Polish military and political leader (1881?1941)
Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski
(
Polish pronunciation:
[vwa?d?swaf
?i?k?rsk?i]
ⓘ
; 20 May 1881 – 4 July 1943) was a
Polish
military and political leader.
Before
World War I
, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause of Polish independence. He fought with distinction in the
Polish Legions
during World War I, and later in the newly created
Polish Army
during the
Polish?Soviet War
of 1919?1921. In the latter war, he played a prominent role in the decisive 1920
Battle of Warsaw
.
In the early years of the
Second Polish Republic
, Sikorski held government posts including
prime minister
(1922?1923) and
minister of military affairs
(1923?1924). Following
Jozef Piłsudski
's
May 1926 Coup
and the installation of the
Sanation
government, he fell out of favor with the new regime.
During
World War II
, Sikorski became prime minister of the
Polish Government-in-Exile
,
Commander-in-Chief
of the
Polish Armed Forces
, and a vigorous advocate of the Polish cause in the diplomatic sphere. He supported the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Poland and the Soviet Union, which had been severed after the September 1939
Soviet invasion of Poland
. (Subsequently, in April 1943, Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin
broke off Soviet-Polish diplomatic relations after Sikorski asked the
International Red Cross
to investigate the
Katyn massacres
.
In July 1943 a plane carrying Sikorski
plunged into the sea
immediately on takeoff from
Gibraltar
, killing all on board except the pilot. The exact circumstances of Sikorski's death have been disputed and have given rise to
various theories
surrounding the crash. Sikorski had been the most prestigious leader of the Polish exiles, and his death was a severe setback for the Polish cause.
Early life and World War I
Sikorski was born in
Tuszow Narodowy
,
Galicia
, at the time part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
.
[1]
He was the third child in his family; his father was Tomasz Sikorski, a school teacher; his mother was Emilia Habrowska.
[1]
His grandfather,
Tomasz Kopaszyna Sikorski
, had fought and been wounded at the
Battle of Olszynka Grochowska
in the
November Uprising
, during which he received the
Virtuti Militari
medal.
[2]
Sikorski attended the
gimnazjum
in
Rzeszow
(now
Konarski's High School in Rzeszow
) from 1893 to 1897, then transferred for a year to a Rzeszow teachers' college.
[1]
In 1899 he attended the
Lwow
Franciszek Jozef
Gymnasium
, and in 1902 he passed his
final high school exam
there.
[1]
Starting that year, young Sikorski studied engineering at the
Lwow Polytechnic
, specializing in road and bridge construction, and graduated in 1908 with a diploma in
hydraulic engineering
.
[1]
In 1906 Sikorski volunteered for a year's service in the Austro-Hungarian army and attended the
Austrian Military School
, obtaining an
officer's
diploma and becoming an army reserve
second lieutenant
(
podporucznik rezerwy
).
[3]
In 1909 he married
Helena Zubczewska
[
pl
]
, whom he met while at the high school in Lwow.
[1]
[4]
In 1912 they had a daughter,
Zofia
.
[5]
After graduation he lived in
Le?ajsk
and worked for the Galician administration's hydraulic engineering department, working on the regulation of the
San
river, and later was involved in private enterprises related to construction, real estate and the petroleum trade.
[1]
[3]
[4]
During his studies at the Polytechnic, Sikorski became involved in the
People's School Association
(
Towarzystwo Szkoły Ludowej
), an organization dedicated to spreading literacy among the rural populace.
[1]
Around 1904?1905 he was briefly involved with the
endecja
Association of the Polish Youth "Zet"
, and then drifted towards paramilitary
socialist
organizations related to the
Polish Socialist Party
, which was intent on securing Polish independence.
[3]
He made contact with the socialist movement around 1905?1906 through the
Union for the Resurrection of the Polish Nation
(
Zwi?zek Odrodzenia Narodu Polskiego
).
[3]
In 1908, in Lwow, Sikorski?together with
Jozef Piłsudski
,
Marian Kukiel
,
Walery Sławek
,
Kazimierz Sosnkowski
,
Witold Jodko-Narkiewicz
[
pl
]
and
Henryk Minkiewicz
?organized the secret
Union for Active Struggle
(Zwi?zek Walki Czynnej)
, with the aim of bringing about an uprising against the
Russian Empire
, one of Poland's three
partitioners
.
[3]
[4]
In 1910, likewise in Lwow, Sikorski helped to organize a
Riflemen's Association
(the
Zwi?zek Strzelecki
), became the president of its Lwow chapter, and became responsible for the military arm within the
Commission of Confederated Independence Parties
(
Komisja Skonfederowanych Stronnictw Niepodległo?ciowych, KSSN
).
[3]
[4]
Having a military education, he lectured other activists on
military tactics
.
[3]
Upon the outbreak of the
First World War
in July 1914, Sikorski was mobilized, but through KSSN influence he was allowed to participate in the organizing of the Polish military units, rather than being delegated to other duties by the Austro-Hungarian military command.
[3]
In the first few weeks of the war he became the chief of the Military Department in the
Supreme National Committee
(
Naczelny Komitet Narodowy, NKN
) and remained in this post until 1916.
[3]
He was a commissioner in charge of the recruitment to the
Polish Legions
in
Krakow
, choosing this role over the opportunity to serve in the Legions as a frontline commander.
[3]
[6]
On 30 September 1914 he was promoted to
podpułkownik
(lieutenant colonel), and soon after that he became the commander of a Legions
officer
school (
Szkoła Podchor??ych
).
