RUSSIA AND POLAND

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24150, 8 January 1944, Page 5

RUSSIA AND POLAND

London Broadcast To Partisans PRIME MINISTER’S INSTRUCTIONS (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Hec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 6. The Polish Prime Minister in London (Mr Mikolajczyk) has broadcast to the Polish people from the 8.8.C. He reaffirmed Poland’s right to independence and said that the Government demanded respect for the rights and interests of the Polish Republic. He said that a member of the Polish Cabinet in London was now in Poland, where he was acting as Deputy-Prime Minister. He repeated the instructions to the Polish underground movement contained in the Polish Government’s statement.

He said’ it was preferred to meet the Soviet troops not merely as allies of Poland’s allies against a common enemy, but as allies of Poland. Mr Mikolajczyk told the Polish underground movement to strike \yith renewed force against the Germans and to avoid friction with the Russians.

The diplomatic correspondent of “The Times” says that Mr Mikolajczyk staunchly upheld Polish rights but was silent, as was the Polish Government’s statement on the question of specific frontiers.

“Although the difficulties remain enormous, and the problems are of many kinds, danger signals come from Germany as a corrective against any belief that there is much time left for debating.” Neutral correspondents report German hopes of Russian-Polish clashes, and the German Governor of Poland (Frank) has offered in a, public proclamation “a proper pjace” to Poland in the .future family of European nations.

Reaction in London “The British reaction is that the only helpful feature of the Polish Government’s statement is that it does not close the door on the possibility of a negotiated settlement with Russia,” says the diplomatic correspondent of the London “Daily Mail.” “The worst aspect is the virtual direction to the Polish underground authorities not to co-operate with the Russians unless or until there is a resumption of Polish-Soviet relations.” That part of the Polish Government’s statement to which the correspondent refers, said: “The Polish Government instructed the underground authorities in Poland on October 27, 1943, to continue and to intensify their resistance against the German invader, to avoid all conflict with the Soviet armies entering Poland in battle against the Germans, and to enter into co-operation with the Soviet commanders in l the event of a resumption of Polish-Soviet relations.

“If a Polish-Soviet agreement, such as the Polish Government had declared itself willing to conclude, had preceded the crossing of the Polish frontier by Soviet forces, such agreement would have enabled the underground Polish Army to co-ordinate its action against the Germans with the Soviet military authorities. The Polish Government still considers such an arrangement highly desirable.” “Efforts are being made by the British and American Governments to produce an understanding between the Polish Government and Russia, continues the diplomatic correspondent of the “Daily Mail.” “Although it has not been possible so far to make much headway, hope is constantly expressed in British circles that greater progress will be made in the near future.

“The Polish problem is regarded as a test case in matters relating to the settlement of Europe after hostilities end. There is certainly no desire on the part of the British Government that the Polish Government should be forced to accept any settlement. British Ministers are anxious that the frontier question should be settled by friendly negotiations and to this end they are prepared to give all their assistance.”

AIR OFFENSIVE CONTINUES

FRENCH AND GERMAN TARGETS 1000 TONS OF BOMBS ON STETTIN (Rec. H p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 7. Bomb-carrying' Mosquitoes last night again attacked objectives in western Germany and northern France. Other aircraft laid mines in German waters. No aircraft were lost. Relays of medium and light bombers and fighter-bombers attacked military objectives in northern France in daylight yesterday. Royal Air Force, Dominion, and Allied fighters carried out offensive patrols over occupied territory. Three enemy fighters were shot down, and our losses were six aircraft.

A great force of Royal Air Force Lancasters and Halifaxes on Wednesday night dropped 1000 tons of bombs on the German Baltic port and industrial town of Stettin. Great fires spread and merged and smoke rose to 12,000 feet. No night-fighters were up in the early stages of the raid, the enemy having been cunningly drawn off by a light raid by Mosquitoes on Berlin.

The fighter aeroplanes which arrived began to drop their flares just as the last raiders were leaving. There was a long line of flares up to 50 miles from Berlin, but none on the way to Stettin, although a certain amount of flak was encountered. The pathfinders did their work admirably and the conditions for the raid were described by one of those taking part as a bomb aimer’s paradise.

Stettin is the capital of Pomerania, and the targets included shipbuilding yards, machinery factories, chemical and cement works, and an oil-refining plant. Alarmed at the danger to Berlin the Luftwaffe again sent fighter packs to defend the capital, leaving the door wide open for the Lancasters and Halifaxes to get through to Stettin. “Judging from what happened,” said a Royal Air Force station commander, “the Germans become so rattled whenever bombers approach that Berlin comes first and the rest a long way behind.” The Germans seemed hopelessly confused by the light force of Mosquitoes which bombed Berlin a quarter of an hour before the attack on Stettin, which is under 100 miles from Berlin, and almost at any point on the last stages of the journey the mam force might have turned and made for the Ca, The*' aviation correspondent of the Press Association says that Stettin is Germany’s chief seaport on the Baltic for the supply of the armies on the Russian front, and also a centre for shipbuilding, _ machinery, chemicals, cement, and oil refining. The last heavy raid was last April, on the night of Hitler’s birthday, when a large force devastated the industrial heart of the town, and extensively damaged the docks. The latest raid has an added significance in view of the Germans’ serious position on tne R of Flying Fortresses on Wednesday shattered the vital Bauer and Schaurte factory near Dusseldorf, producing about half the hlgh-fflade nuts and bolts used in the German war industry. The British United Press corresponded at a United States Army Air Force bomber station says that the Fortresses did not start out to bomb the factory. They found it through a gap in the clouds after an unsuccessful attempt to bomb assigned targets.