Britain and Poland 1939-1943: The Betrayed Ally

250 Pages·1995·5.7 MB·English

by  Anita J. Prazmowska

Poland was a problematic issue for the Big Powers throughout the Second
World War. For Britain, Poland was a major stumbling block in British-Soviet
relations, as Polish-Soviet territorial disputes clashed with the needs of the
British-Soviet-United States alliance. As the Polish government-in-exile
attempted to obtain a guarantee of British support, and many thousands of
Polish troops fought for the British cause, the perception grew that the
Churchill government had a debt to pay. Ultimately, however, it was a debt
which Britain could not discharge because of its dependence on Soviet
participation in the war.
In this book Anita Prazmowska looks at British policies from the point of
view of wartime strategy, relating this to Polish government expectations and
policies. She describes a tragic situation where Polish soldiers were trapped
between the grandiose and unrealistic plans of their government and the
harsh realities of a war which they fought with no prospect of a satisfactory
outcome for them or their country.

BRITAIN AND POLAND, 1939-1943
Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies: 97
Editorial Board
Stephen White (General editor)
Roy Allison Mary Buckley Saul Estrin Anthony Kemp-Welch
Catherine Merridale Judith Shapiro
Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies, under the auspices of
Cambridge University Press and the British Association for Slavonic and East
European Studies (BASEES), promotes the publication of works presenting
substantial and original research on the economics, politics, sociology and
modern history of Russia, the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies
97 ANITA J. PRAZMOWSKA
Britain and Poland, 1939-1943
The betrayed ally
96 JOHN DOYLE KL1ER
Imperial Russia's Jewish question 1855-1881
95 DON C. RAWSON
Russian rightists and the revolution of 1905
94 GRAEME GILL
The collapse of a single-party system
The disintegration of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
93 DONALD FILTZER
Soviet workers and the collapse of perestroika
The Soviet labour process and Gorbachev's reforms, 1985-1991
92 PETER GATRELL
Government, industry and rearmament in Russia, 1900-1914
The last argument of tsarism
91 LINDA RACIOPPI
Soviet policy towards South Asia since 1970
90 WENDY GOLDMAN
Women, the State and the family
Soviet family policy and social life, 1917-1936
89 JONATHAN C. VALDEZ
Internationalism and the ideology of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe
88 PETER RUTLAND
The politics of economic stagnation in the Soviet Union
The role of local party organs in economic management
87 DONALD FILTZER
Soviet workers and de-Stalinization
The consolidation of the modern system of Soviet production relations 1953-1964
86 M1LICA UVALIC
Investment and property rights in Yugoslavia
The long transition to a market economy
85 AVRIL PITTMAN
From Ostpolitik to reunification: West German-Soviet political relations since 1974
84 GEORGE O. LIBER
Soviet nationality policy and social change in the Ukrainian SSR 1923-1934
The urban harvest
83 CHRISTOPH BLUTH
Soviet strategic arms policy before SALT
82 JOHN P. W1LLERTON
Patronage and politics in the USSR
Series list continues on page 234
BRITAIN AND POLAND,
1939-1943
The betrayed ally
ANITA J. PRAZMOWSKA
1 CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP
40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA
10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia
© Cambridge University Press 1995
First published 1995
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data
Prazmowska, Anita.
Britain and Poland, 1939-1943: the betrayed ally/Anita J. Prazmowska.
p. cm. - (Cambridge Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet studies; 97)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0 521 40309 X
1. World War, 1939-1945 - Diplomatic history.
2. Great Britain - Foreign relations - Poland.
3. Poland - Foreign relations - Great Britain.
I. Title. II. Series.
D750.B7 1995
940.53'2-dc20 94-26412 CIP
ISBN 0 521 40309 X hardback
ISBN 0 521 48385 9 paperback
Transferred to digital printing 2003
Contents
Preface page ix
Map xii
1 The formation of the Polish government-in-exile:
ideology and war plans 1
2 Britain and German expansion in Eastern and
South-eastern Europe 28
3 Britain's only fighting ally 54
4 Britain, Poland and the Soviet Union: June-December 1941 82
5 1942, year of disappointments 114
6 The illusion of an alliance ends 139
7 1943, the end of Polish-Soviet co-operation 166
Conclusion 191
Notes 199
Bibliography 217
Index 224