[3]
[4]
The Legions?the army created by
Jozef Piłsudski
to liberate Poland from
Russian
and, ultimately, Austro-Hungarian and German rule?initially fought in alliance with Austria-Hungary against Russia. From August 1915 there was growing tension between Sikorski, who advocated cooperation with Austria-Hungary, and Piłsudski, who felt that Austria-Hungary and Germany had betrayed the trust of the Polish people.
[3]
[6]
In 1916 Piłsudski actively campaigned to have the Military Department of NKN disbanded.
[6]
In July that year, Sikorski was promoted to
pułkownik
(colonel).
[4]
Following the
Act of 5th November
(1916), Sikorski became involved with the Legions' alternatives, the
Polish Auxiliary Corps
and
Polnische Wehrmacht
.
[6]
In June 1917 Piłsudski refused Austro-Hungarian orders to swear loyalty to the
Habsburg
Emperor (the "
oath crisis
") and was interned at the fortress of
Magdeburg
, while Sikorski abandoned Polnische Wehrmacht and returned to the Austro-Hungarian Army.
[6]
In 1918, however, following the February
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
and the
battle of Rara?cza
, Sikorski chose belatedly to side with Piłsudski, announcing solidarity with his actions, protesting against the planned separation of
Chełm Land
from the planned Polish state, and thus soon joined Piłsudski in internment (he would be held in
Dulfalva
(Dulovo)).
[4]
[6]
Nonetheless, this was not enough to smooth the differences between him and Piłsudski, and these two major Polish leaders would drift farther apart in the continuing years.
[4]
Eastern wars
Polish?Ukrainian war
In 1918 the Russian, Austro-Hungarian and German empires collapsed, and Poland once again became independent, but the borders of the
Second Polish Republic
were not fully determined and were unstable. In the east they would be formed in the escalating conflicts among Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Soviet forces in what culminated in the
Polish?Soviet War
(1919?1921).
[7]
Winston Churchill
commented: "The war of giants had ended, the wars of the pygmies began."
[8]
Bolshevik
leaders saw Poland as a bridge that the
communist revolution
would have to force to bring communism to the West, and Poland's very existence would soon be at stake.
[4]
[9]
Polish?Soviet war
After his release from internment, from 1 May 1918 Sikorski worked for the
Regency Council
, organizing the new
Polish Army
.
[6]
He was soon at the frontlines again, this time in the
Polish?Ukrainian War
, where troops under his command secured and defended
Przemy?l
in October?November 1918.
[4]
[6]
Polish independence came in November 1918 with the formation of the
Second Republic of Poland
. In the course of the Polish?Ukrainian War, and in the opening phase of the Polish?Soviet War, Sikorski, now a high-ranking officer of the Polish Army was involved in further operations in the Galicia region. In January 1919 he commanded troops defending
Grodek Jagiello?ski
; in March that year he commanded an infantry division, advancing to
Stawczany
and
Zbrucz
.
[6]
[10]
From 1 August 1918 Sikorski commanded the
Polesie Group
, and the
Polish 9th Infantry Division
.
[10]
In order to curtail excesses of the forces under his command, he oversaw trials of 36 officers.
[10]
His forces took
Mozyr
and
Kalenkowicze
in March 1920, and he would command the Polesie Group during Poland's
Kiev offensive
in April 1920, advancing to the
Dnieper
River and the
Chernobyl
region.
[4]
[10]
On 1 April that year he was promoted to
brigade general
.
[10]
As the Polish?Soviet War grew in intensity, in late April 1920 the
Red Army
of Russia's new
Soviet
regime pushed back Polish forces and invaded Poland.
[10]
Subsequently, Sikorski successfully defended Mozyr and Kalenkowicze until 29 June, but later failed to hold the
Brest
fortress, although he defended it long enough to allow the Polish forces in the region to retreat in an orderly manner.
[10]
On 6 August he was named the commander of the newly formed
Polish 5th Army
, which was tasked with holding the front to the north of
Modlin
, between
Narew
and
Wkra
rivers.
[4]
[10]
He distinguished himself commanding the 5th Army on the Lower Vistula front during the
Battle of Warsaw
.
[10]
At that time Soviet forces, expecting an easy final victory, were surprised and crippled by the Polish counter-attack. During that battle (sometimes referred to as "the Miracle at the Vistula") Sikorski stopped the Bolshevik advance north of
Warsaw
and gave Piłsudski, the Polish commander-in-chief, the time he needed for his counter-offensive; beginning with the 15 August his forces successfully engaged the
Soviet 5th
and
15th Armies
.
[10]
After the Battle of Warsaw, from 30 August, Sikorski commanded the
3rd Army
.
[10]
His forces took
Pi?sk
, and fought during the latter stages of the
Battle of Lwow
and the
Battle of Zamo??
, and then after
Battle of Niemen
advanced with his forces toward
Latvia
and deep into
Belarus
.
[4]
[10]
The Poles defeated the Soviets, and the Polish?Soviet
Treaty of Riga
(March 1921) gave Poland substantial areas of Belarus and Ukraine's (
Kresy
).
[4]
Sikorski's fame was enhanced as he became known to the Polish public as one of the heroes of the Polish?Soviet War. He also kept publishing military science articles during the war itself.
[10]
For his valorous achievements Sikorski was promoted to
divisional general
on 28 February 1921, and was awarded Poland's highest military decoration, the order of
Virtuti Militari
, on 15 March that year.
