POLISH RESETTLEMENT CORPS (Hansard, 5 May 1948)

§ Mr. Bevin

A reply has now been sent, and was as follows:

"4th May, 1948.

Your Excellency,

His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom have given careful consideration to Your Excellency's note of the 1st April regarding the Polish Armed Forces under British Command and the Polish Resettlement Corps. While they welcome this opportunity of furnishing the Polish Government with detailed explanations, they regret that it should have been found necessary to revert to the general question of the Polish Armed Forces and the Polish Resettlement Corps—a question which has been the subject of so many communications and explanations in the past.

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2. The attitude of His Majesty's Government on the general question was clearly explained in Mr. Cavendish Bentinck's note of the 14th September, 1946. The Polish Government were then informed that the Corps was essentially non-military, its sole purpose being to enable His Majesty's Government to achieve the orderly and disciplined dispersal of its members into civil life. It was explained that the Corps was an unarmed body and that, as soon as suitable employment had been found for any member of it not wishing to emigrate overseas or to return to Poland, he would take up this employment as a civilian. Your Excellency was also informed that the decision to administer the Resettlement Corps by the British Military Authorities was not one which His Majesty's Government took willingly or until they had carefully examined all possible alternatives. They were obliged to adopt this arrangement because no other means could be devised of maintaining the framework of discipline within which training could be completed and confusion avoided during the interim period between armed service and normal civil life. The legal system of the United Kingdom, is concerned with the freedom of the individual and no civil machinery exists for controlling and disciplining a large organised body of foreign nationals. As a consequence, this task had inevitably to be assumed by the British Service Departments In any case, as Mr. Cavendish Bentinck's Note did not fail to make clear, the formation of some organisation of this kind was unavoidable since His Majesty's Government could not contemplate any sudden or unorganised demobilisation which would bring disorder into the housing and employment situation in the United Kingdom and would, moreover, be quite unfair to the Polish Service men concerned, many of whom had no experience of British conditions and did not speak English

3. The disbandment of the Polish armed forces in the west and the enlistment into the Polish Resettlement Corps of those men who did not wish to return to Poland have proceeded as fast as practicable, in view of the need to withdraw the military formations concerned from Italy, Germany, the Middle East and elsewhere His Majesty's Government have given every encouragement to the men to return to Poland, and have firmly discouraged any propaganda to prevent this. Over 100, 000 former Polish ex-service men have in fact returned

4. I fail to understand paragraph 4 of your note, which accuses the Polish Resettlement Corps of "war-like agitation" or "conducting diversionary subversive and intelligence activities directed against the Polish Government." In view of the serious nature of this allegation it would have been appropriate to furnish precise and well-supported evidence.

5. I may add that the Polish press in the United Kingdom receives no support, financial or otherwise, from funds which are or have been under British control Insofar as social funds of former Polish military units have been released, they have been devoted to Polish welfare work among Polish ex-service men in the United Kingdom.

6. As regards the case of 2nd Lieutenant Z. Gawlikowski, the necessary formalities had 136W to be completed before his release from the Resettlement Corps could become effective. No military restrictions were applied to him and be has now, in fact, been released.

7. There are now only 271 Polish service men and 503 of their families left in the Middle East, who are eligible to be brought to the United Kingdom. They are accommodated in a transit camp, which will be closed down immediately after their departure. The few remaining Polish military establishments in France are to be closed in the course of the next six weeks: thereafter there will be in France no Polish establishments or institutions under British command. No Polish camps under military control exist outside the United Kingdom other than those mentioned above.

8. Polish soldiers abroad who have refused to be repatriated to Poland or to join the Resettlement Corps have received the same treatment as those of their fellow-service men in the United Kingdom, who have made similar refusals.

9. In the 8th paragraph of your Note, it is alleged that the British Army Estimates afford evidence that His Majesty's Government have decided to prolong the existence of the Polish Resettlement Corps beyond the two year limit which had been laid down. In this connexion I feel bound to point out that no final limit for the existence of the Polish Resettlement Corps was ever laid down The decision was simply that any person enlisting into the Resettlement Corps did so for a period not exceeding two years. Strictly speaking therefore, the existence of the Resettlement Corps might have been prolonged until a date two years after the last man had been enlisted provided that he had not meanwhile been resettled into civilian life. Enlistment into the Resettlement Corps has been taking place steadily from the time when the Corps was established up to now This was due to the constant liquidation of the Polish Armed Forces overseas together with their enlistment into the Polish Armed Forces overseas together with their enlistment into the Polish Resettlement Corps as and when they arrived in the United Kingdom. With effect from 12th March last, however, and in order to hasten the final dissolution of the Corps, the maximum period of enlistment has been reduced to one year.

10. Having dealt with these specific points in Your Excellency's Note, I take this opportunity to explain the present position of the Polish Armed Forces under British Command and the Polish Resettlement Corps With the exception of a few invalids, the assessment of whose claims for pensions may take some time, the last few remaining units of the Polish Armed Forces under British Command will be liquidated before 1st July next, as stated in Parliament by the British Secretary of State for War.

11. The figures given in the 7th paragraph of Your Excellency's Note are approximately correct; the total number of men enrolled into the Resettlement Corps was approximately 112,000. Of these, over 9,000 have been repatriated to Poland and more than 6,000 have emigrated abroad The majority of the remainder have been satisfactorily placed in civilian employment in this country There remain in the Corps approximately 37,000 137W persons, many of whom have only reached the United Kingdom during the past six months: the resettlement of these is proceeding as quickly as possible.

12. His. Majesty's Government are as anxious as the Polish Government to liquidate as soon as possible and in an orderly manner, the difficult and expensive commitment represented by the Polish Resettlement Corps. I trust that the explanations given above will remove any doubts which the Polish Government may have entertained in this connexion.

I avail, etc.,

(Signed) D. St. Clair Gainer."