11. The Allies failed to gain approval to support the Warsaw Uprising
The most immediate source of aid to the Polish Home Army was the Red Army, just a few miles away from the fighting, and the Soviet Air Force. Churchill exhorted Stalin to use his military forces to break the stalemate in Warsaw, and in return received excuses about why the Soviet army could not intervene in a timely manner. Churchill then requested that the Soviets allow the RAF to use their advanced air bases to aid in the supply of foodstuffs and other necessary supplies to the resistance in Warsaw (and elsewhere in Poland) again meeting with Stalin’s disapproval and refusal, at least until it was obvious that the uprising would be quelled. Stalin then allowed delivery to Soviet bases. Most of the supplies flown in then went to the Red Army.
Churchill appealed to President Roosevelt to either exert his influence with Stalin, or intervene directly with the US Army Air Forces to aid the beleaguered Poles. In a flurry of telegrams, Churchill went so far as to suggest that the United States send aircraft laden with supplies to the Soviet bases without permission, in order to test the Soviet response. Roosevelt demurred. With his eye on the upcoming Yalta Conference, FDR had no desire to antagonize the already intransigent Stalin, and considered the events in Warsaw to be but a small piece of the overall picture when considering post-war Europe. Not until near the end of September did Stalin give grudging approval for limited support via his bases from the Western Allies, but by then the result of the Warsaw uprising was foreordained.
