The discovery of a mass grave of 8,000 Polish officers was tragic. The massacre erased in one action many future leaders and the best of Polish society including doctors and teachers within its ranks. A terrible crime had been committed, but for what and why had it happened

Reactions to the Katyn massacre were governed by its repercussions on the adversaries in question, the British, American, German, Russian and Polish. 

The exact number of those killed at Katyn has never been confirmed, but following the discovery of bodies at other sites the total seems to have been at least 15,000.

Once the German revelations were made they were quick to accuse the Russians of guilt, of course the Russians denied any involvement in it.  But they answered with an accusation of their own, they accused the Germans of the killings; to all it seemed given that the Germans were at war with Russia it made sense that the Germans were the guilty party.

Through the propaganda machines of both Russian and German military, claim and counter claim were made. For years arguments raged on as to who was really to blame. 

It was only in 1990, when the Soviet Communist government had implemented "Perestroika, Truth " an admission by the Soviet Government that Stalin had ordered the execution of the Polish officers emerged.   This had been done by the NKVD Russia's secret police.

The  British Governments reaction to the discovery at the time of the Massacre were laid out in a  file in the Foreign and  Commonwealth Office and in Special Operations Executive's files as the result of the Ultra intercepts at Bletchley Park. The full details were kept secret until the 1950s.

While the Special Operations Executive documents do not add any factual detail, they do shed light on the effect that they had on the British Government's approach to the massacre the implications in its dealings with  its Allies and the success of war against Germany.

Initially the British official reaction to the German revelations and accusations of Russian guilt was that they were not genuine.  But  if left to gather momentum, would provide the Germans with endless opportunity to discredit any further propaganda given out by the British Government and its allies