860C.24/121
The Polish Ambassador (Ciechanowski) to the Secretary of State
The Ambassador of Poland presents his compliments to the Secretary of State and has the honor to refer to the conversation which the Counselor of Embassy, Minister Kwapiszewski had with Mr. Loy W. Henderson on September 18th, 1941,15 regarding the supply of war material to Polish troops at present being formed in Russia.
Conversation between the Polish Ambassador in Moscow and Commissar for Foreign Affairs Mr. V. Molotoff, have shown that at the present time the U. S. S. R. does not see its way to supply Russian war material and equipment to the Polish troops. This results apparently from the fact of severe losses of war material suffered by the U. S. S. R. recently, as well as from the loss and destruction of a considerable part of its war industry.
The Polish Ambassador in Moscow has communicated the above facts to the American Ambassador in Moscow, informing him at the same time that the first two Polish Divisions are actually in the process of formation in Russia and that the possibility of using them on the front was dependent on the rapidity with which they could be supplied with war material by the United States.
The Polish Ambassador would be very grateful if the Secretary of State would lend his support to this matter of prime importance to Poland and in fact to the common cause.
[The text of a letter from the Polish Ambassador to the Secretary of State on September 29, 1941, reporting favorable developments in the formation of Polish Army units in the Soviet Union, and that [Page 256] in general the Soviet Government was now loyally fulfilling all its engagements, is printed in Department of State Bulletin, October 4, 1941, page 245.]
- No memorandum of this conversation found in Department files.↩