Triumph and Tragedy (The Second World War) (27 page)

But they decidedly object to American or British aircraft,
after dropping arms in the region of Warsaw, landing on

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Soviet territory, since the Soviet Government do not
wish to associate themselves either directly or indirectly
with the adventure in Warsaw.

On the same day I received the following message couched in softer terms from Stalin:

Marshal Stalin to

16 Aug. 44

Prime Minister

After the conversation with M. Mikolajczyk I gave
orders that the command of the Red Army should drop
arms intensively in the Warsaw sector. A parachutist
liaison officer was also dropped, who, according to the
report of the command, did not reach his objective as
he was killed by the Germans.

Further, having familiarised myself more closely with
the Warsaw affair, I am convinced that the Warsaw
action represents a reckless and terrible adventure
which is costing the population large sacrifices. This
would not have been if the Soviet command had been
informed before the beginning of the Warsaw action
and if the Poles had maintained contact with it.

In the situation which has arisen the Soviet
command has come to the conclusion that it must
dissociate itself from the Warsaw adventure, as it
cannot take either direct or indirect responsibility for the
Warsaw action.

According to Mikolajczyk’s account, the first paragraph of this telegram is quite untrue. Two officers arrived safely in Warsaw and were received by the Polish command. A Soviet colonel had also been there for some days, and sent messages to Moscow via London urging support for the insurgents.

On the 18th I telegraphed again to Mr. Eden: Triumph and Tragedy

166

Prime Minister to

18 Aug. 44

Foreign Secretary

I have seen the extremely lukewarm telegram of
August 15 from the American Joint Chiefs of Staff to
General Eisenhower which was received after I had
sent you my last message.

The air authorities out here assured me that the
Americans wished help sent from England to Warsaw,
and that the operation was quite practicable, providing
of course the Russians gave their consent. It seems
hardly credible to me that the request for landing
facilities would have been submitted to the Russians
unless the practicability of the operation had been
examined by General Doolittle. It is most important that
you should find out whether it is practicable or not.

Before the President or I, or both, make any
personal or joint appeals to Stalin it is of course
necessary that the military difficulties should be
resolved.

At the same time I appealed to the President.

Prime Minister (Italy)

18 Aug. 44

to

President

Roosevelt

An episode of profound and far-reaching gravity is
created by the Russian refusal to permit American
aircraft to bring succour to the heroic insurgents in
Warsaw, aggravated by their own complete neglect to
provide supplies by air when only a few score of miles
away. If, as is almost certain, a wholesale massacre
follows the German triumph in that capital no measure
can be put upon the full consequences that will arise.

2. I am prepared to send a personal message to
Stalin if you think this wise, and if you will yourself send
a separate similar message. Better far than two
separate messages would be a joint message signed
by us both.

3. The glorious and gigantic victories being achieved
in France by the United States and British forces are
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167

vastly changing the situation in Europe, and it may well
be that the victory gained by our armies in Normandy
will eclipse in magnitude anything that the Russians
have achieved on any particular occasion. I feel
therefore that they will have some respect for what we
say so long as it is expressed plainly and simply. We
are nations serving high causes and must give true
counsels towards world peace even at the risk of Stalin
resenting it. Quite possibly he wouldn’t.

Two days later we sent the following joint appeal, which the President had drafted:

Prime Minister (Italy)

20 Aug. 44

and

President

Roosevelt

to

Marshal Stalin

We are thinking of world opinion if the anti-Nazis in
Warsaw are in effect abandoned. We believe that all
three of us should do the utmost to save as many of the
patriots there as possible. We hope that you will drop
immediate supplies and munitions to the patriot Poles
in Warsaw, or will you agree to help our planes in doing
it very quickly? We hope you will approve. The time
element is of extreme importance.

This was the reply we got:

Marshal Stalin to

22 Aug. 44

Prime Minister and

President Roosevelt

I have received the message from you and Mr.

Roosevelt about Warsaw. I wish to express my
opinions.

2. Sooner or later the truth about the group of
criminals who have embarked on the Warsaw
adventure in order to seize power will become known to
everybody. These people have exploited the good faith
of the inhabitants of Warsaw, throwing many almost
unarmed people against the German guns, tanks, and
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168

aircraft. A situation has arisen in which each new day
serves, not the Poles for the liberation of Warsaw, but
the Hitlerites who are inhumanly shooting down the
inhabitants of Warsaw.

