Russia at war 1941-1945

It has become necessary to form a centre of struggle and coordination. .. The emigre Government is not fighting the Germans; instead, it is calling for inactivity. Its people sometimes even murder resistance leaders... In 1943 hopes were rising in

Poland, but, at the same time, the German terror was growing in intensity... The

National Council, at its very first meeting, took the highly important decision to unify all the partisan groupings, armed units, etc., struggling with the occupants, and to merge them into a single People's Army (Armija Ludowa)... The National Guard, the National Militia, a large part of the Peasant Battalions, etc., have enteredthis. The Polish people have responded with enthusiasm. In a few months a networkof local—rural, urban, and provincial—organisations was set up by the National

Council. The struggle against the occupants has been greatiy intensified.

The statement concluded by saying that the Delegates of the National Council of Poland came to Moscow, firstly to become acquainted with the work of the Union of Polish

Patriots in the USSR, and with the state of the first Polish Army; and secondly in order to establish contact with the Allied Governments, including the Government of the Soviet Union.

It was also announced that, on May 22, Stalin had received the Polish delegates, with Mr

"Morawski" at their head, that the conversation lasted for over two hours, and that Molotov and Wanda Wassilewska were present.

That was the first news the world was to hear of the "Left Underground" in Poland, and of a National Council of Poland that had allegedly been in existence there for over five months. It was also the first mention of the name of Morawski, later known at Osöbka-Morawski. The London Poles lost no time in debunking the delegates in Moscow as a

bunch of communist stooges or adventurers with no following whatsoever, the National Council as a pretentious fake, etc., etc.

Indeed, Morawski and the other delegates whose names (or even pseudonyms) were not

disclosed at the time (though many knew that they included Bierut, Andrzei Witos, and some others who were to become prominent before long), stayed for some time in the

Soviet Union, and some did not go home until the Red Army had marched into Poland in the following July. On June 8 Morawski gave an interview to Tass in which he said that nearly 100,000 Polish troops were now on Soviet soil; among their leaders were General Berling, Alexander Zawadski (recently promoted to the rank of general by the Russians), and that great Gargantuan character, General Karol Sweszczewski, famous in the Spanish Civil War under the nom de guerre of General Walter.

[In 1947, as Deputy Minister of Defence, he was assassinated by Ukrainian terrorists near the Ukrainian border.]

Already acting like something of a Provisional Government, the delegates of the National Council conferred on General Berling, on the Council's behalf, the Grunwald Cross 1st class.

Among other things the delegates had come to Moscow to ask for arms. They received

some satisfaction from the Russians but none from the British and the Americans who

continued to supply the Armija Krajowa. But the political significance of the arrival in Moscow of this "delegation" was much greater than its military significance. They were, in fact, a nucleus of that "Lublin Committee", which was, before long, going to be the de facto government of Poland. In the course of his interview with Tass, Morawski expressed his gratitude to the Red Army and his affection for Stalin.

Nor were the Yugoslavs being neglected in this bid for Slav Unity. In April a regular military mission from Tito arrived in Moscow, and on May 20 it was announced that

Stalin had had a long meeting the day before with Generals Terzic and Djilas,

"representing the National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia". Terzic, it was explained, was

"the head of the Yugoslav Military Mission in the USSR". Whether this was recognised by the Royal Yugoslav Government no longer mattered; the Soviet Union had already