740.0011 E. W. 1939/9–2544: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 25—9:40 p.m.]
3664. The British Ambassador and I had a most satisfactory talk with Marshal Stalin on September 23 when we delivered to him a message from the President and the Prime Minister regarding the Quebec meeting.26
During the course of the conversation I asked him about the situation in Warsaw. For the first time Stalin spoke of the insurgents with sympathy and understanding. He explained that after the capture of Praha27 it was possible to judge the situation more clearly and that the reason why the insurrection had started prematurely was now clear. The Germans had threatened to deport the entire male population from Warsaw upon the approach of the Red Army and it therefore became necessary for all men to fight—they faced death either way. Stalin made no mention of the Polish Government in London but spoke somewhat slightingly of General Bor who he said could not be found within the city. It was presumed therefore that he had left and was now evidently “commanding a radio station” at some unknown place. Stalin said that the insurgents were still fighting in Warsaw but were causing more difficulty to the Red Army than assistance. German positions could not be shelled or bombed because the insurgents were intermingled with the Germans. They were located in different isolated parts of the city where they were attempting to defend themselves. They had no offensive power. In all there were some 3000 with light arms only as well as many sympathizers who rendered such assistance as possible under the circumstances. Marshal Stalin said that the Red Army had recently dropped arms and ammunition as well as food and medical supplies to the insurgents. Receipt of these supplies had been acknowledged. (This is contrary to a statement made by a Red Army staff officer in an official conversation with General Deane that only food was being dropped, no arms.) Stalin observed that our planes had parachuted supplies from such a high altitude that the wind had taken much of them away from the targets. He said that the Red Army was in contact with each of the insurgent groups in Warsaw both by radio and by men going back and forth. Some of General Berling’s units had crossed the river but losses had been great and they could not remain. [Page 1398] Stalin observed that when Praga was liberated the Red Army found the people starving and that the Germans had used police dogs to hunt out the male population there for deportation.
Stalin showed none of the vindictiveness towards the Poles in Warsaw previously evidenced.
- The Second Quebec Conference between September 11 and 16, 1944, was attended by Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt, with their civilian and military advisers; Premier Stalin did not attend. Correspondence on this conference is scheduled for publication in a subsequent volume of Foreign Relations.↩
- Praga, a town on the right bank of the Vistula River opposite Warsaw, captured by the Soviet armies on September 14, 1944.↩