860C.20/90a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt)
1197. Will you please see the following message is delivered suitably paraphrased:
“From Harriman for Mr. Stalin. The problem of the most efficacious method of employing unarmed Polish troops now on Russian soil is one that has had deep attention and after consultation with the President and at his suggestion I am telegraphing you direct certain phases for your consideration. We understand these Polish forces are in the general locality of and east of the lower Volga and that as a result of the tremendous strain on Soviet resources the Soviet Government is not in a position fully to utilize or equip them. Therefore, the problem seems to be to recondition these troops to their greatest effectiveness under the understanding reached with the Polish Government that they are to participate as a national unit in the fight against Nazism. The area in which these troops are located borders those vital regions the defense of which is of common interest to all opponents of the Nazi regime.
“Our suggestion is that these Polish forces not only with the agreement of but likewise with the assistance of the U. S. S. R. Government be assembled and withdrawn to a designated area in Iran. There, with American and British aid these Polish nationals might be most quickly reconditioned, uniformed, and armed to the end that with the greatest possible expedition they become a part of the fighting forces in the expectation they be returned to the Soviet Russian front.
[“]We are preparing a survey in cooperation with the British which we hope may speedily determine the needed supplies and availability of material and the manner in which equipment may be delivered to the Poles not only with the utmost dispatch but also with the minimum of interference with those lines of transportation over which we are forwarding material to the Soviet Union.
[“] An expression of your general views in this regard will be deeply appreciated. If you concur in our suggestions, it will be helpful if you would let us know at what time and in what number it might be possible for these Polish forces to reach points outside of the Soviet Union at which our plans as outlined could be put into effect.”17
- This telegram was approved by the Under Secretary of State, Mr. Welles; the Lend-Lease Administrator, Edward R. Stettinius, Jr.; the Special Representative of the President, W. Averell Harriman; the Executive Officer, Division of Defense Aid Reports, Office for Emergency Management, Maj. Gen. James H. Burns; and by the British Embassy after cabling the text to Prime Minister Churchill.↩