[10]
In government and in opposition
Despite their differences, Piłsudski praised Sikorski in his reports, recommending him for
Chief of the General Staff
and
minister of war
positions; only generals
Kazimierz Sosnkowski
and
Edward Rydz-?migły
received better evaluations from him.
[10]
Sikorski was popular among many soldiers, and in politics, particularly appealing to Polish conservatives and liberals.
[10]
On 1 April 1921 Sikorski replaced General
Tadeusz Rozwadowski
as
chief of the Polish General Staff
.
[10]
Between 1922 and 1925 he held a number of high government offices. Based on his analysis, the Polish
Council of Ministers
adopted new foreign policy that would remain roughly unchanged until the late 1930s (preserving the
status quo
in Europe, and treating Germany and Russia as equal potential threats).
[10]
On 12 December 1922 he issued a general order, stressing the need for the military to stay out of politics.
[10]
After the assassination of
President of Poland
Gabriel Narutowicz
on 16 December 1922, the
Marshal of the Sejm
(the
Sejm
being the Polish parliament),
Maciej Rataj
, appointed Sikorski prime minister.
[10]
From 18 December 1922, to 26 May 1923, Sikorski served as prime minister and also as
minister of internal affairs
, and was even considered as possible president.
[10]
During his brief tenure as prime minister, he became popular with the Polish public and carried out essential reforms in addition to guiding the country's foreign policy in a direction that gained the approval and cooperation of the
League of Nations
and tightened
Polish-French cooperation
. He obtained recognition of Poland's eastern frontiers from the UK, France, and the United States during the Conference of Ambassadors on 15 March 1923.
[11]
He aided Treasury Minister
Władysław Grabski
's reforms aimied at curtailing inflation and reforming the currency and supported ethnic minorities.
[10]
His government nonetheless lost support in the Sejm and resigned on 26 May 1923.
[11]
From 30 September 1923 to 1924 he held the post of chief inspector of infantry (
Generalny Inspektor Piechoty
).
[11]
From 17 February 1924 to 1925, under Prime Minister Grabski, he was
minister of military affairs
and guided the modernization of the Polish military; he also created the
Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza
.
[11]
He worked actively to promote the cause of the
Polish-French military alliance
.
[11]
His proposal to increase the powers of the minister of military affairs while reducing those of the
Chief Inspector of the Armed Forces
met with sharp disapproval from Piłsudski, who at that time was gathering many opponents of the current government.
[4]
[11]
From 1925 to 1928 Sikorski commanded Military Corps District (
Okr?g Korpusu
) VI in
Lwow
.
[11]
A democrat and supporter of the Sejm, Sikorski declared his opposition to Jozef Piłsudski's
May 1926 coup d'etat
;
[11]
he remained in Lwow, refused to dispatch his forces, and played no substantive role in the short struggle.
[4]
[11]
In 1928 he was relieved by Piłsudski of his command, and while he remained on active service, he received no other posting.
[11]
That year also saw the publication of his book on the Polish?Soviet War,
Nad Wisł? i Wkr?. Studium do polsko?radzieckiej wojny 1920 roku
(At the Vistula and Wkra Rivers: a Contribution to the Study of the Polish?Soviet War of 1920).
[11]
He would spend the following years publishing works on military theory, history, and foreign policy.
[11]
His most famous work was his 1934 book
Przyszła wojna – jej mo?liwo?ci i charakter oraz zwi?zane z nimi zagadnienia obrony kraju
("War in the Future: Its Possibilities and Character and Associated Questions of National Defense", published in English in 1943 as
Modern Warfare: Its Character, Its Problems
), in which he predicted the return of
maneuver warfare
.
[11]
[12]
He wrote several other books and many articles, foreseeing, among other things, the rapid
militarization
of Germany.
[4]
In due course, soon after he was relieved of command, and as a semi-dictatorial
Sanation
regime was established, Sikorski joined the anti-Piłsudski opposition.
[12]
Sikorski largely withdrew from active politics, spending much of his time in Paris, France, working with the French
Ecole Superieure de Guerre
(war college). Even after the death of Piłsudski in 1935, he was still marginalized, politically and militarily, by Piłsudski's successors.
[12]
In February the following year, together with several prominent Polish politicians (
Wincenty Witos
,
Ignacy Paderewski
, and General
Jozef Haller
) he joined the
Front Morges
, an anti-
Sanation
] political grouping.
[12]
Prime Minister in exile
In the days before
Poland was invaded by Germany
in September 1939, and during the invasion itself, Sikorski's request for a military command continued to be denied by the Polish commander in chief, Marshal
Edward Rydz-?migły
.
[12]
Sikorski escaped through Romania to Paris, where on 28 September he joined
Władysław Raczkiewicz
and
Stanisław Mikołajczyk
in a
Polish government-in-exile
, taking command of the newly formed
Polish Armed Forces in France
.
[12]
Two days later, on 30 September, president Raczkiewicz called him to serve as the first Polish prime minister in exile.
[12]
[13]
On 7 November he became commander in chief and
General Inspector of the Armed Forces
(
Naczelny Wodz i Generalny Inspektor Sił Zbrojnych
), following Rydz-?migły's resignation.
[12]
Sikorski would also hold the position of Polish Minister of Military Affairs, thus uniting in his person all control over the Polish military in wartime.
