740.0011 European War 1939/7–1844: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman)
1731. You are aware for the past 2 years the President has authorized the allocation of $10,000,000 to the Polish Government to be used for the financing of the operations of the Polish Underground Forces in Poland. During his recent visit,69 Prime Minister Mikolajczyk raised the question of the allocation of such funds this year and the President has now authorized the allocation to the Polish Government, for this purpose, the sum of $10,000,000 on condition that the Polish Underground Forces will cooperate with the Soviet armies in the struggle against Germany. The Department has been officially informed in this connection by the Polish Ambassador that the Polish Government has recently renewed its instructions to the Polish Underground to cooperate with and assist the Soviet armies in every way, and on the basis of these assurances the $10,000,000 will be made available to the Polish Government. Although in the past we have not officially informed the Soviet Government of the fact that funds for this purpose have been made available by the United States Government, we believe at the present time that the appropriate Soviet officials should be so informed in order to avoid any possible misunderstanding.
In order to avoid in so far as possible any political implications and to keep the entire question on a military level, it is suggested that [Page 1366] General Deane70 could merely inform the appropriate Soviet military officials emphasizing to them that this money has been and is being made available for purely military reasons in order to help keep alive an underground force engaged in fighting the common enemy, and on the basis of official assurances from the Polish Government that these underground forces will cooperate to the full with the Red Army entering Poland. Subject to your discretion, the Joint Chiefs of Staff have approved this action on the part of General Deane.
It is not our intention to request Soviet approval for this action but merely to inform the Soviet Government that this action has been taken.