Office of the Historian

740.0011 European War 1939/8–544

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Director of the Office of European Affairs (Dunn)

[Washington,] August 5, 1944.

I

The Polish Ambassador came in this morning to present a memorandum, a copy of which is attached,79 on the developments in connection [Page 1371] with the advance of the Soviet Red Army on Polish territory and the Red Army’s treatment of the Polish Underground. This memorandum presents the situation as becoming extremely serious in that the Red Army Commanders are requiring the Polish Underground to disband and enter the forces of either the Soviet Army or the forces of General Berling, the Polish General who is commanding Polish contingents which form a part of the Red Army.80 I will not recite the complete details of this memorandum as the copy is attached. The Ambassador asked that this report from his Government be called to the attention of the Acting Secretary and the President as soon as possible, and that some action be taken by this Government to prevent the progressive disbandment of the Polish Underground forces which have been recognized as an army by the British and American military forces.

II

The Ambassador then asked whether we had any report regarding the visit of the Polish Prime Minister to Marshal Stalin yesterday. I told the Ambassador that according to a telegram from Mr. Harriman,81 a conversation between Mr. Mikolajczyk and Marshal Stalin had consisted of three parts:

(a)
The Polish Underground Army;
(b)
The question of the territorial status of Poland;
(c)
The relationship between the Polish Government and the Polish Committee of National Liberation.

I said that nothing new had developed in this conversation according to our reports as the position of the Soviet Government had been stated in pretty much the same form as they had stated it heretofore. It appeared that Marshal Stalin had offered to arrange for a meeting between Mr. Mikolajczyk and the Polish National Committee to which Mikolajczyk had acceded, and the meeting would take place within a day or two either at Moscow or Kiev.82

III

I then told the Ambassador that the Acting Secretary of State had instructed me to inform Mr. Ciechanowski that the United States military authorities had requested a delay in the transfer of the $10,000,000 [Page 1372] which this Government had arranged to convey to the Polish authorities for the purpose of assisting in equipping the underground forces in Poland. Mr. Ciechanowski said that he understood the first installment of this sum had been already paid to the Polish authorities. I said that I was not informed in detail with regard to this transaction but that in any event the Acting Secretary had desired the Ambassador to know as soon as possible that there would be a delay for the time being in carrying out this transaction. The Ambassador asked who the military authorities were who had requested this delay. I replied that I was not informed on that point as it had come to me merely as the “American military authorities”. The Ambassador also asked how long we thought this delay would be. I informed him that in the opinion of the Acting Secretary this delay would probably continue until the return of the President. The Ambassador asked when that would be, to which I replied that I did not know exactly when the President would return to Washington but that probably it would not be for about two weeks. The Ambassador was extremely disappointed and asked whether there was any reason which could be given for this delay. I said that I did not know anything further of the circumstances than that the matter had been requested to be held in abeyance for the time being. The Ambassador thereupon said that he would inform his Government immediately of this development.

James Clement Dunn
  1. Not printed.↩
  2. The memorandum gave an illustration of this practice in the Lvov area: “In the fighting for the City of Lwów our detachments, amounting to 3,000 men, took an active and effective part. After our Commander had disclosed himself to the Soviet Command he was told that the region of Lwów is Soviet territory and that his detachment must therefore surrender arms within two hours and consider itself as liquidated. It was added that the mobilization will be carried out by the Soviet authorities in that region. The Poles will then be given the choice between entering the Berling army or the Soviet Army.”↩
  3. See telegram 2860, August 4, from Moscow, p. 1305.↩
  4. See telegrams 2885, August 7, and 2923, August 10, from Moscow, pp. 1306 and 1308, respectively.↩