Sikorsky's death in 1943

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Sven-Eric
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Sikorsky's death in 1943

#1

Post by Sven-Eric » 26 Jul 2005, 11:44

I am curious to know the opinion of our Polish members about the plane crash that killed PM Sikorsky in 1943. Some people argue that he was murdered by rivaling Poles because he planned to reconcile with the Soviets. What do you think?
Best wishes,
Sven-Eric

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#2

Post by szopen » 26 Jul 2005, 13:00

There a lot of different theories.

1) He could be assasinated by Soviets, because it were soviets which gained the most.

2) It could be assasinated by Churchill, because Sikorski became obstacle in good relationship between Soviets and Western allies

3) It could be murdered by rivals from Polish government-in-exile

The less probable is death from German hands, because they would gain the less.


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Musashi
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Re: Sikorsky's death in 1943

#3

Post by Musashi » 26 Jul 2005, 15:24

Sven-Eric wrote:I am curious to know the opinion of our Polish members about the plane crash that killed PM Sikorsky in 1943. Some people argue that he was murdered by rivaling Poles because he planned to reconcile with the Soviets. What do you think?
Best wishes,
Sven-Eric
If you can read Polish here you have an article about this theory. It's a interview with a man, who investigates this cause and the article is way too long for one person to translate it into English.
Main points of this article:
• some Poles wanted to kill Sikorski, because he planned to reconcile with the Soviets
• Polish intelligence cooperated with German intelligence during WW II as long as Admiral Wilhelm Canaris was a chief of the Abwehr
• Adm. Canaris was in opposition to Hitler and had very good contacts with some Polish high ranked officers
• the murder of Sikorski had to be planned by II Department of the Polish Intelligence in the cooperation with the Abwehr

I am not sure if I should believe in this theory or not, but the man who investigates this cause has very sensible arguments. I can add there are Poles who saw a body of Sikorski and gave contradictory evidence and the theory as above could not be presented during the Communism.

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Sven-Eric
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#4

Post by Sven-Eric » 26 Jul 2005, 15:54

Thank you so much, musashi, for the link. No, I don't understand Polish but I have some Polish-speaking friends who can help me translate it. I heard that the Polish grammar is even more difficult than the Russian grammar. :)
Regards,
Sven-Eric

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#5

Post by lukeo » 30 Jul 2005, 10:01

But probably the most possible version is that, which involves Soviets. USSR never had objections to kill troublemaking individuals.

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Musashi
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#6

Post by Musashi » 30 Jul 2005, 12:20

lukeo wrote:[...]USSR never had objections to kill troublemaking individuals.
Yes, it's true, but your hypothesis is less probable for me. Sikorski had enough enemies belong Poles. Since their main problem was Sikorski had been too eager to reconcile with Stalin, I doubt they got any Soviet help. As I wrote there were Poles, who gave contradictory evidences. It means some of the witnesses must lie. Baliszewski's inquiry was conducted just a few years ago (I mean not during the communism). Who do they try to cover up? Soviets/Russians? Do they still afraid somebody will arrive and kill them, because they would tell the truth?

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#7

Post by Slavomir » 30 Jul 2005, 19:15

I wouldn't be so fast saying that Sikorski was so willing to reconcile with Stalin, especially after beginning of 1943 when Russians raised demands for Polish eastern territories, and not to mention the reveal of Katyn massgraves!

In my opinion (not only mine - check David Irving) there were lots of people to gain from Sikorski's death. Russians, Britts, Sikorski's Polish opposition etc.

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#8

Post by David C. Clarke » 31 Oct 2005, 16:45

Hi Guys, two things puzzle me.

1.) General Stefan Rowecki was arrested by the Gestapo in Warsaw three day before Sikorski's death, after being in hiding since 1939.
2.) One of the immediate beneficiaries fo Sikorsky's death was General Sosnkowski, who took a much harder line against the Soviets than Sikorsky.

I've thought that Rowecki was closer in ideology to Sosnkowsky, but I'm by no means an expert (or even a "gifted amatuer") on this subject. My question is, could the two events, Rowecki's arrest and Sikorsky's death, be related?

Best,
David

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Kim Sung
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#9

Post by Kim Sung » 02 Nov 2005, 15:15

lukeo wrote:But probably the most possible version is that, which involves Soviets. USSR never had objections to kill troublemaking individuals.
After the war, the Soviets killed even some Hungarian anti-Nazi resistance fighters on some pretexts, who had seen documents on the Katyn massacre and fled to the Soviet side to conceal their crime. They were keen on concealing the Katyn massacre. Considering this, Soviet involvement in Sikorski's death is quite possible.

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#10

Post by iwh » 15 Nov 2005, 22:19

Maybe his aircraft just had engine failure and crashed into the sea. The simplest answer is usually the most straight foreward, just like Wingate's plane that crashed in Burma. No one is suggesting any conspiracy theories there, so why do we have to go through all these theories with sikorsky? Air crashes happen all the time, even more so 60 years ago.

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Lornito Uriarte Mahinay Jr.
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#11

Post by Lornito Uriarte Mahinay Jr. » 17 Feb 2007, 05:56

Hey, one of the occupants of the plane that had crashed was a Bitish MP Brigadier. Does anybody has information on him? I think he was Brigadier Whitely.

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#12

Post by HFK » 17 Feb 2007, 07:47

Waffen, Brig-Gen John Percival Whiteley, 1898-1943, CO of Regt 99, is the one you are thinking of. He died in a plane crash in july 1943. Regards, HFK

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Lornito Uriarte Mahinay Jr.
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#13

Post by Lornito Uriarte Mahinay Jr. » 17 Feb 2007, 10:08

Thanks..........

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#14

Post by Lornito Uriarte Mahinay Jr. » 17 Feb 2007, 10:08

Thanks

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