As the House is away, certain consultations are now proceeding with other Governments. To make perfectly clear the position of the Government in the meantime before those consultations are concluded, I now have to inform the House that, during that period, in the event of any action which clearly threatened Polish independence and which the Polish Government accordingly considered it vital to resist with their national forces, the Government would feel themselves bound at once to lend the Polish help. They have given the Polish Government an assurance to this I may add that the French Government have authorised me to make it plain that they stand in the same position in this matter as do his Majesty's Government.

Our obligations to Poland will of course be honoured; not only because our pledged word has been given, but also because it is now universally understood that something of much greater significance is at stake than the determination of one frontier or even the freedom of one people, however brave.

The world has to choose between order and anarchy. For too long it has staggered from crisis to crisis under the constant threat of armed force. We cannot live for ever at the pistol point. The love of the British people for peace is as great as ever, but they are no less determined that this time peace shall be based on the denial of force and a respect for the pledged word.

Hitler has invaded Poland. We heard the bad news on the wireless a few minutes after spotting two aeroplanes circling round each other. Just before breakfast about ten minutes to ten, I was returning from the privy when I heard aeroplanes in the sky. I thought it was manoeuvres. Then heard some machine-guns and then everyone

came out from the house to see what was happening. Grandpa said, "My God! It's war!" and rushed indoors to switch on the wireess. The grave news came in a special announcement that German forces have crossed the Polish border and our soldiers are defending our country. Everybody was stunned. With ears glued to the

loudspeaker we were trying to catch the fading words. The battery or accumulator, or both, were packing up. When we could no longer hear a whisper from the wireless set, Grandpa turned the switch off and looked at our anguished faces. He knelt in front of the picture of Jesus Christ and started to pray aloud. We repeated after Grandpa, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name."

Soon after tea, Uncle Tadeusz, my new Aunt Aniela and Papa arrived from Warsaw with some more bad news. Papa said that we were not going back to Warsaw because it was safer to stay here, in the village. He arranged for a wagon to bring our winter clothes and other belongings. I wondered what will happen to our school, but Mama said that when a country is fighting for its survival, there is no time for schooling. All evening Papa has been trying to get the wireless going but did not succeed. Tomorrow, he'll try to get to Warsaw and see what can be done about the set which is so vital to us just now. Please, dear God, let our brave soldiers beat the nasty Germans.

On Friday morning the young butcher's lad came and told us: There had been a wireless announcement, we already held Danzig and the Corridor, the war with Poland was under way, England and France remained neutral, said to Eva, then a morphine injection or something similar was the best thing for us, our life was over. But then we said to one another, that could not possibly be the way things were, the boy had often reported absurd things (he was a perfect example of the way in which people take in news reports). A little later we heard Hitler's agitated voice, then the usual roaring, but could not make anything out. We said to ourselves, if the report were even only half true they must be already putting out the flags. Then down in town the dispatch of the outbreak of war.

Germany's sudden attack on Poland yesterday morning has been followed by an ultimatum to Germany by Great Britain and France. Germany is warned that unless the German troops are immediately withdrawn Britain and France will without hesitation fulfil their obligations to Poland.

This announcement was made by the Premier last night in a crowded House of Commons. Mr. Chamberlain said :

"If the reply to this last warning is unfavourable - and I do not suggest that it is likely to be otherwise - his Majesty's Ambassador is instructed to ask for his passport.

We shall stand at the bar of history knowing that the responsibility for this terrible catastrophe lies on the shoulders of one man - the German Chancellor. He has not hesitated to plunge the world into misery in order to serve his own senseless ambitions.

Eighteen months ago I prayed that the responsibility might not fall on me to ask the country to accept the awful arbitrament of war. I fear I am not able to avoid that responsibility.

It only remains to set our teeth and enter upon this struggle, which we so earnestly endeavoured to avoid, with a determination to see it through to the end.

We shall enter it with a clear conscience and with the support of the Dominions and the British Empire and the moral approval of the greater part of the world.

We have no quarrel with the German people except that they allowed themselves to be governed by a Nazi Government. As long as that government pursues the method which it has so persistently followed during the last two years there will be no peace in Europe."

I refer to the meeting that took place today in Berlin and want to point out once again that the overall measures planned (thus, the final objective) must be kept strictly secret.

Distinctions must be drawn between: (1) the final objective (which will require more extensive time periods), and (2) the phases towards fulfillment of the final objective (which will be carried out on a short-term basis).

It is obvious that the task ahead cannot be determined from here in every detail. The following instructions and guidelines will simultaneously serve the purpose of prompting the commanders of Special Units to do some practical thinking.

