in this country”. He said he had already interviewed several hundred released Polish prisoners and that without exception their morale was good and added that after the treatment they have received in Soviet prisons they have no love for the Russians but their hatred of the Germans is so much stronger that they are eager to fight at once.