http://timelines.com/1940/4/3/katyn-forest-massacre
On April 13, 1943, the Germans announced that mass graves had been
discovered in the Katyn Forest, in their area of occupation, containing
the bodies of thousands of Polish officers who had been shot in the
back of the head. The Germans charged the Soviet authorities with the
murder and appointed a multinational medical commission to probe the
matter. In May 1943, the commission reported that the graves contained
the bodies of 4,143 officers, of whom 2,914 were identified by documents
in their uniforms. It was the commission’s opinion that the men had
been shot to death in the spring of 1940. The Soviet authorities flatly
rejected the accusations of the German-appointed commission, arguing
that the Germans themselves had committed the deed when they had
occupied the area in July 1941.
The Katyn Forest massacre was a criminal act of historic proportions and enduring political implications. When Nazi occupation forces in April 1943 announced the discovery of several mass graves, propaganda minister Josef Goebbels hoped that international revulsion over the Soviet atrocity would drive a wedge into the Big Three coalition and buy Germany a breathing space, if not a victory, in its war against Russia. (A headline in the May 1943 Newsweek read: "Poles vs. Reds: Allied Unity Put to Test Over Officer Dead.") But Goebbels miscalculated. Despite overwhelming evidence of Soviet responsibility, Moscow blamed the Germans, and for the rest of the war Washington and London officially accepted the Soviet countercharge. When the Polish government-in-exile in London demanded an international inquiry, Stalin used this as a pretext to break relations. The Western allies objected but eventually acquiesced. Soon thereafter, the Soviet dictator assembled a group of Polish Communists that returned to Poland with the Red Army in 1944 and formed the nucleus of the postwar government, under the control of Moscow.
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