Anthony is of the opinion that it could be better for the present not to renew the attempt to acquire permission for contact officers to enter Poland proper in order to visit liberated British prisoners of war, chiefly because the British contact have now proceeded to bumps at Low and VVolkovysk where they will report whether points of concentration exist west of the Curaon Line, the estimated number of ex-prisoners remaining to be evacuated to these two camps and also the general condition of the ex-prisoners. So far the Soviet authorities have denied that there are any points of concentration or any prisoners of war in hospitals in Poland west from Marshal Stalin and M. Molotov ignore this aspect of the question and there is an obvious advantage deciding whether to return to the charge, since if these reports bear out what has already been obtained for renewing the attempt to secure permission for contact officers to enter Poland proper. Anthony has no doubt that this would be strongly opposed, because the Soviet Government suspects that the contact officers would, under cover of dealings with prisoners of war, proceed to contact Polish leaders, and, in fact to covert themselves into the proposed Observation Mission. Anthony has requested me to communicate to you his views set forth in the preceding paragraph regarding the next step to be taken in these discussions with the Soviet authorities and to Enquirer whether the United States Government is in agreement. |