740.0011 European War 1939/17980
The Polish Embassy to the Department of State
Memorandum
The Polish Ambassador has received through the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in London, a telegram from Prime Minister General Sikorski dated Teheran, December 19th. In this telegram General Sikorski informs the Polish Ambassador that:
Six divisions of Polish troops are being at present formed in Russia and will be transferred to Southern Turkestan. These troops should be reconditioned, trained and ready by June 1942. General Sikorski foresees that a great German offensive will be launched on the Eastern European Front about that time. The readiness of the above mentioned Polish forces will depend on their timely equipment and armament, the speeding up of which therefore is very urgent.
Apart from these six divisions, 25,000 Polish soldiers are being evacuated from Russia to the British Empire as well as a certain number of Polish airmen and sailors. The Polish civilian population in Russia is likewise being concentrated in the South. One must reckon with famine in the Spring of 1942,—which however will not affect the Soviet Army or Administration who have food reserves prepared along the Trans-Siberian Railway Line. Famine will undoubtedly affect the civilian population and especially the Polish deportees. The Polish Government is faced by the urgent task of organizing relief for this population and counts on the support of Great Britain and of the United States.
In view of the Conference about to open in Washington,35 General Sikorski has likewise asked Prime Minister Churchill to take into consideration the position of Poland as an Ally of Great Britain, the part played by the Polish Nation through its indomitable resistance to the invader and its effective subversive warfare, the part which the Polish Armed Forces, the Polish Airforce and Navy are taking in the war for the common Allied cause,—and to insure for Poland in the new alignment of Allied or Associated Powers with the United States, a place equal to that of Soviet Russia and China. General Sikorski stresses the fact that the latest agreement which he has brought about between Poland and the U. S. S. R. (Polish-Soviet Declaration of Friendship and Mutual Assistance signed by Prime Minister General Sikorski and Prime Minister Stalin on December 4, 1941), appears to him fully to justify his request regarding Poland’s position in the Association of Nations about to be concluded, considering that this [Page 270] Polish-Soviet agreement has eliminated many of the hitherto existing difficulties in the good relations between those two countries.
General Sikorski has instructed the Polish Ambassador in Washington to bring the above considerations to the knowledge of the Secretary of State and to request him to convey them to The President.36