Preface
I would not wish to deny that I have come to this subject because of its
deeply emotive nature. Most current analysis of contemporary Polish
history seems inevitably to founder on the question of why it was that
Poland neither obtained recognition for her suffering and sacrifices
during the Second World War nor secured the return of her territories
after the war. Thus the search for those who are in some way respon-
sible for this disaster is a common theme in political and historical
debates. This work has been my attempt to face some of the most
puzzling and painful events in recent Polish history. I do not wish to
seek those responsible for failures.
In this enquiry into the nature of Polish-British relations during the
years 1939-1943,1 did not find within the two governments' war aims
areas of common concern going beyond their obvious wish to see
Germany defeated. During the inter-war period, Polish territorial and
political objectives had been different from those of the British govern-
ment. While I do not claim that major issues separated the two from
the first day of the war, I have found that little united the two Allies.
The Polish government-in-exile set out for itself a programme of
establishing for Poland a right at the end of the war to sit at the
negotiating table as one of the key wartime Allies. The means of
achieving this was to make a vital and credible military contribution to
the joint war effort. It was inevitable that this programme would not
be taken seriously by the British government. Britain's continental
policy developed hesitantly during the course of 1939 and the first half
of 1940. The need to secure imperial support and to guarantee commu-
nication links was a powerful distraction from purely Central Euro-
pean preoccupations. In addition to that the need to take into account
the foreign policy objectives of the Roosevelt administration and to
deal with the consequences of Japanese aggression became the top
priorities by 1941.
x Preface
The German attack on the Soviet Union and the consequent
drawing in of the Soviet Union into allied political negotiations was to
confirm the incompatibility of Polish-British war aims. Henceforth the
Poles would have to fight for British attention in the face of the
increasingly important Soviet factor in British political and military
considerations. The Polish government, in spite of offering increased
numbers of men for co-operation with the British forces, became a
potential source of embarrassment and a constraint on Churchill's
dealings with the Soviet Union. By the beginning of 1943 the British
need for Soviet co-operation was too important for the Poles to be able
to compete with it. To Stalin, the Polish case became no more and no
less than a test of British goodwill. Churchill understood this. While he
strove to maintain Soviet co-operation it was inevitable that he should
view the Polish issue as a source of possible embarrassment.
While writing this book I have had to tackle assumptions which
form part of my heritage. I hope that I have been successful in this and
that I have by this process challenged some of those preconceptions, or
at least signalled the need to challenge them.
My work has been assisted throughout by grants from the British
Academy. I have been fortunate in being granted access to most of the
archives containing papers relating to the period. I am therefore
grateful to the Public Records Office and the University of Birming-
ham where I consulted the Neville Chamberlain papers. The Polish
Institute and Sikorski Museum in London has been particularly gener-
ous with their help. There I was guided and generously advised by
Andrzej Suchcitz and Waclaw Milewski. The Pilsudski Institute in
London and the Instytut im. Ossolinskich in Wroclaw allowed me to
examine the General Sosnkowski archives in both institutions. The
Archiwum Akt Nowych and the archives of the Archiwum Ruchu
Ludowego, Warsaw made available to me the papers of Professor Kot.
The Liddel Hart Centre for Military Archives at King's College London
allowed me to consult the Alanbrooke papers. At the House of Lords I
was allowed to look at the archives of Lord Beaverbrook. I am grateful
to the librarians and archivists in all these institutions jor their assist-
ance which was always generously given. Sir Edward Cazalet was
particularly helpful in arranging for me to see the personal and private
papers of Victor Cazalet.
Friends and colleagues have offered their support and advice.
Professor Gabriel Gorodetsky explained the context of Soviet-British
co-operation in Iran to me. I remain grateful to him for allowing me to
see his notes on Cripps' personal papers, which were not available to