Evening star., 1944-10-04
American Officials
Worried by Impasse in
PoIish-Red Relations
ny JOSEPH II. BAIRD.

American ofiicials were frankl
worried today over the impasse II
Russian-Polish relations which ha
been high lighted by the tragic sur
render Of Gen. Boris forces in War
saw after SO days of bitter fightin,
within the capital.
Openly, at least, the administra
ton is following a ''hands-off" polio.
toward the bitter quarrel between
two OF Americas allies. Presiden
Roosevelt made this plain at hi
press conference late yesterday whel
he said that although he knew a!
much about the Warsaw affair al
any American, he did not know
enough to talk about 1t.
1t Is known, however, that in tn,
utmost secrecy American diplomat!
in London and Moscow have beer
attempting all along to use theil
good ofnces to aid in restoring rela.
tions between the Polish govern.
ment-in-exile and the Russians
There Is no reason to believe thai
these efforts will cease now. "
Admit Outlook Is Bleak.
However, diplomats frankly admit
the outlook is bleak for establishing
friendly relations between ths
Kremlin and Premier Mikolaj jczyk',
government. This fact was EN-.
phasized the other day when ths
Russian-spcnsored Polish Commit
tee of National Liberation charged
that Gen. Bor-who takes his orders
from London-was q criminal" for
having ordered his men into open
warfare against the Germans In
Warsaw before the Red Army waa
ready to cooperate.
This charge appeared particular
ly strange to American observers
who recalled that late In July the
Soviet publication, War and the
Working Glasses, proclaimed that
Warsaw would be the first European
capital to be liberated and, at the
same time, the Moscow radio was
exhorting the Poles to rise against
the Germans.
At the time Gen. Bor called his
hidden forces to arise against the
Germans, the Red Army was
pounding at the gates Of Warsaw
and there seemed every reason to
believe that within a matter OF
days If not hours the capital would
be liberated.
Red Strategy Unexplained.
No convincing explanation has
ever been given by Moscow as to
why the drive on Warsaw was stop
ped suddenly and Soviet military
energies were concentrated on the
Balkans and the Baltic states. A
two-fold explanation-and one that
Moscow certainly would deny-is
advanced by some observers here.
First. they believe, the Kremlin
wanted to make sure that the Red
Army was in effective control OF
the Baltic states and the Balkans
as Moscow regards the former as
an integral part of Russia and ths
latter. as a Soviet sphere of infiu.
ence and that. to realize thtss ambi.
ton, the direct drive Through
Posnd was temporarily abandoned
Second, that Gen. Bor was de.
liberately sacrificed because he ane
his forces were under the contro
Of the Polish government in Lon.
don rather than the Polish Com.
mittee Of National Liberation, and
that Russia wanted to discredit thu
London group In the eyes Of the
Polish people and make sure that
the Moscow committee would con.
troll Warsaw once the Germans were
ousted..
Another Red Mystery.
One mystery never explained /.
why the Russians refused to allow
British planes, which were dropping
supplies by parachute to Gen. Bor's
forces, to land at Russian bases. Al
q result of this, the planes were
compelled to make a nonstop
round trip from England to War
saw-a fact which greatly reduced
their carrying capacity and added
to the hazards of the journey.
The Russian attitude In this mat
ter has been deeply resented in
Great Britain and was the subject
of a question in the House of Com
mons the other day to Foreign Sec
retary Anthony Eden. He, like
President Roosevelt and Secretary
of State Hull, declined to make any
public statement on what has be-
come delicate and possibly danger
GUS issue among the Allies.
While the American Government
has never taken sides openly in
the Russian-Polish quarrel, Presi-
dent Roosevelt's recent appoint
men Of Arthur Bliss Lane as Am
bassador to the Polish government
in London. after more than a year
during which we had no envoy in
that post, indicates the administra- =
tion's support Of sPremier Miko-
lajczyk's group.
The only other possible explana-
tion of the Presidents act at this
particular time, observers point out,
Is that it was dictated by domestic
political considerations-that is, as
an appeal to the Polish American
v1,fa