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Posts: 88
Oct 28 12 2:23 PM
"We feel that this is no time for half measures and that every effort should be made to persuade Poland and Roumania to agree to the use of their territory by Russian forces. In our opinion it is only logical that the Russians should be given every facility for rendering assistance and putting their maximum weight into the scale on the side of the anti-aggression powers. We consider it so important to meet the Russians in this matter that, if necessary, the strongest pressure should be exerted on Poland and Roumania to persuade them to adopt a helpful attitude.
It is perfectly clear that without early and effective Russian assistance, the Poles cannot hope to stand up to a German attack for more than a limited time... The supply of arms and war material is not enough. If the Russians are to collaborate in resisting German aggression against Poland or Roumania they can only do so effectively on Polish or Roumanian soil; and...if permission for this were withheld till war breaks out, it would then be too late. The most the Allies could then hope for would be to avenge Poland and Roumania and perhaps restore their independence as a result of the defeat of Germany in a long war.
Without immediate and effective Russian assistance the longer that war would be, and the less chance there would be of either Poland or Roumania emerging at the end of it as independent states in anything like their present form.
We suggest that it is now necessary to present this unpalatable truth with absolute frankness to both the Poles and to the Roumanians. To the Poles especially it ought to be pointed out that they have obligations to us as well as we to them; and that it is unreasonable for them to expect us blindly to implement our guarantee to them if, at the same time, they will not co-operate in measures designed for a common purpose.
The conclusion of a treaty with Russia appears to us to be the best way of preventing a war. ... At the worst if the negotiations with Russia break down, a Russo-German rapproachment may take place of which the probable consequence will be that Russia and Germany decide to share the spoils and concert in a new partition of the Eastern European States."
Committee on Imperial Defense, Deputy Chiefs of Staff Subcommittee meeting of August 16, 1939. Quoted in Sidney Aster "1939 The Making of the Second World War" and Michael Carley "1939 - The Alliance that Never Was and the Coming of World War II"
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