Unknown documents that trace Polish-American intelligence

The Truth About Polish Espionage
17 czerwiec 2001

Unknown documents that trace Polish-American intelligence cooperation during World War II were recently discovered in the National Archives in Washington DC.

Polish historian Dr. Rafał Wnuk, a researcher with the Political Studies Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), uncovered the documents. On Foreign Minister Władysław Bartoszewski's initiative, in cooperation with the United States government, a special scientific program was launched several months ago to search archives in the United States for documents from Polish intelligence proving its cooperation with the Allies in 1939-1945. The first phase of the program has already uncovered over 200 documents that confirmed earlier information from historians that American military intelligence to a large extent used Polish intelligence networks in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and the occupied territories of the Soviet Union.

Polish intelligence operated in Germany, all the occupied European countries, the Balkans, North Africa and the Middle East. In 1942-1945, it transferred a total of several thousand reports containing critical information to the United States. However, finding them is not easy, mainly due to the principles guiding the storage of such materials in the United States-they are classified in archives according to subject, not source. Moreover, some of the recently discovered Polish intelligence documents bear notes stating that they were provided by British intelligence.

U.S. intelligence utilized Polish cooperation to verify news and data obtained from the German Enigma coding machine, whose code, incidentally, was broken with the assistance of Polish deciphering experts.

Polish intelligence also provided information about the effect of Allied bombings on the structure of German fortifications, the German arms industry and the construction of new arms, among other things. Military and economic data from the occupied territories of Poland and the Soviet Union were also important, as this area was the direct backdrop of the German eastern front. Polish agents also informed the Allies about the mood and morale of German society and the occupied countries.

"Poles are excellent at obtaining intelligence information. They are always the first ones to learn abut something," read one note, discovered by Wnuk, by one of the heads of U.S. strategic intelligence. "The Americans highly appreciated the efficiency of Polish intelligence. They even thought that the Polish network in occupied France was better than the French one," said Wnuk.

Polish intelligence also provided information about the tragic situation of Jews and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The Polish emigre government in London gave the Allies similar information.
Hanna Markert