[12]
During his years as prime minister in exile, Sikorski personified the hopes and dreams of millions of Poles, as reflected in the saying, "When the sun is higher, Sikorski is nearer" (Polish:
"Gdy słoneczko wy?ej, to Sikorski bli?ej"
).
[4]
[12]
At the same time, from early on he had to work to reconcile the pro- and anti-Piłsudskiite factions.
[4]
[12]
[14]
His government was recognized by the western Allies. Nonetheless, Sikorski's government struggled to get its point of view heard by France and the United Kingdom.
[14]
The western Allies refused to recognize the Soviet Union as an aggressor, despite the
Soviet invasion of Poland
on 17 September 1939.
[14]
Furthermore, he struggled to secure resources needed to recreate the Polish Army in exile.
[14]
Poland, even with its territories occupied, still commanded substantial armed forces: the
Polish Navy
had sailed to Britain just before the war's outbreak,
[15]
and thousands of Polish soldiers and airmen had evacuated from overrun Poland via Hungry and Romania. A new Polish Army was soon
re-formed in France
and
French-mandated Syria
; and a Polish Air Force, in France.
[16]
[17]
In addition, Poland had
a large resistance movement
, and Sikorski's policies included founding the
Union of Armed Struggle
(
Zwi?zek Walki Zbrojnej
), later transformed into the
Home Army
(
Armia Krajowa
), and creation of an agency, the
Government Delegation for Poland
to supervise the
Polish Underground State
in
occupied Poland
.
[12]
In 1940 the
Polish Highland Brigade
took part in the
Battle of Narvik
in Norway, and two Polish
divisions
participated in the
defense of France
, while a Polish motorized
brigade
and two infantry divisions were in process of forming.
[18]
A
Polish Independent Carpathian Brigade
was created in French-mandated Syria.
[15]
The
Polish Air Force in France
had 86 aircraft with one and a half of the squadrons fully operational, and the remaining two and a half in various stages of training.
[15]
Although many Polish personnel had died in the fighting or had been interned in Switzerland following the
fall of France
, General Sikorski refused French Marshal
Philippe Petain
's proposal of a Polish capitulation to Germany.
[4]
On 19 June 1940, Sikorski met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and promised that Polish forces would fight alongside the British until final victory.
[4]
Sikorski and his government moved to London and were able to evacuate many Polish troops to Britain. After the signing of a Polish-British Military Agreement on 5 August 1940, they proceeded to build up and train the
Polish Armed Forces in the West
.
[4]
Experienced Polish pilots took part in the
Battle of Britain
, where the
Polish 303 Fighter Squadron
achieved the highest number of kills of any Allied squadron.
[19]
Sikorski's Polish forces would form one of the most significant Allied contingents.
[a]
The
Fall of France
weakened Sikorski's position, and his proposal to consider building a new Polish army in the Soviet-occupied territories led to much criticism from within the Polish community in exile.
[14]
On 19 July Raczkiewicz dismissed him from his position as the prime minister, replacing him with
August Zaleski
; however, within days pressure from Sikorski's sympathizers, including the British government, made Raczkiewicz reconsider his decision, and Sikorski was reinstated as the prime minister on 25 July.
[14]
One of Sikorski's political goals was the creation of a
Central and Eastern European federation
, starting with the
Polish-Czechoslovakian confederation
.
[20]
He saw such an organization as necessary if smaller states were to stand up to traditional German and Russian imperialism.
[21]
That concept, although ultimately futile, gained some traction around that time, as Sikorski and
Edvard Bene?
from the
Czechoslovak government-in-exile
, signed an agreement declaring the intent to pursue closer cooperation on 10 November that year.
[14]
On 24 December 1940 Sikorski was promoted to
generał broni
.
[14]
In March 1941 he visited the United States; he would visit the US again in March and December 1942.
[5]
[14]
Following the
German invasion of the Soviet Union
("Operation Barbarossa") in June 1941, Sikorski opened negotiations with the Soviet ambassador to London,
Ivan Maisky
, to re-establish diplomatic relations between Poland and the Soviet Union, which had been broken off after the Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939.
[14]
In December that year, Sikorski went to Moscow with a
diplomatic mission
.
[4]
The Polish Government reached an agreement with the Soviet Union (the
Sikorski-Maisky Pact
of 17 August 1941), confirmed by
Joseph Stalin
in December of that year. Stalin agreed to invalidate the September 1939 Soviet-German partition of Poland, declare the
Russo-German Molotov?Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939
null and void, and release tens of thousands of Polish prisoners-of-war held in Soviet camps.
[4]
[14]
Pursuant to an agreement between the Polish government-in-exile and Stalin, the Soviets granted "amnesty" to many Polish citizens, from whom a new army (the
Polish II Corps
) was formed under General
Władysław Anders
and later evacuated to the
Middle East
, where Britain faced a dire shortage of military forces.
[4]
[14]
The whereabouts of thousands more Polish officers, however, would remain unknown for two more years, and this would weigh heavily on both Polish?Soviet relations and on Sikorski's fate.
[4]
Initially, Sikorski supported the Polish?Soviet rapprochement, which reignited criticism of his person from some Polish factions.
[4]
[5]
Nonetheless, Sikorski soon realized that the Soviet Union had plans for Polish territories, which would be unacceptable to Polish public.
[5]
The Soviets began their diplomatic offensive after their first major military victory in the
Battle of Moscow
, and intensified this policy after the
battle of Stalingrad
, showing less and less regard for their deals with Poland.
