A New Look at General Sikorski's Death:

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A New Look at General Sikorski's Death:

#1

Post by henryk » 26 Sep 2005, 21:40

http://www.polishnews.com/text/history/ ... sacre.html
From the archives of the Polish News, Chicago
Was General Sikorski a victim of the Katyn massacre?
By Jozef Kazimierz Kubit
Part I
This July marks the 62nd anniversary of the tragic death of General Wladyslaw Sikorski, Chief Commander of Poland and Prime Minister of the Polish Government-in-Exile. It is a special anniversary. General Sikorski was 62 years old when he died as a soldier on July 4, 1943. His visit in the Gibraltar fortress on the way from Cairo to London ended tragically in mysterious circumstances, unexplained to the present day.
Abstracts (I can not find Part II):
-Jan Gralewski came to Gibraltar from Warsaw ““with many coded reports from the Commanding Officer of the Polish Underground Army””. General Sikorski was supposed to meet Gralewski right after 11 a.m.
-There are facts that prove that Lieutenant Lubienski’’s description the events accompanying the death of General Sikorski was not truthful.
-On July 4th, 1943, at 6 p.m., Gralewski wrote [3, s. 198]: ““Well, this phase is ending and it ends unexpectedly impressively. Tonight I’’m leaving Gibraltar. I’’m afraid the older gentleman [Sikorski] will tell me off for my conversation in Madrid. But I’’ll defend myself.
-Nothing indicates that the real Jan Gralewski met General Sikorski on that day. Gralewski would (have) describe his meeting with Sikorski. It was somebody else. It is obvious that Lieutenant Lubienski, introducing somebody else to Sikorski, was aware of the mystification.
-Czeslaw Szafran, in an article dedicated to controversies surrounding the Gibraltar catastrophe, noticed that among the reasons why it can’’t be proven that General Sikorski’’s death wasn’’t accidental are the difficulties in identifying the way Jan Gralewski died [11, p. 245]. Eugeniusz Niebelski thinks that Gralewski’’s body was found on the runway, but he doesn’’t give the source of that information [9, p. 177]. The same was stated by Tadeusz Kisielewski. Alicja Iwanska in the autobiographical novel called ““Niezdemobilizowani”” (Not Demobilized), in which her husband bears the moniker Marek, wrote: ““It was so-called luck, that Marek did not struggle a lot; as they say, death from a bullet is easy: a sharp pain and a brief moment of consciousness.”” [4, p.85]

-From the Archives of the Polish Institute and General Sikorski Museum in London, Archives Ref. No A.XII. 4/172: A page from Jan Gralewski’’s passport; lack of stains caused by sea water may indicate that the document (and its owner) was never aboard the plane.

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#2

Post by henryk » 07 May 2006, 20:39

I have found Part II, which makes further claims that Russian secret agents were responsible for death of General Sikorski
http://www.polishnews.com/text/history/ ... html[quote]
Was General Sikorski a victim of the Katyn massacre? By Jóózef Kazimierz Kubit
Translation: Kasia Miszta
Part II

In the opinion of Czeslaw Szafran [4, p. 244], the most persistent supporter of the hypothesis that Russian secret agents were responsible for death of General Sikorski was Jan Nowak –– Jezioranski. It is a fact that Ivan Maisky’’s plane was standing next to the one Sikorski arrived in at the Gibraltar airport. In Jezioranski’’s opinion, the results of the British investigation held in 1943 were not trustworthy. He was convinced that the British purposely concealed facts, which proved that general’’s death might not be an accident. He also indicated that NKVD agents, infiltrating British secret service, had access to the Gibraltar airport. Jezioranski thought that Stalin was interested in the Polish prime minister’’s demise, and that one of the British intelligencemen (serving Soviet secret service as well), the infamous Harold (Kim) Philby, who in 1943 was the chief of the British counterespionage for Iberian Peninsula, was responsible for general’’s death.

According to Czeslaw Szafran: ““There’’s no evidence that it was Russian sabotage”” [4, p. 225f]. He also reminds that Maisky, in his letter dated on December 27, 1966, to Rolf Hochhuth, the author of the play ““The Soldiers”” (1967), pledged on his honor that he had nothing to do with General Sikorski’’s death [4, p. 225f]. The chief of the Gestapo, Heinrich Müüller, hired to work for the CIA by the chief of the Switzerland chapter of that organization in Bern in 1948, said otherwise [3, p.256].

Müüller knew Harold (Kim) Philby before World War II and he renewed their contacts when Philby was sent to Washington as a British intelligence officer to cooperate with the FBI and CIA [3, p. 112-113]. In his journal, under the date of January 8, 1950, Heinrich Müüller noted the conversation he had with Philby regarding what happened on Gibraltar on July 4, 1943.

Philby was in charge of security for the Gibraltar area at that time. In Philby’’s opinion, Stalin wanted General Sikorski’’s death [3, p. 114]. As the chief of the British counterespionage for the Iberian Peninsula, Philby could easily find out the date of Sikorski’’s visit to Gibraltar on his way from the Near East to London. In his version of events, the Soviets arranged for Maisky, their ambassador to London, to fly back via Gibraltar, and to be there at the same time as General Sikorski.

Philby believed that Sikorski was dangerous for Stalin. He told the former chief of the Gestapo that Maisky’’s passenger list included two professional assassins [3, p.115]. As Müüller recalls, the British, except for Philby’’s treasonable activities, had no direct connection with the murder of Sikorski. According to Philby, Churchill had been ““tipped off”” that this would happen, but ““he was so frightened about the possible rupture with Stalin over the death [of] Polish officers that he said nothing by way of warning.”” Therefore the occasion for ambassador Maisky’’s prophecy to be fulfilled had come. On March 31, 1941, in a conversation with the Czechoslovakian legate to the Soviet Union, Zdenek Fierlinger, Maisky stated that he ““can guarantee that General Sikorski will never enter Warsaw again”” [1, p. 297].

