To: Wharf Rat who wrote (1444246 ) 3/5/2024 3:44:08 PM From: maceng2 Respond to An interesting point Rat. I looked at Google, the source of all my truths, to find out more....Anglo-Polish alliance - Wikipedia protocol to the 1921 Franco-Polish Military Alliance , but it was not ratified by France until 4 September.Soviet Union invaded Poland through the eastern Polish border in keeping with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact 's secret protocol specifying the division of Poland. According to the Polish–British Common Defence Pact, the United Kingdom should give Poland "all the support and assistance in its power" if Poland was "engaged in hostilities with a European Power in consequence of aggression by the latter". The Polish ambassador in London, Edward Bernard Raczynski , contacted the British Foreign Office to point out that clause 1(b) of the agreement, which concerned an "aggression by a European power" on Poland, should apply to the Soviet invasion. Halifax responded that the obligation of British government towards Poland that arose out of the Anglo-Polish Agreement was restricted to Germany, according to the first clause of the secret protocol. [3] edit ]The Polish historian Pawel Wieczorkiewicz wrote, "Polish leaders were not aware of the fact that England and France were not ready for war. They needed time to catch up with the Third Reich, and were determined to gain the time at any price". The publicist Stanislaw Mackiewicz stated in the late 1940s, "To accept London's guarantees was one of the most tragic dates in the history of Poland. It was a mental aberration and madness". On the same day that Britain pledged its support of Poland, Lord Halifax stated, "We do not think this guarantee will be binding".[ citation needed ] Another British diplomat, Alexander Cadogan , wrote in his diary: "Naturally, our guarantee does not give any help to Poland. It can be said that it was cruel to Poland, even cynical".Józef Beck wrote in his memoirs, "The negotiations, carried out in London by Colonel Adam Koc , immediately turned into theoretical discussion about our financial system. It was clear that Sir John Simon and Frederick Leith-Ross did not realize the gravity of the situation. They negotiated in purely financial terms, without consideration for the rules of the wartime alliance. As a result, the English offer gave us no grounds for quick reinforcement of our army".Turkey received at the same time. Poland had asked for a loan of £60 million. [25]
