POLAND IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR 357Varsovians to rise, and then condemned them for doing so, can conceivably be
explained in terms of the time-lag before routine propaganda was adjusted to
the changing military situation. The Soviets' change of tactic in the second week
of September inspired little confidence. After protracted intransigence, Stalin
only granted permission to the Western Allies to land their aircraft behind the
Soviet lines beyond Warsaw, 'because we can hardly prohibit it'. Co-ordination
remained perfunctory. The quantity of Soviet assistance was minimal. Churchill
was convinced that the Russians 'wished to have the non-Communist Poles
destroyed to the full, but also to keep alive the idea that they were going to their
rescue'. Undoubtedly, Stalin comes out of the episode with no credit. At the
same time, there was little reason to expect that in the middle of the 'Great
Patriotic War' the Soviet Dictator should have made a generous gesture to allies
of their allies, or to people who were fundamentally opposed to everything he
stood for, if the Western leaders were not willing to prompt him.
Western observers were mesmerized by a conflict of a sort which they them-
selves had not experienced. To the British and Americans, at a point when the
Western Front in Nofmandy had only just been established, it was unthinkable
that the Soviet alliance should be upset for the sake of the Poles. But it also seems
to have been the case that the British and Americans were so ill prepared for
dealing with Stalin that they did not dare to raise polite queries about Poland,
let alone to press their case with determination. By 1944, no one wanted to be
reminded of the fact that the Soviet Union, hardly less than the Nazi enemy, had
been responsible for the outbreak of war. Even today, western public opinion
finds difficulty in grasping the paradox that their salvation from Nazi Germany
was largely undertaken by the colossal sacrifices of a Soviet ally whose practices
were hardly less abhorrent than those of the common Nazi enemy. It is still sep-
arated by a world of incomprehension from those Poles in Warsaw in 1944 who
faced the paradox in the most immediate form. Churchill was alive to the ago-
nies of the situation, and did his best to impress them on Roosevelt. In his pri-
vate letters to the American President, he regularly enclosed detailed
descriptions of the fighting in Warsaw, and on one occasion the text of an appeal
by Polish women to the Pope:
Most Holy Father, we Polish women in Warsaw are inspired with sentiments of pro-
found patriotism and devotion to our country. For three weeks, while defending our
fortress, we have lacked food and medicine. Warsaw is in ruins. The Germans are killing
the wounded in hospitals. They are making women and children march in front of them
in order to protect their tanks. There is no exaggeration in reports of children who are
fighting and destroying tanks with bottles of petrol. We mothers see our sons dying for
freedom and the Fatherland. Our husbands, our sons, and our brothers are not consid-
ered by the enemy to be combatants. Holy Father, no-one is helping us. The Russian
armies which have been for three weeks at the gates of Warsaw have not advanced a step.
The aid coming to us from Great Britain is insufficient. The world is ignorant of our fight.
God alone is with us. Holy Father, Vicar of Christ, if you can hear us, bless us Polish
women who are fighting for the Church and for freedom.