Evening star., 1944-09-06
Worsow's 'Troeic Riddle

Worsows 'Trooie Riddle
General Kasimiers sosnkowski,
commander in chief Of those Polish
forces which are loyal to the gov
eminent set up In London by the
Poles, has stirred up fresh hornets
nest by his blunt accusation that
the Allies abandoned" the Patriot
army under General Bor. which rose
up against the Germans In Warsaw
= month ago.
Describing the failure to support
this revolt as = "ghastly and tragic
riddle" General Sosnkowski went
on to imply that the Allies. and
especially the Russians. not only
failed to give substantial assistance
to the Polish Patriots, but actually
wanted to see them destroyed by the
Germans. He scoffed at the sug-
gestion that 1t was technically in
feasible to help the Poles, spoke of
the sudden halt" OF the Soviet
offensive at the gates Of Warsaw
after the revolt had started, and
asserted that the Poles had tried
many times, without success. to
achieve a coordination of their
plans with the whole Of operational
plans in Eastern Europe. This last
contention presumably is in answer
to a Soviet statement on August Is
that mo attempt was made to in
form beforehand and coordinate
with the Soviet military. command
any kind of action in Warsaw"
These accusations by General
Sosnkowski, coming at this time,
will seriously prejudice British ef-
forts to restore relations between
Poland and Russia. To say that they
were indiscreet is to put it mildly.
In all probability the statement will
hasten General Sosnkowski's down.
fall as head of Poland's military
forces. It is reported from London
that in some Polish quarters the
charges were regarded as IAN open
rebellion intended to sabotage" the
current effort by Polish Premier
Mikolajczyk to come to an under
standing with the Russians. The
London News Chronicle comments
editorially that the Sosnkowski &C
cusation. in the circumstances pre-
vailing. is "unheard Of"
Perhaps all of these things are
true. Obviously. the Warsaw upris-
ing was premature. It may we'll be
that the Polish authorities neglected
any effort to coordinate their plans
with the plans of the Red Army,
and they may even have been mott
waited primarily by political consid-
erations. But If we assume all of
this, the central question still re-
mains unanswered.
Once this revolt against the Ger
mans had begun, prematurely or
otherwise, why was so little assist
ance sent to the beleaguered Poles?
The Allied Mediterranean air force
made an effort, flying a round trip
OF 1,750 miles, to drop weapons and
other supplies to the Patriots. But
their losses in relation to the num-
Der OF planes involved were heavy,
and the attempt was not pressed on
a large scale. The Russians, how
ever, apparently did nothing to help.
They had airbases close at hand
but no Soviet planes flew to the re-
lief Of the Poles. Nor does it appear
that the use of Russian bases ever
was offered to the Allied pilots try
ing to get in from the Mediter-
ranean. They had to make a round
trip flight.
1t may be said that any relief
effort would have been a futile one.
General sosnkowski may be anti
Russian and he may be the worst
sort Of bull in the diplomatic china
shop. The Polish government may
have blundered in a maneuver for
political advantage. But none of
these things, even If true. can alter
the fact that the little men In War
saw who rose up against the COM
mon enemy threw everything they
had, including their lives. into the
scales on the Allied side. And so
far as the record shows, the effort
to save them was far less determined
than 1t might have been. This is
the really tragic aspect of the War
saw revolt. the riddle" Which cries
out for truthful explanation rather
than recriminations.