Eugenia Maresch - Katyn 1940

Zbrodnia katyńska w świetle dokumentów (Katyn massacre in the light of documents) Gryf publication, London 1962 p.30. The story is based on recollections of Dr Wacław Mucho who survived Kozelsk.

TNA FO 371/31078 C 1370/19/55 and WO 208/1735A secure signal from Moscow to the DMI, War Office ML 2706, dated 1942 February 3, 12.54 hours; C 1786/19/55, another secure signal ML 2971 dated 1942 February 12 15.46 hours.

Anthony Robert Eden (1897–1977) Conservative Member of House of Commons 1923–1957; Under Secretary of State at FO 1931–1933, Foreign Secretary in Chamberlain’s Government. Minister for Dominions in 1939; War Minister May 1940; December 1940 to July 1945 Foreign Secretary; in 1945 Co-Chairman of UN Founding Conference in San Francisco; Foreign Secretary again in 1951–5, Prime Minister 1955–1957, resigned, Earl of Avon 1961, Member of the House of Lords.

Alexander Cadogan (1884–1968) Attaché in Istanbul 1909, Third Secretary in the FO in 1910, posted to Vienna in 1913–4, in FO between 1914–1919 as First Secretary, Private Secretary to Permanent Under Secretary of State 1919–1920, Acting Counsellor in FO 1928, KCMG in 1934; Envoy then Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Peking 1934–5, Deputy Under Secretary of State 1936, promoted to Permanent Under Secretary of State 1938–1946; 1946–1950 Permanent Representative to the United Nations Organisation in New York, retired 1950.

William Strang (1893–1978) MBE in 1918, Third Secretary in the FO, posted to Belgrade, Second Secretary attached to Anglo-Soviet Conference in 1924, First Secretary in 1925, acting Chargé d’ Affaires, Counsellor in Moscow 1930–1933; knew Serbo-Croat and Russian. CMG in 1932 and CB in 1939, Acting Assistant Under Secretary of State, KCMG in 1943; Joint Permanent Under Secretary of State; Political Advisor to Commander in Chief of British Forces of Occupation in Germany in 1945; General Secretary 1947, appointed Permanent Under Secretary of State 1949.

TNA, FO 371/31083 C 4929/19/55 secure signal, 1942 May 12 No. 731, ‘Immediate’ 1942 May 19 12.35 hours from FO to Kuibyshev.

Leslie R. Hulls (N N) Lt Col Gordon Highlanders, RNVR in 1917, Captain in 1920, MC, fought in the Caucasus during the Russian Revolution and knew the language. Commissioned in 1939 by Regular Army Emergency. Temporary Major in February 1941, Acting Lt Col in July 1941 as a Liaison Officer to General Anders with the Polish forces in Russia and Iraq. Accused of having too much influence over Anders, General Sikorski requested his relief in April 1943, but later retracted his charges. Hulls was not allowed to return to his post. In July 1943 Hulls was temporarily seconded to the Allied Liaison Directorate of the War Office and took a Civil Affairs course. In March 1944, he was still involved with evacuation of refugees including Poles. His superior Lt Gen F. G. Beaumont Nesbitt of the DMI considered him best qualified for the job.

TNA FO 371/97632 AU 1661/26, three typed copies of confidential reports written by Lt Col Hulls and sent via Military Attaché in Cairo to the War Office, dated Yangi-Jul 18 June 1942, the other two came from Qisil Rabat 29 October 1942 and 3 December 1942. Yangi-Jul copy with slight variations is also in WO 208/1735A C11048/152/G; Hulls’ reports were accurate and can easily be compared with the Russian documents of the time, acquired from the State Archives by the Polish Committee of historians and archivists of the CAW Central Military Archives in Warsaw between 1992 and 1997. Kol. WKA ( Wojskowa Komisja Archiwalna – Military Archives Committee) Syg. VIII.800.26/ 1 to 12.

Pyotr Stolypin (1862–1911) Russian Minister of Internal Affairs, was instrumental in repressing the revolutionary reactions of 1905–1907; assassinated in Kiev. Movement of thousands of prisoners required suitable transportation and passenger coaches with compartments were specially adapted for this purpose and nicknamed Stolypinki . The compartments had no windows and up to 14 people would be crammed in. The entrance had a reinforced iron grate, which could be opened only from the outside. There were small observation windows only on the corridor side, where armed guards were strategically positioned. In post Revolution times, such wagons were frequently seen coupled onto the normal passenger trains.

Translation by EM.

TNA CAB 65/34, minutes of the War Cabinet meeting, confidential Annex, 13 April 1943.

Edward Raczyński (1891–1993) Polish diplomat, representative at the League of Nations 1932–1934, Ambassador to Britain 1934–1945, acting Foreign Minister 1940–1943. Prominent émigré politician in London.

Marian Kukiel (1885–1973) General, politician and military historian; veteran of the Polish Legions and the Polish-Soviet war 1919–1920. Between the wars Professor at the Jagiellonian University. Joined the Sikorski government as Minister of Defence.

TNA FO 371/34577 C 5947, hand-written note by Frank Roberts with minutes by Alexander Cadogan and Anthony Eden regarding suggestions as to how to avoid an embarrassing reply in Parliament.

Owen St Clair O’Malley (1887–1974) Entered Diplomatic Service in 1911, served in China 1925 and Yugoslavia; FO between 1933–1937, Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico 1937–1938, British Embassy in Spain 1938–1939, Chargé d’Affaires in Budapest 1939–1941; Ambassador to the Polish government in exile in London 1941–1945, knighted 1943; after the war Ambassador to Portugal 1945–1947, retired in 1947; published historical articles and autobiography The Phantom Caravan , 1954.

Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum (PISM) KOL 12/16d, signal No. 2592 from Baghdad to the Polish Ministry of Defence in London 14 IV 1943. Translation by EM.

TNA FO 371/ 34577 C6160/258/55 a typescript of nine pages, despatch no 51, written by O’Malley 24 May 1943 with additional annexes and enclosures no 52; SPP Studium Polski Podziemnej (Polish Underground Movement Study Trust) A.7.1.1.deciphered signal sent 13 May 1943; FO 688/31/9 C6160/G; PREM 3/353.

Orme Sargent (1884–1962) Third Secretary FO 1911, Second Secretary in Berne 1917 First Secretary and Peace Delegate to Paris in 1919; Deputy Assistant Under Secretary of State posted to Paris, made CMG in 1925, Counsellor at FO 1926; Assistant Under Secretary of State 1933, CB 1936, KCMG 1937, promoted to Deputy Under Secretary of State in 1939; Permanent Under Secretary of State 1946, made KCB in 1947, GCMG in 1948, retired in 1949.

William Denis Allen (1910–1987) Third Secretary in the FO 1934, on Far East staff, Chargé d’ Affaires in Chunking 1942, FO during war time, First Secretary 1944, transferred to Washington in 1946, back in London head of German Political Department until 1949, Counsellor 1949–1953, made CMG 1950, Ambassador in Ankara till 1963, Deputy Under Secretary of State to 1967, retired in 1968. The quote is from FO 371/34577 C 6160/258/55.

At a Presidium meeting of 8 June 1943, it was decided to dissolve the Comintern, an International worker’s organisation, as of 10 June 1943.

Andrey Vyshinsky (1883–1954) politician, lawyer, from 1935–39 Procurator General of the USSR, from 1949–53 Minister of Foreign Affairs and a Delegate to the United Nations Organisation.