THE WAR IN REVIEW
THE WAR IN REVIEW SWEEPING westward in a spectacular Winter offensive that was described as imperiling the entire German position in the Ukraine, Red Army units under Gen. Nikolai Vatutin this week...
...Moscow had its own Polish government, the Union of Polish Patriots, busy this week...
...Whether de Gaulle's attitude is the result of the distrust in which he is held in London and Washington is not known, Taylor declared, but de Gaulle has reached a stage where he is absolutely unpredictable...
...In an article in the New York Times, so warmly pro-Russian in its tone that the Communist Daily Worker, in a mix-up of the party line, prescribed its sentiments for all "anti-Fascists," Willkie called for moderation and understanding of Russia's position in the crisis that would arise as the Red Army got closer to Poland...
...When, in 1920, the Allies finally set the Polish borders, the Polish government refused to abide by the decision and sent an expedition against the new Soviet government to enforce its demands...
...Reds Resent 'Interference' Hitting at the political elements in this country, which, he said, are attempting to stir up anti-Russian sentiment with the Polish issue, Willkie expressed the hope that Stalin would not provide them with the ammunition they sought by carving up Poland...
...In the notorious Nazi-Soviet pact oi that year, generally considered to have been Hitler's green light for the lunge against Poland, Berlin and Moscow agreed on a new partition of Poland...
...Apropos of Finland and Poland, not to mention the Balkan states," the Pravda article declared, "the Soviet Union can make the necessary agreements with those countries and does not need Mr...
...It called on the Poles to rise against the Germans and establish their own government without interference from the "reactionary emigre elements abroad...
...The subsequent Treaty of Riga established the boundary line which existed in 1939 at the outbreak of the war—the frontier which the Soviet troops have now crossed in their Winter offensive...
...The paper declared that the failure of the Anglo-American military campaign to make faster headway and the indiscriminate bombing of Italian civilians, "often without any useful military result," had alienated the Italian people and "disorganized anti-Fascist resistance...
...Subsequently, under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Poland agreed that her territorial boundaries not specifically defined in the Treaty should be "determined by the Allied and Associated Powers...
...When the smoke had cleared, the Reds were found to have pushed the Polish-Russian border far to the west of the line established by the Treaty of Riga and thus created the frontier now under dispute...
...The French too were contributing their usual share to the political turbulence of Europe...
...At midweek the Committee had undergone one of its recurring splits and was being boycotted by the Reds...
...Nikolai Vatutin this week marched across the border of "old" Poland and thus focused the world spotlight on what might well turn out to be one of the most controversial political issues of the war...
...In a drive for Kiev, the Polish Army was defeated and hurled back into Poland...
...The Polish government in exile whose leader, Prime Minister Stanyslaw Mikolajczyk, is expected to plump the problem directly in the lap of President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Hull in a visit to Washington, had ordered its underground in Poland to maintain an indifferent attitude toward the newly-arrived Russian troops...
...In the Pacific, there were disturbing signs that the Japanese were stiffening their resistance on all fronts...
...Willkie Told To Shut Up The Red Army moved into Poland at the same time that Hitler's Panzers struck from the west...
...Meanwhile, the Red Army continued its sensational drive, pursuing the fleeing Germans and threatening to cut off the last channels of escape for the hundreds of thousands of German troops in the Ukraine...
...Charles de Gaulle raised grave doubts about whether the Allies would be welcome in France when invasion time came...
...The controversy involved the conflicting claims of the Russian government and the Polish government-in-exile over the eastern boundary of Poland...
...Reporting from Algiers, Henry J. Taylor of the Scripps-Howard papers declared that Anglo-American bungling and the activities and personality of Gen...
...It was evident that Russia regarded the dispute as nobody's business but her own and that she would not brook mediation or arbitration from anyone...
...That attitude was made painfully clear this week to Wendell Willkie, who regards himself as the discoverer of modern Russia...
...The French Committee for National Liberation was engaged in another brawl—this time over plans for restoring the government of France when the war is won...
...At mid-week the storm was still raging...
...The 'Fighting' French Meanwhile, other political developments in Europe were claiming attention in the news...
...This attitude was made official by a Soviet announcement that Russia insists on her '39 frontiers and will countenance Polish compensation for these losses by seizure of land from Germany...
...A few days later, Pravda, official Communist Party paper, replied to the Republican leader in a blisteringeditor-ial, inviting him to mind his own business, and by implication, all others who would discuss Russia's western boundaries and the fate of the small nations' bordering on Soviet land...
...Willkie's help...
...Around that issue—the definition of Poland's territorial boundaries—a bitter international debate was already raging...
...Taylor said that de Gaulle is becoming more difficult and pompous every day and that underground elements coming to Algiers from France regard him as a plain opportunist...
...The Pravda article was interpreted as a reflection of the official Soviet view toward American "interference" in the boundary disputes in which Moscow is involved...
...To the peace settlement President Woodrow Wilson brought a proposal for the restoration of Poland, embodied in the 13th point of his ill-fated 14 Points...
...There followed a stormy period of bickering during which boundaries were established, revised, and withdrawn...
...The article went on to accuse Willkie, among other things, of "borrowing" German propaganda, "double dealing" in American politics, "currying favor" with anti-Soviet elements in America...
...They are to offer neither cooperation nor resistance...
...From Switzerland came the report that the Swiss newspaper, Libera Stampa, considered friendly to the Allies, had bitterly assailed Allied policy in Italy...
...Its roots were sunk deep in the age-old territorial disputes of Europe's war-soaked history...
...American troops were encountering savage opposition at both invasion points in New Britain, while in New Guinea the Australians were slowed down by an upsurge of enemy resistance...
...Roots In World War I Measured in terms of this generation's experience with European wars, the present dispute goes back to World War I, which resulted in the restoration of Poland as a European nation...
...With Allied help the Poles rallied before Warsaw and defeated the Red Army...
Vol. 8 • January 1944 • No. 3