[5]
[14]
In January 1942 British diplomat
Stafford Cripps
informed General Sikorski that while Stalin planned to extend Polish borders to the west, by giving Poland Germany's
East Prussia
, he also wanted to considerably push Poland's eastern frontier westwards, along the lines of the
Versailles
concept of the
Curzon Line
, and acquire Lwow and
Wilno
, if not both.
[22]
Sikorksi's stance on eastern borders was not inflexible; he noted in some documents that some concessions might be acceptable, however, giving up both Lwow and Wilno was not.
[22]
Initially he also referred to plans of annexing German land to the Oder as megalomania.
[23]
Katyn revelation and death
In 1943 the fragile relations between the Soviet Union and the Polish government-in-exile finally reached their breaking point when, on 13 April, the Germans announced via the
Katyn Commission
the discovery of the
bodies of 20,000 Polish officers
who had been murdered by the Soviets and buried in Katyn Forest, near
Smolensk
, Russia.
[4]
Stalin claimed that the atrocity had been carried out by the Germans,
[24]
while Nazi propaganda orchestrated by
Joseph Goebbels
successfully exploited the
Katyn massacre
to drive a wedge between Poland, the Western Allies and the Soviet Union.
[25]
Moscow did not acknowledge responsibility for this and similar massacres of Polish officers until 1989.
[26]
When Sikorski refused to accept the Soviet explanation and requested an investigation by the
International Red Cross
on 16 April, the Soviets accused the government-in-exile of cooperating with Nazi Germany and broke off diplomatic relations on 25 April.
[5]
Beginning in late May 1943, Sikorski began visiting Polish forces stationed in the Middle East.
[5]
In addition to inspecting the forces and raising morale, Sikorski was also occupied with political matters; around that time, a conflict was growing between him and General
Władysław Anders
, as Sikorski was still open to some normalization of Polish?Soviet relations, to which Anders was vehemently opposed.
[5]
On 4 July 1943, while Sikorski was returning from an inspection of Polish forces in the Middle East, he was killed, together with his daughter, his
chief of staff
Tadeusz Klimecki
, and seven others, when his plane, a
Liberator II
, serial
AL523
, crashed into the sea 16 seconds after takeoff from
Gibraltar Airport
at 23:07 hours.
[5]
[27]
The crash was attributed to cargo on the plane shifting to the back upon takeoff.
[28]
Only the pilot,
Eduard Prchal
(1911?1984), survived the crash.
[5]
Sikorski was buried in a brick-lined grave at the Polish War Cemetery in
Newark-on-Trent
, England, on 16 July that year.
[5]
Winston Churchill delivered a eulogy at his funeral.
[29]
On 14 September 1993, his remains were exhumed and transferred via Polish Air Force
TU-154
M, and escorted by RAF 56 Sqn
Tornado F3
jets, to the royal crypts at
Wawel Castle
in
Krakow
, Poland.
[5]
Aftermath
Immediately after the crash, a Polish officer who had witnessed the event from the airstrip began sobbing quietly and repeating: "Now Poland is lost! Now Poland is lost!" ("To Polska stracona!")
[4]
General Sikorski's death marked a turning point for Polish influence amongst the Anglo-American allies. No Pole after him would have much sway with the Allied politicians.
[30]
Sikorski had been the most prestigious leader of the Polish exiles and his death was a severe setback for the Polish cause.
[30]
After the Soviets had broken off diplomatic relations with Sikorski's government in April 1943, in May and June Stalin had recalled several Soviet ambassadors for "consultations":
Maxim Litvinov
from Washington,
Fyodor Gusev
from Montreal,
[
clarification needed
]
and
Ivan Maisky
from London.
While Churchill had been publicly supportive of Sikorski's government, reminding Stalin of his pact with Nazi Germany in 1939 and of their joint attack on Poland, in secret consultations with Roosevelt he admitted that Poland would have to make some concessions to appease the powerful Soviets. The Polish?Soviet crisis was beginning to threaten cooperation between the western Allies and the Soviets at a time when the Poles' importance to the western Allies, essential in the first years of the war, was beginning to fade with the entry, into the conflict, of the military and industrial giants, the Soviet Union and the United States.
[30]
The Allies had no intention of letting Sikorski's successor,
Stanisław Mikołajczyk
, jeopardize the alliance with the Soviets. No representative of the
Polish government-in-exile
was invited to attend the
Tehran Conference
(
28 November ?
1 December 1943
) or the
Yalta Conference
(4?11 February 1945), the two crucial events in which the Western Allies and the Soviets discussed the shape of the postwar world and decided Poland's fate.
[31]
[32]
Only four months after Sikorski's death, in November 1943, at Tehran, Churchill and Roosevelt agreed with Stalin that the whole of Poland east of the
Curzon Line
would be ceded to the Soviets.
[31]
In Teheran, neither Churchill nor Roosevelt objected to Stalin's suggestion that the Polish government-in-exile in London did not represent Polish interests; as historian
Anita Pra?mowska
notes, "this spelled the end of that government's tenuous influence and raison d'etre."
[33]
After the Teheran Conference, Stalin decided to create his own
puppet government
for Poland, and a
Committee of National Liberation
(the
PKWN
) was proclaimed in the summer of 1944.
[31]
The Soviet Government recognized the Committee as the only legitimate authority in Poland and called Mikołajczyk's Government in London an "illegal and self-styled authority."
