HOPE OF UNITY

Waikato Times, Volume 194, Issue 22321, 12 April 1944, Page 3

HOPE OF UNITY

RUSSIA AND POLAND

TURNING-POINT REACHED MANIFESTO BY STALIN (Special Correspondent) (Received April 12, 11 a.m.) LONDON, April 11 New hope of Russo-Polish collaboration began when the Russian Commander-in-Chief on the Ukrainian front summoned the leader of the Polish underground movement in Volhynia and suggested that the partisans should collaborate fully with Russian Army against the common enemy. He said the partisans have been disbanded as they could not be tolerated behind the Russian lines, but if re-grouped in a Polish division under the Soviet command they would still owe allegiance to their Commander-in-Chief and the Polish Government in London.

Representatives of the Polish Government in Poland and the Cabinet in London have agreed and it is hoped that the arrangement will be the turning-point in Russo-Polish relations.

It is considered that Marshal Stalin will issue a manifesto to the Poles as soon as the Red Army crosses the Curzon Line and enters what the Russians consider to be Poland proper. Vernon Bartlett, commenting in the News Chronicle, says that events have greatly improved the prospects of an agreement. He adds: “A reassuring factor has been M. Molotov’s declaration when the Soviet forces crossed the river Pruth. It encourages the expectation that when the Soviet armies reach the Curzon Line they will give similar assurances to the Poles west of it. Millions of Poles may regret that the Curzon Line should bec6me their frontier with the Soviet.

“They must also realise that without the Soviet armies their hope of seeing the Polish flag re-flying over Polish territory would still be very remote.”

It is reported that Marshal Stalin informed the British and American Governments of the basic principles of the proposed manifesto to the Poles, which it is understood both accepted. These are believed to include the announcement of the liberation of Poland and the creation of a sovereign Polish State, in which the Soviet would hand over the civil administration so far as was consistent with military operations. Poland’s Underground Army

Poland’s underground army has been ordered to co-operate with the Russians on Polish territory, but developments depend on the Russian recognition of Polish civil administration, said General Sosnkowski, Polish Commander-in-Chief, addressing a press conference at the Allied Headquarters in Italy. The British United Press correspondent quotes Sosnkowski as saying: “The underground army far outnumbers the Polish armed forces outside Poland, which are about 100,000. Varying degrees of co-operation have been given. The co-operation in some cases may continue for the time being. In other cases there have been disquieting rumours, on which the Polish Government approached the British and American Governments. These rumours are being investigated. The underground ar>iy well understands the necessity for co-operating with the Soviet forces on Polish territory in order to wage a common fight against the Germans.”