KATYN MEMORIAL WALL - Despatches of the British Ambassador to Poland

DESPATCHES OF THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR
TO POLAND, 1943-1944

British Embassy to Poland,
45, Lowndes Square, S.W.1.
May 24th, 1943.

No. 52,
Most Secret.

Sir,
With reference to my despatch No. 51 of today's date, I have the honour to transmit herewith a translation of a telegram dated May 15th and received by the Polish Government from the Polish underground organisation in Warsaw.

2. I am inclined to think that the source from which I received this telegram had not been authorized to give it to me by the Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister, and it may be that the text has not been communicated to all members of the Polish Cabinet. Leakage to the enemy would of course at once put the Polish underground organisation and the lives of certain identifiable members of it in jeopardy.

3. For these reasons I request that the text, and the fact that I have received it, and the substance of the message may be treated as particularly secret, and that, if a copy of this despatch is sent to any Government Department which works in close connection with any section of the Polish Government, the individuals in that Department should be warned not to refer to it to their Polish collaborators.

I have the honour to be, with the highest respect, Sir,
Your most obedient humble Servant,
(signed) Owen O'Malley

The Right Honourable
Anthony Eden, M.C., M.P.
etc., etc., etc.

Enclosure

Translation. Telegram from Poland, dated May 15, 1943.

1. At the foot of a hillock is an "L"-shaped mass-grave, which has been completely opened up. Its dimensions are: 16x26x6 metres. The bodies of the murdered men have been carefully arranged in from 9 to 12 layers, one on the top of the other, each layer with the heads laid in opposite directions. The uniforms, notes in the pockets, passports and decorations are well preserved. The skin, hair and tendons have remained in such a good state that in order to carry out the trepanning it was necessary to cut under the skin and tendons. The faces were however unrecognizable.
2. Perpendicular to the first grave is a second mass-grave which up to now has been partially opened up. Its dimensions are 14x16 metres. All the bodies in this grave have the hands tied behind them with a plait of string: in some cases the mouths have been gagged with handkerchiefs or rags: in some the head has been wrapped round with the skirt of an overcoat.
3. Up to now 906 bodies have been extracted, 76 per cent of which have been identified on the strength of passports, letters, etc., found on them.
4. It is presumed that in the two graves together there lie the bodies of from 2,500 to 4,000 officers: in only a few cases are they reserve officers in civilian dress.
5. Twelve persons, including one doctor and three non-commissioned officers of an ambulance unit, were present on behalf of the Polish Red Cross when the graves were opened up, the bodies identified and the documents found on them collected.
6. A characteristic feature is that nothing except watches has been removed from the murdered men: note-cases, money and papers are still in their pockets: sometimes even rings are still on the fingers.
7. All the bodies have a bullet wound in the back of the skull. The representatives of the Polish Red Cross who were present at the exhumation took pains to collect the bullets extracted from the heads of the murdered men, the revolver shells and ammunition lying in the mass-graves as well as the cords with which the hands of the murdered men had been tied. The entire material found was sent to the Polish Red Cross in Warsaw for Dr. Gorczycki.
8. In the presence of the author of this report there was taken from the clothing of Major Solski a diary written up to April 21st. The writer of the diary stated that from Kozielsk they were taken in prison vans to their destination, then taken to Smolensk where they spent the night: reveille was sounded at 4 a.m. and they were placed in prison motor cars. At a clearing in the forest they were turned out of the motor cars and at 6.30 taken to some buildings there, where they were told to give up their jewelry and watches. At this point the diary ends.
9. Under the supervision of the German authorities the Delegate of the Polish Red Cross is carrying out the exhumation and autopsies, besides collecting the papers. He has moreover established private contact with the local population. Whenever a body is identified a small tablet with a Red Cross number is attached to the bones. Afterwards all the bodies are put into a freshly dug, common grave. All of the officers identified were from Kozielsk with the exception of one from Starobielsk.
10. The clearing in the forest at Katyn covers several square kilometres: on it there used to be NKVD rest-houses. The local civilian population state that in March and April 1940 one transport of Polish officers to the number of from 200 to 300 used to arrive every day.

DESPATCHES OF THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO POLAND, 1943-1944

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