860C.2222/24
The Secretary of State to the Polish Ambassador (Ciechanowski)
Excellency: I have the honor to refer to your note No. 745/SZ–72 of October 13, 1942, and to other correspondence exchanged in the matter of the proposed arrangement between the United States and Poland concerning the services of nationals of one country in the armed forces of the other country. You state that your Government is prepared to accept an arrangement which would make it possible
- a)
- for all Polish citizens residing in the United States, who are liable to register under the provisions of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, to enlist in the Polish Armed Forces should they so desire;
- b)
- for all Polish citizens, who have already been drafted in the Armed Forces of the United States, to be given the opportunity to transfer, if they so desire, to the Polish Armed Forces;
and that your Government would be prepared to conform to lettered paragraphs a, b, and c of the Department’s note of March 30, 1942.
I take pleasure in informing you that this Government is prepared to enter into an arrangement with your Government as proposed in the [Page 220] Department’s note of March 30, 1942; however, this Government finds itself unable to make the arrangement applicable to “all Polish citizens”, as desired in lettered paragraphs a) and b) of your note of October 13, 1942. This Government is unable to grant the privileges outlined in the Department’s note of March 30, 1942, to any but Polish nationals who have not declared their intentions of becoming American citizens.
This Government is prepared, however, upon the conclusion of the proposed arrangement, to grant to nondeclarant Polish nationals already serving in the armed forces of the United States, who did not previously have an opportunity of electing to serve in the forces of their own country, the privilege of applying for a transfer to their own forces. Upon the conclusion of the arrangement, the War Department is prepared to discharge, for the purpose of transferring to the armed forces of Poland, nondeclarant Polish nationals serving in the United States forces who did not have a previous opportunity of opting for service with the Polish forces.
If your Government is desirous of entering into the proposed arrangement, and you will forward to the Department a note conforming to the concluding paragraph of the Department’s note of March 30, 1942, this Government is prepared to make the proposed régime effective immediately upon the receipt of such a note.
Accept [etc.]
[By a note of January 26, 1943, the Polish Ambassador informed the Secretary of State that the Polish Government was ready to affirm its acceptance of the stipulations contained in the concluding paragraph of the United States note of March 30, 1942 (ante, page 214), thereby conforming to the concluding paragraph of the United States note of December 14, 1942 (supra). The Secretary of State acknowledged receipt of this note on February 25, 1943, and stated that the United States Government considered that this agreement had therefore become effective on January 27, 1943, the date upon which the Polish note of January 26 had been received in the Department. The notes of March 30 and December 14, 1942, January 26 and February 25, 1943, constitute the agreement on Military Service; Department of State Executive Agreement Series No. 320, or 57 Stat. (pt. 2) 954.]