3. From the military point of view, the situation which
has arisen, by increasingly directing the attention of the
Germans to Warsaw, is just as unprofitable for the Red
Army as for the Poles. Meanwhile the Soviet troops,
which have recently encountered new and notable
efforts by the Germans to go over to the counter-attack,
are doing everything possible to smash these counterattacks of the Hitlerites and to go over to a new wide-scale attack in the region of Warsaw. There can be no
doubt that the Red Army is not sparing its efforts to
break the Germans round Warsaw and to free Warsaw
for the Poles. That will be the best and most effective
help for the Poles who are anti-Nazis.

Meanwhile the agony of Warsaw reached its height.

Prime Minister to

24 Aug. 44

President Roosevelt

The following is an eye-witness account of the
Warsaw rising. A copy has already been given to the
Soviet Ambassador in London.

1. August 11

The Germans are continuing, despite all efforts of A.

K.,
1
their ruthless terror methods. In many cases they
have burnt whole streets of houses and shot all the
men belonging to them and turned the women and
children out on the street, where battles are taking
place, to find their way to safety. On Krolewska Street
many private houses have been bombed out. One
house was hit by four separate bombs. In one house,
where lived old retired professors of Polish universities,
the S.S. troops forced an entrance and killed many of
them. Some succeeded in escaping through the cellars
to the other houses. The morale of A.K. and the civilian
population is of the highest standard. The watchword is

“Death to the Germans.”

2. August 11

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169

The German tank forces during last night made
determined efforts to relieve some of their strong-points
in the city. This is no light task however, as on the
corner of every street are built huge barricades, mostly
constructed of concrete pavement slabs torn up from
the streets especially for this purpose. In most cases
the attempts failed, so the tank crews vented their
disappointment by setting fire to several houses and
shelling others from a distance. In many cases they
also set fire to the dead, which litter the streets in many
places…. The German Tank Corps have begun to have
a great respect for the Polish barricade, for they know
that behind each one wait determined troops of A.K.

with petrol bottles. These petrol bottles have caused
great destruction to many of their comrades.

3. August 13

The German forces have brutally murdered
wounded and sick people, both men and women, who
were lying in the SS. Lazarus and Karol and Marsa
hospitals.

When the Germans were bringing supplies by tank
to one of their outposts they drove before them 500

women and children to prevent the troops of A.K. from
taking action against them. Many of them were killed
and wounded. The same kind of action has been
reported from many other parts of the city.

Despite lack of weapons, the Polish forces continue
to hold the initiative in the battle for Warsaw. In some
places they have broken into German strongholds and
captured much-needed arms and ammunition. On
August 12, 11,600 rounds of rifle ammunition, five
machine-guns, 8500 [rounds of] small arms ammunition, twenty pistols, thirty anti-tank mines, and
transports were captured. The German forces are
fighting desperately. When A.K. set fire to a building
which the Germans were holding as a fortress two
German soldiers tried to escape to the Polish lines with
a white flag, but an S.S. officer saw them and shot
them dead. During the night of August 12/13 A.K.

received some weapons from Allied aircraft.

4. August 15

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170

The dead are buried in back yards and squares. The
food situation is continually deteriorating, but as yet
there is no starvation. Today there is no water at all in
the pipes. It is being drawn from the infrequent wells
and house supplies. All quarters of the town are under
shell fire, and there are many fires. The dropping of
supplies has intensified the morale. Everyone wants to
fight and will fight, but the uncertainty of a speedy
conclusion is depressing.

5. August 16

Fighting continues to be very bitter in Warsaw. The
Germans fight for every inch of ground. It is reported
that in some places whole districts have been burnt and
the inhabitants either shot or taken to Germany. The
inhabitants continue to repeat, “When we get weapons
we will pay them back.”

Fighting for the electric power station began on
August 1 at 5.10 P.M. Twenty-three soldiers of the
Polish Home Army were stationed in the works before
that hour, because they were employed in the normal
course of things, expecting the outbreak of the rising.

The Germans had on the day before raised the strength
of the garrison to 150 militarised police, stationed in
concrete pill-boxes and blockhouses, also in all the
works buildings. The signal for action was the explosion
of a mine under one of the buildings. After nineteen
hours of fighting the electric power station was fully in
Polish hands. The Polish losses were seventeen killed
and twenty-seven wounded. The German losses were
twenty killed and twenty-two wounded, with fifty-six
taken as prisoners of war. The detachment which
captured the station consisted solely of manual and
metal workers of the works. In spite of the fact that the
buildings of the station are daily bombarded with 75-mm. shells by the Germans, the personnel has
succeeded in maintaining the supply of current to the
civil population without the slightest interruption.