The first half of 1943 was highly tragic for the Fighting Poland, on which many disasters fell. In February, the Gestapo arrested in Warsaw, and shortly murdered Prof. Jan Piekałkiewicz, Delegate of the Polish Government to the Country. As small as it was, on 13 April the German radio broadcast from Berlin that in Katyń, close Smolensk Wehrmacht found mass graves of Polish officers seized by the Soviets after 17 September 1939. erstwhile the Polish government in exile asked the global Red Cross in Geneva to analyse the circumstances of this incredible execution on defenseless prisoners of war, the russian government unilaterally broke diplomatic relations with the Polish emigration government in London.
But this is not the end of misery. At the end of June, Germans abruptly arrested in Warsaw, Ochota, General Stefan Rowecki "Grota", Chief of the Home Army. The general fell into the hands of the Germans due to treason, was rapidly transported to Berlin and later to the camp in Sachsenhausen, where he was murdered after the Uprising in Warsaw.
Another misfortune occurred on 4 July 1943 in Gibraltar, erstwhile a plane crashed on board of which was General Wladyslaw Sikorski, Prime Minister of the Polish Government and Chief Leader of the country, conducting a fatal fight for his existence since September 1939. A fewer more people died with the General, including his daughter.
Gen. Władysław Sikorski wrote down the credit card of a soldier and a stateman. He came from Galicia, received a degree in engineering from the Lviv University of Technology. After training, he became an officer of the imperial-king army reserve. He rapidly became active with the independency movement, co-founder of the Action Combat Union (1908) and the firearm Union (1910), as of August 1914 he became head of the Military Department of the Chief National Committee, appointed to the rank of lieutenant colonel and shortly colonel. After an oath crisis for criticism of the Treaty of Brest, under which the Central States handed over to the Ukrainians the southeast ends of the Kingdom of Poland, Sikorski was imprisoned by Austrians for alleged treason. After his release, in 1916, he organized WP troops in Galicia for the RAC. He participated in the battles of Przemyśl, and in 1919 he commanded the Operations Group in the battles of Lviv and the Ukrainian Front. As commander of the 9th DP he was promoted in May 1920 to the rank of Lieutenant General (equivalent to Brig-Gen), and shortly to the divisional general.
During the Polish-Bolshevik War in 1920, Gen. Sikorski was very efficient in command of the 5th Army during the Warsaw Battle, which effectively stopped the Russian offensive on Warsaw from the north, which allowed the Strike Group of Marshal Piłsudski to effectively counterattack from above the Pig. Despite the strong advantage of the Bolshevik forces, the 5th Sikorski Army displaced 2 russian armies for the Wwrok. There was besides an crucial episode: Poles after taking over Ciechanov gained a radio station that provided communication with North Front commander Mikhail Tuchaczewski, commanding the full Russian forces from Minsk Lithuanian (now the capital of Belarus) . The paralyzing of communication by Poles of the 4th russian Army eliminated it from its participation in the Warsaw Battle, which was vital for the Polish victory.
After the 1920 war, Gen. Sikorski was appointed Chief of General Staff, and after the assassination of president Narutovich became Prime Minister of the Polish Government and Minister of Interior. He was considered a man for the hard times that followed the assassination of the first president of the reborn Poland. During the assassination of the May Marshal Piłsudski, he retained a neutral position, and his relation with the Marshal was not the best in a long time. Released from all military functions remained unallocated. at the disposal of the Minister of Military Affairs. He spent a long time in France, where he was associated with Ignacy Paderewski and General Joseph Haller in an anti-sanction opposition, alleged Fronta Morges. After the 3rd Reich attacked Poland in September 1939, he checked in to the Chief Leader asking for an allocation, which, however, was ignored by Marshal Śmigłego Rydz and then left for allied France.
Gen. Sikorski had an awesome military and political achievements (he was even a prime minister) but the biggest challenge faced was that president Władysław Raczkiewicz entrusted him with the function of Chief Leader and Prime Minister of the government in exile, initially in France and later in the United Kingdom, erstwhile Poland was under business of 2 hostile powers and the army was defeated, without the anticipation of recruiting its own citizens. In addition, the erstwhile political disputes and accusations for the failure and collapse of the state have not expired and the failure of specified a hard regained independence.
During planet War II the Prime Minister and the Chief Leader stood after a long hiatus at the helm of power, but with limited opportunities, due to a complete dependence on allies whose interests did not always coincide with the Polish ones. To the bewildered nation, it became a symbol of the conflict and hope of survival. Sikorski's position was distinguished by political realism from the line of parts of his associates on emigration. The military ad hoc alliance with the USSR was mainly about saving non-voluntarily resident compatriots, especially those in captivity to Polish soldiers, due to the fact that there was no another origin of recruitment to the army at the time. He besides thought about saving Polish Kresów, from which he came. He did not know the Russians well (as opposed to General Anders) due to the fact that he came from the Austrian business and did not realize how perverse and unfaithful the country was dealing with.
Prime Minister Sikorski and the abroad authorities had 3 chief tasks ahead of him: the creation of an army, the conduct of abroad policy and the support of conspiracy in the country. The relations within the Polish diaspora both in France and later in the United Kingdom, despite the compromise reached during the most crucial functions, were inactive tense. During the evacuation of the government from France to London, the Pilsudczyk environments attempted to deprive Sikorski of the premiere. The second crisis, much sharper occurred after signing the alleged Sikorski-Majski agreement. A general more pragmatic than most politicians, in addition to being pressed by Churchill, signed a paper on July 30, 1941 in which there was no wording that the USSR respects the 1921 Treaty of Drawing. Moreover, the majority did not like the word "amnesty" concerning Polish citizens imprisoned by Russians. The resignation was then given to the leading Pilsudians: Gen. Kazimierz Sosnkowski and August Zaleski. The crisis was averted, mostly thanks to Churchill, but not put to rest. It seems that General Sikorski's adversaries were unaware of the fact that Stalin, even at the time of the Red Army's top defeats at the front, never intended to surrender territorial conquests plundered after September 17, 1939.