I. The first prerequisite for the final objective will be, for one, the concentration of Jews from the countryside into larger cities. This must be carried out expeditiously. Attention must be paid to the requirement that only such cities may be designated as areas of concentration which are either railway junctions or are at least situated on a railway line. One prevailing basic rule will be that Jewish congregations of less than 500 members will be dissolved and moved to the nearest city of concentration

II. Jewish Council of Elders.

(1) Each Jewish congregation must set up a Jewish Council of Elders it will be fully responsible, in the truest sense of the word, for an exact and prompt execution of all past or future directives.

(2) In case of sabotage of such directives, the councils will be advised that most severe measures will be taken.

(3) Deadlines given to the Jews for departure into the cities.

As I expected, Maisky defended Russia's actions in Poland and the Baltic States on the grounds that it was essential "that certain vital strategic points should be under her own control". He claimed that his country's demands had not been grasping. The Soviet frontier with Poland even now included less territory than Tsarist Russia had held. As for the Baltic States, the problem was once again strategic. In a world such as this, 'where wild beasts are loose, every country has to

take certain precautions for its own safety.' I replied that this did not justify the Soviet action in Finland, which country enjoyed great sympathy all over the world.

Efforts have been made by enemies of the Soviet Union to associate the Non-Aggression Pact with the invasion of Poland. Nothing could be further from the truth. Poland was betrayed when Colonel Beck, supported by Chamberlain and Daladier, refused the aid of the Red Army. There was no other means in this world of saving Poland. Hitler had an army over a million strong in East Prussia and along the Polish frontier, a great mechanised army, capable of carrying through the encirclement of Warsaw. The only possible way to stop such a movement was for two great Soviet armies to move into Poland, one from the north-west towards East Prussia, the other from the south- west towards Cracow. With such a deployment, Warsaw and all Poland would have been safe.

Yesterday the Germans, with the help of the Jewish police, rounded up young Jewish girls, and women both young and old, and also men with and without beards on the street and in particular among the occupants of 38 Dzielna Street. Two lorry-loads of German, air force, SS and men from other units, as well as a smaller vehicle with officers in it, drew up at the entrance of 38 Dzielna Street. First of all they photographed all the young girls - incidentally, they then picked out girls and women who were particularly respectable-looking and expensively dressed. Then they pushed all the Jewish men and women in to the bath-house that is in the corner of the courtyard of the above mentioned building. Once inside they photographed all the women again. Then they forced the men and women to strip completely naked. German officer divided them into pairs made of one from each sex from among the Jews. They matched young girls to old men, and conversely, young boys to old women. Then they forced the two sexes to commit a sexual act. These scenes were filmed with special apparatus that had been brought in for that purpose.

The Warsaw rising had begun on August 1st. It was set off by the local Polish commander without consultation with us and without co-ordination with the Soviet forces advancing on the city, though the Poles had tried, and continued to try, to establish contact with the Russians. However, the Soviets had themselves a direct responsibility, for it was their organization, the so-called Union of Polish Patriots, which had called on the population to rise on July 29th. When Mikolajczyk arrived in Moscow two days later, Stalin promised that he would send help to the insurgents.

It is true that a German counter-attack held up the Soviet advance and that it was not the Russian habit to assault a city frontally. Yet, when all is said, the conclusion seems inescapable that Stalin, surprised by the vigour and success of the rising, was content to see the underground and the remaining political and intellectual leaders of Poland destroyed. It did not suit him that the Poles should liberate their capital themselves; nor could he allow Mikolajczyk and his followers to return to Poland with their underground organization intact. He now refused to let American aircraft land on Soviet airfields after dropping supplies on Warsaw. British aircraft, many with Polish pilots, flew to their extreme range from the Mediterranean, but could hardly affect the issue.

The Polish Prime Minister and Foreign Minister were at this meeting. They announced that the underground in Poland were prepared to come into the open and meet the conditions of the Soviet commanders without any prior agreement between the two Governments. As against this, M. Mikolajczyk told us that the underground were determined to maintain Poland's territorial integrity. This was natural enough for men who were risking their lives in a Poland remote from our discussions, but Mikolajczyk added that the fact that he was willing to discuss frontier questions had troubled the Poles in his own land.

Three days later I spoke to the Soviet Ambassador, telling him that the Prime Minister and I were anxious to reach a solution, not only because of the Polish question itself, but because failure would have repercussions on all Anglo-American-Soviet co-operation. The British people could never forget that they had gone to war on account of the invasion of Poland. I told him that, as leader of the House of Commons, I knew there was a growing feeling among many members that Poland must be given a fair deal. When I added that the Poles were suspicious that the Soviet Government did not wish their Government to return to Warsaw, but would prefer to set up a communist administration, Mr. Gusev emphatically denied this.

We learned yesterday that the cause of the United Nations had suffered a most grievous loss. It is my duty to express the feelings of this House, and to pay my tribute to the memory of a great Polish patriot and staunch ally General Sikorski. His death in the air crash at Gibraltar was one of the heaviest strokes we have sustained.

