Roosevelt Papers: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman)1
priority
Top secret for Ambassador Harriman from Secretary Hull. WH Number 63.
The President has directed General Marshall to send immediate instructions to Deane to explore with the appropriate Soviet military authorities in conjunction with his British military colleagues the urgent possibility of utilizing the Soviet offer to cooperate in assistance to Warsaw. (Your 3413, September 10.2) The President likewise desires that you lend every support to Deane’s efforts and you should inform Molotov that this Government is prepared to do its utmost towards working out jointly with the British and the Russians the question of immediate aid to the Warsaw garrison. While it is of course possible that this Soviet decision comes too late if the physical situation of the garrison in Warsaw has been so reduced as to make the dropping of supplies impractical, that is a factual question which will emerge in the negotiations for the actual despatch of aid.
From the political point of view we feel that it is of the highest importance that there should be no hesitation on our part in initiating the implementation of the Soviet promise, in order to avoid any possibility of our being blamed in the event that the aid does not arrive in time. This is particularly important since the President today received [Page 399] a further urgent appeal from Premier Mikołajczyk for assistance to the Warsaw garrison.
- Sent to the United States Naval Attaché, Moscow, via the White House Map Room and Navy channels. The message was delivered to the Map Room on September 11, 1944, with the request by Hull that it not be sent until released by Hopkins. Hopkins instructed the Map Room to dispatch the message after he had received a copy of Marshall’s telegram to Deane, supra.↩
- Ante, p. 203.↩