Gen. Sikorski himself was not blameless either. It is unnecessary, in my opinion, for the committee to analyse and find the September defeat. If anything, it could have been done after the war. Among another things, the walsudczyk, Division Gen. Stefan Dąb-Biernacki, suffered a severe punishment, which ineptly led the reserve army “Prussy” to its destruction. (this was true) The general was demoted to the private and sentenced to prison. The same was actual of the ill-known Snake Island, off the coast of Scotland, where respective twelve officers were interned, considered political opponents, any unfoundedly. Even the British, bound to the regulation of law, did not approve of this. This camp was closed only after Sikorski died. By specified action, the opponents of Gen. Skorski spread the opinion that he was a petty, vindictive and self-righteous man.
In June 1943, the Chief Leader came to the mediate East to analyse the moods of soldiers of the Polish Army in the East, and especially their commander-in-chief General Władysław Anders. It was no secret that the relations between the generals were not the best. General Anders knew Russia well, he was a Tsarist reserve officer during the large War, serving in the cavalry. He even graduated with honors from the military academy in St. Petersburg, and the diploma of graduating the academy was handed to him himself by Tsar Mikołaj II at the Carski Siole. (W. Anders "Without the Last Chapter" Bydgoszcz 1989 p. 4) Anders did everything he could to get his army out of the USSR, and he thought they would be destroyed in Russia. Gen. Sikorski, on the another hand, calculated that it would be more advantageous for the Polish origin like the military, subject to the Polish authorities to stay in Russia and enter Poland from the East. Anders thought the Chief Chief was incorrect due to the fact that he doesn't know Russia at all.
After uncovering graves of murdered Polish officers in Katyn, the moods of General Anders' army soldiers were burning to white. There were alarming reports coming to London and that's why Sikorski decided he should go there. A two-week stay of the Chief Leader among the soldiers brought him political success. There was a spectacular reconciliation of both generals, Anders took command of the formed Second Corps, and the commander of the Polish Army East was loyal to Sikorski Gen. Mieczysław Boruta-Spiechowicz. However, the offended General Anders under the appearance of illness did not escort the Chief Commander to the airport. This incidental became an excuse to propose later by Captain Jerzy Klimkowski that it was General Anders who was behind the assassination of General Władysław Sikorski. Klimkowski described this in the frail book "I was an adjuvant of General Anders" ( MON in 1959) The PRL's propaganda was eager to usage it.
The return way of the aircraft with the Prime Minister and Chief Chief led from the mediate East through Gibraltar. From there on 4 July, after 11 p.m., a Consolidated B-24 "Liberator" ML.II bomber took off for London. It was led by an experienced pilot, Captain Edvard Prchal, Czech, who survived. Captain Ronald Capes testified: “After passing on a horizontal flight, he flew a short distance, after which he evenly began to lose altitude until he hit the sea.” In the crash, Gen. Sikorski and the accompanying 8 people were killed, including daughter, Lieutenant Zofia Lesniowska, chief of the Chief of Staff of General Gen.
Tadeusz Klimecki and the Head of the 3rd Branch of the Chief of Staff of the Chief of Staff, Colonel Andrzej Marecki, as well as 2 secret British agents and 5 crew members.
The General's death was a large tragedy, due to the fact that it was considered a surviving symbol of the fight for Poland's independence. The country was most moved due to the fact that Poles had large hopes for it. For many Poles he was not only a leader, a man of state and a chief, but a father of the nation.
The Gibraltar disaster is inactive causing much controversy and speculation. The secrecy of many papers related to this tragedy by the British surely exacerbates the suspicion that there is something to hide. The British commission determined rather rapidly after the crash that the origin of the incidental was the blockade of the rudders, causing the aircraft to lose control. Sabotage was excluded. In Poland, the most committed supporter of the explanation of the Gibraltar bombing was the late editor Dariusz Baliszewski, an educated historian. The assassination of Gen. Sikorski could most likely have been done by Germany, the Soviets, the British and unfortunately by Poles. Germany and the Soviets may have wanted it very much, but they practically had small opportunity. The Germans, for example, could have shot down the plane, but they didn't, and so did the Russians. The British simply did not have a motive, the Prime Minister of the Polish Government in exile was a loyal and faithful ally, and he never stood up. I don't think Churchill wants to kiss Stalin and kill Sikorski. Among the Poles, Sikorski had many enemies, but I don't think anyone would dare execution the Chief Leader in the mediate of the war, and there were no specified traditions in our country. Gabriel Narutovich's execution had a different cause. Personally, I think it was an unfortunate plane crash. I can justify this as follows: in 2008, the remains of the General, who yet rested on Wawel, were exhumed as part of an IPN investigation. According to the post-mortem report, there is no reason to believe that he was shot, poisoned or strangled before the crash, and that he was killed due to injuries typical of traffic accidents or falls from advanced altitudes.
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Literature:
Korpalska W. Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski. Political biography, Ossolineum, Wrocław 1981
Kukiel M. General Sikorski Institute of Poland, London 1981
Wieczorkiewicz P. Political past of Poland 1935 – 1945 Warsaw 2005
Strumph Wojtkiewicz S. Against the order of Warsaw 1972