From the first dark days of the Polish catastrophe and the brutal triumph of the German war machine until the moment of his death on Sunday night he was the symbol and the embodiment of that spirit which has borne the Polish nation through centuries of sorrow and is unquenchable by agony. When the organized resistance of the Polish Army in Poland -was beaten down, General Sikorski's first thought was to organize all Polish elements in France to carry on the struggle, and a Polish army of over 80,000 men presently took its station on the French fronts. This army fought with the utmost resolution in the disastrous battles of 1940. Part fought its way out in good order into Switzerland, and is today interned there. Part marched resolutely to the sea, and reached this island.

Here General Sikorski had to begin his work again. He persevered, unwearied and undaunted. The powerful Polish forces which have now been accumulated and equipped in this country and in the Middle East, to the latter of whom his last visit was paid, now await with confidence and ardor the tasks which lie ahead. General Sikorski commanded the devoted loyalty of the Polish people now tortured and struggling in Poland itself. He personally directed that movement of resistance which has maintained a ceaseless warfare against German oppression in spite of sufferings as terrible as any nation has ever endured. This resistance will grow in power until, at the approach of liberating armies, It will exterminate the German ravagers of the homeland.

I was often brought into contact with General Sikorski in those years of war. I had a high regard for him, and admired his poise and calm dignity amid so many trials and baffling problems. He was a man of remarkable pre-eminence, both as a statesman and a soldier, His agreement with Marshal Stalin of July 30th, 1941, was an outstanding example of his political wisdom. Until the moment of his death he lived in the conviction needs of the common struggle and in the faith that a better Europe will arise in which a great and independent Poland will play an honorable part. We British here and throughout the Commonwealth and Empire, who declared war on Germany because of Hitler's invasion of Poland and in fulfillment of our guarantee, feel deeply for our Polish allies in their new loss.

We express our sympathy to them, we express our confidence in their immortal qualities, and we proclaim our resolve that General Sikorski's work as Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief shall not have been done in vain. The House would, I am sure, wish also that its sympathy should be conveyed to Madame Sikorski, who dwells here in England, and whose husband and daughter have both been simultaneously killed on duty.

After the conquest of Poland by Germany in September 1939 a Polish government in exile had been formed by General Sikorski in Paris; it later moved to London. This government in exile demanded territorial expansion in the West after the conclusion of the war against Germany, but it also demanded territorial acquisitions in the East, namely the Eastern Galician oil region which Poland had taken from Russia in the war of 1920 and which the Russians had ceded to the Poles in the subsequent Treaty of Riga. The Russians had taken back this area, under an agreement with Hitler, after the Germans had marched into Poland in September 1939.

Soviet Russia had no intention of giving up Eastern Galicia and the British government found itself in a difficult situation when, in the summer of 1941, Russia became Britain's ally. As Herr von Weiss told me more than once, the anti-Soviet tendency of the Polish exile government in London was quite obvious. In the meantime in Moscow a group of Poles friendly to the Soviets had constituted itself as the 'Union of Polish Patriots' on 1 March 1943.

A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory. Nobody knows what Soviet Russia and its Communist international organization intends to do in the immediate future, or what are the limits, if any, to their expansive and proselytizing tendencies. I have a strong admiration and regard for the valiant Russian people and for my wartime comrade Marshal Stalin. There is sympathy and goodwill in Britain - and I doubt not here also - toward the peoples of all the Russias and a resolve to persevere through many differences and rebuffs in establishing lasting friendships.

We understand the Russians need to be secure on her western frontiers from all renewal of German aggression. We welcome her to her rightful place among the leading nations of the world. Above all we welcome constant, frequent, and growing contacts between the Russian people and our own people on both sides of the Atlantic. It is my duty, however, to place before you certain facts about the present position in Europe - I am sure I do not wish to, but it is my duty, I feel, to present them to you.

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of central and eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in the Soviet sphere and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and increasing measure of control from Moscow. Athens alone, with its immortal glories, is free to decide its future at an election under British, American, and French observation. The Russian-dominated Polish government has been encouraged to make enormous and wrongful in-roads upon Germany, and mass expulsions of millions of Germans on a scale grievous and undreamed of are now taking place.

The Communist parties, which were very small in all these Eastern states of Europe, have been raised to preeminence and power far beyond their numbers and are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control. Police governments are prevailing in nearly every case, and so far, except in Czechoslovakia, there is no true democracy. Turkey and Persia are both profoundly alarmed and disturbed at the claims which are made upon them and at the pressure being exerted by the Moscow government. An attempt is being made by the Russians in Berlin to build up a quasi-Communist Party in their zone of occupied Germany by showing special favors to groups of left-wing German leaders.