740.0011 E.W./9–1044: Telegram
The Polish Prime Minister (Mikołajczyk) to President Roosevelt1
Mr. President, The reports which the Polish Government receive from Warsaw show that the situation is desperate and that the fight against the overwhelming German power may cease at any moment, unless sustained from outside.
Our urgent appeals for a large scale operation which would combine the bombing of German concentrations with the dropping of supplies at [to?] the home Army in Warsaw are still under consideration by the British Government and no decision has been taken so far. This decision if favorable may come too late.
I therefore beseech you Mr. President and you Mr. Prime Minister to take a bold and immediate decision which could save Warsaw and its inhabitants from total destruction and at the same time give new hope to millions of Poles to whom the fight in Warsaw is a symbol of Poland’s will to live.
I also feel obliged to stress that should the Warsaw rising be crushed by the Germans without a last minute attempt at succour from Poland’s mighty western allies, the tragedy of Warsaw may cast a deep and lasting shadow on the Polish nation’s attude towards its traditional friends. I beg you to weigh this in your minds, Mr. President and Mr. Prime Minister, when taking your decision at this fateful hour.
- Transmitted in telegram No. 97 from the Chargé to the Polish Government in exile (Schoenfeld) to the Secretary of State, and forwarded to Roosevelt at Quebec. Schoenfeld reported that Mikołajczyk had requested him to transmit this “urgent message” and that an identical message was being given to the British Foreign Office for transmittal to Churchill. As received at Quebec, the message appeared to be from the President of Poland. For Roosevelt’s reply, dated September 11, 1944, see post, p. 397.↩