Poland in the UK

The United Kingdom already in 1917 accredited in London a representative of the Paris Polish National Committee, and in February 1919, as one of the first, recognised the de jure government of Ignacy Jan Paderewski and the independence of Poland. However, Prime Minister David Lloyd George was reluctant to do so. At the peace conference in Paris, the British opposed the government's demands in Warsaw regarding the western and northern borders and the incorporation of Gdańsk into Poland. During the international conference in Spa in July 1920, Great Britain proposed that the so-called "Curzon Line", which was harmful for Poland.

From February to April 1919, the political Inter-Allied Mission operated in Poland. The British were represented by the diplomat Esme Howard and later General Adrian Carton de Wiart, who later became the chairman of the British Military Mission. In the summer of 1920, a military contract was signed for the purchase of 100 fighter planes. The Polish army also received a small number of cannons and rifles. A dozen Polish pilots were trained in aviation schools in Great Britain. In July 1920, another Inter-Allied Mission arrived in Warsaw on the initiative of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who finally became convinced of the aggressiveness of the Bolsheviks. The British were represented by Edgar Vincent D'Abernon, Ambassador to Berlin, Horace Rumbold, MP in Warsaw, General Carton de Wiart and General Percy Radcliffe.

During the decisive battles for Warsaw in August 1920, in the capital of Poland, apart from the apostolic nuncio Achilles Ratti and the Italian envoy Francesco Tommasini, Lord D'Abernon remained, who in 1931 published a book describing the Battle of Warsaw: "The eighteenth decisive battle of the world: Warsaw 1920 ”, translated into Polish. It is still a work that best promotes around the world the heroic struggle of Poland against the Bolshevik invasion.

General Adrian Carton de Wiart was awarded the Order of War of Virtuti Militari and the Cross of Valor. After the war, he remained in Poland as a resident of British intelligence. In the summer of 1939, he became the head of the British military mission in Warsaw.

Picture:
Gen. Adrian Carton de Wiart, photo from the painting by Wojciech Kossak (before 1939). Source: Polona.pl