FRONT AGAINST GERMANY

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 263, 2 August 1941, Page 9

FRONT AGAINST GERMANY

Extension By PolishSoviet Pact IMPORTANT EFFECTS The Consul-General for Poland, Count Wodzicki, has received cabled comments from the Minister .of Information for Poland in London, M. Stronski, upon the new Polish-Russian agreement which was signed on Wednesday. “The importance of the agreement must be considered a vital factor In the Polish-Russian relations resulting from the neighbourhood of a very long frontier, with the 1000 years’ old feud on the west, that is, Germany,” M. Stronski said. “The Polish-Russian agreement is strictly connected with this move iu the present war, as Poland and Russia

have recently found themselves in a struggle against a common aggressor. Therefore it would be against the national laws of life were a change not to have taken-place in the PolishRussian relations.” M. Stronski praised very highly the efficient British collaboration, and said that the political side of this move ‘would bo stressed, and explained iu a Polish broadcast by the Polish Prime Minister, General Sikorski, to Poles abroad and in occupied Poland. The merit and responsibility of the agreement had fallen on the shoulders of General Sikorski, who had taken the initial step in the negotiations.

Invalid Frontier. The most important section of the agreement was- that providing for the negation of all previous agreements between the U.S.S.R. and Germany in respect of the partition of Poland. These German-Russian agreements were a negation of the existence of the Polish State and achieved the last partition of Polish territory between the two States. From the point of view of international law they were without validity, and this point had now been agreed to by the Soviet Government. In its note to the Polish Government

the British Government still held the same view. The opening of diplomatic relations and exchange of ambassadors between Poland and the U.S.S.R. now gave the opportunity of useful co-operation. In this Polish-Russian agreement, as in the agreement between Britain and the Soviet Union of July 12 and the Czechoslovakian-Russian agreement of July 18, the point was emphasized that the agreements were against Nazism. “The fourth point of the agreement is of great significance, in that

it provides for the creation of a Polish Army on Soviet territory,” M. Stronski stated. “The agreement between Czechoslovakia and Soviet Russia provides for the establishment of a military unit under the command of a Czech officer but under the general direction of Soviet Russia. The PolishRussian agreement, however, provides for the establishment of a Polish Army under a commander who will be appointed by the Government of the Republic of Poland, and a representative of the Polish General Staff will work in collaboration with the Russian General Staff. The organization of this huge army ■will follow the scheme applied to the Polish forces at present fighting under British command. Deported Civilians’ Release.

“Another important point of the agreement is that it provides, after the resuming of normal diplomatic relations, for the release of Polish citizens imprisoned in U.S.S.R. territory, that is, not only prisoners of war but also civilian prisoners who have been deported to different parts of Russia. It will be remembered that more than 200,000 Polish prisoners of war are detained in special camps in Soviet Russia, and nearly 500,000 of the civilian population have been deported from Soviet occupied Poland into different areas of the Soviet Union.

“Polish quarters in London have viewed with favour the Soviet’s action of last week in releasing a number of important Polish prisoners who have been imprisoned for nearly two years. Among those released were Professors Glablnski and Grabski, Messrs. Piotrowski and 'Szezyrek, prominent presidents and secretaries of Polish trade unions, the mayor of Lwow (Mr. Ostrowski), Dr. Domaszewicz, and the leaders of the Polish Peasants’ Party, General Jauszajtis and Father Panas, and many others.” M. Stronski concluded by emphasizing that the Polish Government greatly appreciated the political significance of this agreement, which had the sup-

port of Great Britain, and the opportunity of being able to form a new, powerful Polish army, which would be an important factor in the present struggle; also the opening of the way to releasing some hundreds of thousands of the civilian population deported into far countries of the Soviet Union among a people alien in race and religion, and under the most miserable conditions of living. The opportunity of a new British-Polish front in the fight against the German Reich was also appreciated.” OF NEW ERA (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, July 31.

Broadcasting to Poland on the occasion of the Russo-Polish agreement, General Sikorski, the Polish Premier, recalled that both in 1795 and in 1939 two Powers vowed that Poland and the Polish name were to disappear for ever. The first, vow was cancelled by the judgment of history, and the 1939 declaration did not last two years. Now that the last treaty between Germany and Russia had been wiped out, Poland stood on the threshold of a new era in her relations with Russia. Speaking of the Nazi attack on Russia, General Sikorski said: “Without resorting to prophecy, I can state that the frivolous plan of complete shattering of Russia in 70 days, as the German General Staff calculated, has obviously been broken. Meanwhile, the German troops, engulfed by the Russian expanse, are being materially and morally exhausted with every day. Almost four-fifths of the German forces' are engaged in the east. Their losses in killed and wounded are close ou a million. Tlieir military equipment is being catastrophically destroyed. . ,

"So, when today Russia, in her mortal struggle witli the German avalanche, enters on the road of reconciliation with Poland and desires common action against tile common enemy, we set about this task with readiness to forget sanguinary wrongs. The future fate of the agreement we have reached will depend equally on the good will of the other side.”

POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER DISAGREES LONDON. July 31. The Polish Foreign Minister, M. Zaleski, has resigned, following a difference of opinion with General Sikorski regarding the Russian-Polish agreement