[34]
Mikołajczyk would serve as prime minister's until 24 November 1944 when, realizing the increasing powerlessness of the Polish Government-in-Exile, he resigned and was succeeded by
Tomasz Arciszewski
, "whose obscurity", according to historian
Mieczysław B. Biskupski
, "signaled the arrival of the government in exile at total inconsequentiality."
[31]
[35]
Stalin soon began a campaign for recognition by the Western Allies of a Soviet-backed Polish government led by
Wanda Wasilewska
, a dedicated communist with a seat in the
Supreme Soviet
; and with General
Zygmunt Berling
, commander of the
1st Polish Army
in Russia, as commander-in-chief of all
Polish Armed Forces
.
[36]
By the time of the
Potsdam conference
in 1945, Poland had been relegated to the Soviet sphere of influence ? an abandonment of the Polish Government-in-Exile that led to the rise of the
Western-betrayal concept
.
[37]
[38]
Remembrance
A number of poems dedicated to Sikorski were written by Polish authors during the war.
[5]
In its aftermath, in the
People's Republic of Poland
, Sikorski's historic role, like that of all the adherents of the London government, would be minimized and distorted by
propaganda
, and those loyal to the government-in-exile would be liable to imprisonment and even execution. In time, restrictions on discussing Sikorski began to ease; on a centennial anniversary of his birth in 1981, commemorative events were held on the
Rzeszow Voivodeship
, including an academic conference, and revealing of plaques in
Nisko
and
Le?ajsk
.
[5]
Ryszard Zieli?ski
[
pl
]
published a novel on him,
Wej?cie w mrok
(1971), and in 1983 a movie,
Katastrofa w Gibraltarze
by Bohdan Por?ba, was made.
[5]
The Polish government-in-exile, of which Sikorski was the first prime minister, would continue in existence until the end of
communist rule in Poland
in 1990, when
Lech Wał?sa
became the first post-communist president of Poland.
[39]
On 17 September 1993 a statue of Sikorski, sculpted by
Wiesław Bielak
[
pl
]
, was revealed in
Rzeszow
.
[5]
In 1995, Sikorski became the patron of the newly formed Polish 9th Mechanized Brigade.
[40]
In 2003, the Polish parliament (
Sejm
) declared the year (60th anniversary of Sikorski's death) to be the "Year of General Sikorski".
[4]
A number of streets and schools in Poland bear Sikorski's name.
[5]
Memory of General Sikorski was also preserved both in Poland and abroad, by organizations like the
Sikorski Institute
in London.
[5]
In the UK, Sikorski received
honoris causa
degrees from the
University of Liverpool
and
University of St Andrews
.
[5]
In 1981, a commemorative plaque was revealed at Hotel Rubens in London,
[5]
where during the war Polish Military Headquarters, including Sikorski's office, were located.
[41]
He is commemorated in London's
Portland Place
, near the
Embassy of Poland
, with a larger than life statue, unveiled in 2000.
[42]
A propeller from the plane in which he died is the centrepiece of a new
memorial to Sikorski
at
Europa Point
, Gibraltar.
[43]
Death controversy
A British Court of Inquiry convened on 7 July 1943, investigated the crash of Sikorski's
Liberator II
serial
AL 523
, but was unable to determine the cause, finding only that it was an accident and "due to jamming of elevator controls", noting that "it has not been possible to determine how the jamming occurred but it has been established that there was no sabotage.".
[29]
The Polish government refused to endorse this report, due to the contradiction about the cause not being determined but sabotage being ruled out.
[44]
The political context of the event, coupled with a variety of curious circumstances (for instance, the Soviet agent
Kim Philby
was head of counter-intelligence for MI6 in Gibraltar at the time), immediately gave rise to numerous speculation that Sikorski's death had been no accident, and may have been the direct result of a Soviet, British, or even Polish
conspiracy
.
[5]
[30]
[45]
[46]
[47]
Some modern sources note that the accident is not fully explained.
[35]
However, as
Roman Wapi?ski
noted in his biographical entry on Sikorski in the
Polish Biographical Dictionary
in 1997, no conclusive evidence of any wrongdoing has been found, and Sikorski's official cause of death is listed as an accident.
[5]
In 2008 Sikorski was exhumed and his remains were examined by Polish scientists, who in 2009 concluded that he died due to injuries consistent with an air crash and that there was no evidence that Sikorski was murdered, ruling out theories that he was shot or strangled before the incident; however they did not rule out the possibility of sabotage, which was investigated by the Polish
Institute of National Remembrance
.
[48]
[49]
[50]
In 2013, the investigation ended, with the Institute of National Remembrance concluding that deliberate tampering to the aircraft could be neither confirmed nor ruled out.
[51]
Honours and awards
Works
General Sikorski was also an active writer on the subjects of
military tactics
and describing his personal war experiences.
[4]
His works include:
- Regulamin musztry Zwi?zku Strzeleckiego i elementarna taktyka piechoty
(Drill Regulations of the Riflemen's Association and Basic Infantry Tactics), 1911.
- Nad Wisł? i Wkr?. Studium do polsko?radzieckiej wojny 1920 roku
(At the Vistula and the Wkra
Rivers
: a Contribution to the Study of the Polish?Soviet War of 1920), 1923; latest edition, Warsaw, 1991.
- O polsk? polityk? pa?stwow?. Umowy i deklaracje z okresu pełnienia urz?du prezesa Rady Ministrow 18 XII 1922?26 V 1923
(Polish National Policies: Agreements and Declarations from My Tenure as Prime Minister, 18 December 1922 to 26 May 1923), 1923.
- Podstawy organizacji naczelnych władz wojskowych w Polsce
(Basic Organization of the Supreme Military Authorities in Poland), 1923.
- Polesie jako w?zeł strategiczny wschodniego frontu
(Polesie as a Strategic Node of the Eastern Front), 1924.
- La campagne polono-russe de 1920
(French: The Polish-Russian Campaign of 1920), 1928.
- Polska i Francja w przeszło?ci i w dobie wspołczesnej
(Poland and France in the Past and in the Present Day), 1931.
- Przyszła wojna – jej mo?liwo?ci i charakter oraz zwi?zane z nimi zagadnienia obrony kraju
(War in the Future: Its Capacities and Character and Associated Questions of National Defense), 1934; translated into French in 1934, and into
English
. 1943.
in 1943; latest edition Warsaw, MON, 1972.
Some of his works have been collected in:
- Generał Władysław Sikorski: Publicystyka generała Władysława Sikorskiego na łamach Kuriera Warszawskiego w latach 1928?1939
(General Władysław Sikorski: Articles by General Władysław Sikorski in the Warsaw Courier, 1928?1939), Oficyna Wydawnicza Aspra, 1999,
ISBN
83-908937-3-8
.
See also
Notes
a
^
For a detailed analysis of the size of Polish forces, in comparison to other allies, see
note a
in the
Polish contribution to World War II
article.
References
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Roman Wapi?ski
,
Władysław Sikorski
, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, zeszyt 154 (T. XXXVII/3, 1997, p. 468
- ^
Olgierd Terlecki (1976).
Generał ostatniej legendy: rzecz o gen. Władysławie Sikorskim
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. Retrieved
7 October
2012
.
- ^
a
b
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e
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k
l
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Władysław Sikorski
, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, zeszyt 154 (T. XXXVII/3, 1997, p. 469
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
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aa
ab
ac
ad
ae
(in Polish)
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Biogram
Archived
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Wayback Machine
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, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, zeszyt 154 (T. XXXVII/3, 1997, p. 475
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
Roman Wapi?ski,
Władysław Sikorski
, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, zeszyt 154 (T. XXXVII/3, 1997, p. 470
- ^
Thaddeus M. Piotrowski (9 January 2007).
Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration With Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918?1947
. McFarland. p. 3.
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2012
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Germany and European Order: Enlarging NATO and the EU
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The Political Economy of Soviet Socialism: the Formative Years, 1918?1928
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, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, zeszyt 154 (T. XXXVII/3, 1997, p. 471
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a
b
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f
g
h
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Władysław Sikorski
, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, zeszyt 154 (T. XXXVII/3, 1997, p. 472
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a
b
c
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g
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k
l
Roman Wapi?ski,
Władysław Sikorski
, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, zeszyt 154 (T. XXXVII/3, 1997, p. 473
- ^
Stanislaw Mikolajczyk
The Pattern of Soviet Domination
Sampson Low, Marston & Co 1948 Page 7
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a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
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k
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Władysław Sikorski
, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, zeszyt 154 (T. XXXVII/3, 1997, p. 474
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a
b
c
Andrew Hempel (8 November 2005).
Poland in World War II: An Illustrated Military History
. Hippocrene Books. pp. 19, 26.
ISBN
978-0-7818-1004-3
. Retrieved
7 November
2012
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Robert Gretzyngier (24 July 1998).
Polish Aces of World War 2
. Osprey Publishing. p. 13.
ISBN
978-1-85532-726-9
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2012
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Gregor Dallas (30 September 2005).
1945: The War That Never Ended
. Yale University Press. p. 54.
ISBN
978-0-300-10980-1
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7 November
2012
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Kenneth Koskodan (23 June 2009).
No Greater Ally: The Untold Story of Poland's Forces in World War II
. Osprey Publishing. pp. 51?52.
ISBN
978-1-84603-365-0
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7 November
2012
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Steven Zaloga (21 January 1982).
The Polish Army 1939?45
. Osprey Publishing. p. 15.
ISBN
978-0-85045-417-8
. Retrieved
13 November
2012
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Walter Lipgens (1985).
Documents on the history of European integration: Plans for European union in Great Britain and in exile, 1939?1945 (including 107 documents in their original languages on 3 microfiches)
. Walter de Gruyter. p. 648.
ISBN
978-3-11-009724-5
. Retrieved
10 August
2011
.
- ^
Piotr Stefan Wandycz (1980).
The United States and Poland
. Harvard University Press. pp. 245?246.
ISBN
978-0-674-92685-1
. Retrieved
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2011
.
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a
b
Anna M. Cienciala; N. S. (Natal'ia Sergeevna) Lebedeva (2007).
Katyn: A Crime Without Punishment
. Yale University Press. pp. 210?211.
ISBN
978-0-300-10851-4
. Retrieved
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2012
.
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Sarah Meiklejohn Terry.
Poland's Place in Europe: General Sikorski and the Origin of the Oder-Neisse Line, 1939?1943
. Princeton University Press. p. 260.
- ^
Zawodny, Janusz K.
(1962).
Death in the Forest: The Story of the Katyn Forest Massacre
. University of Notre Dame Press.
ISBN
0-268-00849-3
. Archived from
the original
on 5 June 2011
. Retrieved
18 September
2017
.
- ^
Goebbels, Joseph
. The Goebbels Diaries (1942?1943). Translated by Louis P. Lochner. Doubleday & Company. 1948
- ^
Russia to release massacre files
.
BBC News
, 16 December 2004. Retrieved on 27 October 2007.
- ^
Tadeusz A. Kisielewski (January 2005).
Zamach: Tropem zabojcow Generała Sikorskiego
. Rebis. pp. 169?170.
ISBN
978-83-7301-767-2
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
Beevor, Antony
(2012).
The Second World War
. United Kingdom: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 472.
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The Polish Underground Army, The Western Allies, And The Failure Of Strategic Unity in World War II
. McFarland. p. 102.
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978-0-7864-2009-4
. Retrieved
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.
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a
b
c
d
(in Polish)
Stanczyk, Zbigniew L. p
"Tajemnica gen. Sikorskiego"
Archived
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, "Przegl?d Polski Online", 7 December 2002. Retrieved on 2 August 2005
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b
c
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The History of Poland
. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp.
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. Retrieved
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The Polish Government-in-Exile's Home Delegature
Archived
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. Article on the pages of the London Branch of the Polish Home Army Ex-Servicemen Association. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^
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. Cambridge University Press. p. 191.
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. Psychology Press. p. 177.
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. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 160, 172.
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. Retrieved
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.
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0-312-22056-1
Google Books page view
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A Constructed Peace: The Making of the European Settlement, 1945?1963
. Princeton University Press. p. 13.
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. Retrieved
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.
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The Price of Power: America Since 1945
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.
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. Economist.com. 22 September 1990
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Patroni jednostek Wojska Polskiego
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. Retrieved
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.
Sikorski posiadał m.in. odznaczenia: Order Orła Białego (po?miertnie), Order Virtuti Militari II i V kl., Order Polonia Restituta I i III kl., Krzy? Walecznych (czterokrotnie), Złoty Krzy? Zasługi. Minister Obrony Narodowej decyzj? nr 62 'MON z dnia 19 maja 7.9.9.5 roku polecił 9 Podlaskiej Brygadzie Zmechanizowanej Odznaka i oznaka 9 w Siedlcach przyj?? imi? gen. broni Władysława Sikorskiego
- ^
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The Polish Underground Army, The Western Allies, And The Failure Of Strategic Unity in World War II
. McFarland. p. 45.
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. Retrieved
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2012
.
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"Time to lay the hero's ghost"
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Archived
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.
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"Dedication of the new memorial to General Sikorski at Europa Point"
. Gibnews. 4 July 2013
. Retrieved
9 July
2013
.
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Michael Alfred Peszke (2005).
The Polish Underground Army, The Western Allies, And The Failure Of Strategic Unity in World War II
. McFarland. p. 103.
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. Retrieved
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2012
.
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. Franz Steiner Verlag. p. 47.
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. Retrieved
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. John Wiley & Sons. p. 389.
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. Retrieved
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. Penguin. p. 165.
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.
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. 29 January 2009
. Retrieved
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- ^
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. Tvn24.pl. 29 January 2009
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.
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2023
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M.P. z 1946 r. Nr 145, poz. 286
Further reading
- Baluk, Stefan and Terry A. Tegnazian.
Sikorski: No Simple Soldier: A Visual History of World War II's Unsung Allied Leader
(2014)
- Coutouvidis, John and Jaime Reynolds.
Poland, 1939?1947
(1986) 424 pages
online
Archived
1 July 2018 at the
Wayback Machine
- Gelli, Frank Julian.
The Dark Side of England
(2014)
ASIN
B00QJ19TXI
,
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-England-Frank-Julian-Gelli-ebook/dp/B00QJ19TXI
- Korpalska, Walentyna.
Wadysaw Eugeniusz Sikorski: Biografia polityczna
(2nd ed. 1988), the standard biography
in Google
- Peszke, Michael Alfred
,
The Polish Underground Army, the Western Allies, and the Failure of Strategic Unity in World War II
, foreword by
Piotr S. Wandycz
, (Jefferson, NC, McFarland & Company, 2005)
- Ponichtera, R.M. "The Military Thought of Wladyslaw Sikorski,"
Journal of Military History
(1995) 59#2 pp. 279?301; wide-ranging overview with survey of the historiography on pp. 280?82
- Rozek, Edward J.
Allied Wartime Diplomacy: A Pattern in Poland
(1958)
online
Archived
8 March 2016 at the
Wayback Machine
- Sword, Keith, ed.
Sikorski: Soldier and Statesman
(1990) important essays by scholars
in Google
- Terry, Sarah Meiklejohn,
Poland's Place in Europe: General Sikorski and the Origin of the Oder-Neisse Line, 1939?1943
, (Princeton University Press, 1983),
online at ACLS e-books
- Waszak, Leon, and P. Lang, "Agreement in Principle: the Wartime Partnership of General Wladyslaw Sikorski and Winston Churchill,"
Studies in Modern European History
, vol. 20, April 1996,
ISBN
0-8204-2849-3
- Whiteley, Justin,
Smierc Generala Sikorskiego
, Bellona, 2007,
ISBN
978-83-11-10921-6
- Woodward, Llewellyn.
British Foreign Policy in the Second World War
(1971) vol 2 pp. 612?662
Other sources
- Dead Men's Secrets the Mysterious Death of General Sikorski
,
The History Channel
DVD,
ASIN
B0007V0YCQ
- Generał Sikorski, premier, naczelny wodz
(General Sikorski: Prime Minister, Commander in Chief), London, Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, 1981,
ISBN
0-902508-09-1
.
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