Also, Marek Kaminski finds it very possible that the most interested in putting Sikorski to death among the anti-Nazi coalition was Stalin [1, p. 295]. Stalin’’s politics were always focused on the ultimate weakening of the legal Polish government. According to Kaminski, in the first half of February 1943, after the capitulation of the German General Field Marshal Friedrich Wilhelm Paulus’’ army, Stalin decided –– after finding the most convenient moment –– to break diplomatic relations with the Polish government [1, p. 274]. He didn’’t have to wait long for that moment.

On April 13, 1943, a Berlin radio station aired an announcement about the German army discovering near Smolensk mass graves of murdered Polish officers. Gen. Smorawinski was found among the corpses. As the official Russian radio announcement aired on April 15 confirms, Soviet Russia was dismayed. On the same day, at 11 AM, a cabinet meeting was held in Prime Minister Sikorski’’s office. It was decided that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would approach the Russian embassy to ask for an explanation, and the International Organization of the Red Cross would be asked by the Polish minister of defense to start an investigation of the matter. At noon the same day, Sikorski and minister Edward Raczynski met at 10 Downing Street with Churchill. Anxious that the news about the massacre might be true, Churchill noted that Bolsheviks could be cruel. He also warned: ““There are things, although true, which should not be publicized without waiting for the right moment. It would be a mistake to reveal them all of a sudden”” [2, p. 224]. Nonetheless, Gen. Sikorski warned that the Polish government would be forced to voice its opinion in the matter of the German revelations.

On April 17, 1943, the Polish government turned to the Red Cross, asking the organization to investigate the alleged Katyn massacre [5, p. 254]. The Germans did the same a day earlier. Not earlier than April 20, Soviet Russia was asked to explain what happened to the Polish officers. In that situation, the British, in an effort to cover up for the Soviet murderers, tried to convince the Polish government to be silent and withdraw their note to the Red Cross. Gen. Sikorski’’s response to the British officials’’ persuasion was: ““Our politics is honesty to our allies. Russia has power on her side, we have justice. I would not recommend the British to side with brutal force and rape of justice. For these reasons, I refuse to withdraw the Polish déémarche to the International Red Cross”” [2, p. 229]. Meanwhile Stalin, taking advantage of the situation, in a letter to Churchill, accused the Polish government of cooperationwith Hitler and pronounced breaking diplomatic relations with Poland. The letter was handed to Churchill on April 23 by ambassador Maisky, who took the occasion to share his imperialistic opinions with the British prime minister, mentioning the stupidity of a nation of 20 million that was provoking a 200-million-citizen empire. On the next day, Churchill wrote a long letter to Stalin defending Poles and asking him not to break diplomatic relations with the Polish government. But Stalin’’s answer was negative. As it was noted by Jacek Tebinka, in other circumstances, the price for keeping diplomatic relations could have been a compromise in establishing Polish eastern border. At the beginning Stalin didn’’t consider that the Katyn massacre would be ever discovered. But as soon as it was revealed, it was too late to repair Polish - Soviet relations [compare: 5, p. 255]. On April 25, 1943, Vyacheslav Molotov handed over to ambassador Tadeusz Romer a note regarding breaking the diplomatic relations between the Soviets and the Polish government.

On May 1, 1943, William Averell Harriman spoke with Gen. Sikorski. Harriman, the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union at that time, was critical about the telegram addressed to the Red Cross referring to the Katyn massacre [6, p. 102]. He believed that sending the telegram, might have had a catastrophic impression in Moscow. Sikorski stated then that sending the telegram, when he was ill, was a mistake and he hoped to repair the situation. He also expressed his concerns about the Soviet expansion hurting the smaller nations of central Europe. Harriman shared his worries, but facing the upcoming election, he couldn’’t support such ideas openly. In that time, before the Teheran conference, Harriman believed that when the Soviet Army took over Poland and her neighbors it would be too late for negotiations [6, p. 104]. William Averell Harriman considered Gen. Sikorski the only Polish statesman able to negotiate with Stalin [6, p. 102-103].

Any action against the Polish government-in-exile would be successful if the government had not dismissed German accusations right away. Soviet diplomacy skillfully played with the news of the massacre, trying to weaken Sikorski’’s position in world politics. His physical removal was just a next step.

From 19 - 23 July 1943, a key conference regarding Poland’’s eastern border was held in the Foreign Office. On July 23, Anthony Eden and other high officials decided to send to ambassadors of the United Kingdom in Moscow and Washington a set of documents regarding obligations of Great Britain to Poland in the matter of the Polish-Soviet border. The set contained documents presenting the Russian standpoint and explaining the position of the London officials in the conflict. The above-mentioned set of documents did not contain the secret protocol, which was added to the pact signed on August 25, 1939.

On July 26, 1943, Churchill met Polish president Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz. During the meeting, Churchill spoke about the need of rebuilding a strong and independent Poland. He believed that most probably the Red Army would liberate Poland. He also told the president he couldn’’t guarantee anything regarding future Polish borders, stating: ““I have never promised and I will never give my political support to any shape of the Polish eastern border”” [5, p. 267]. The British ambassador to the Polish government, Owen O’’Malley, who was also present during the conversation, noted the fact that Stalin’’s expansion reached terrains ethnically not Russian. Two days later, on July 28, the Secretary of State of Great Britain in the Middle East, Richard Casey, in a conversation with the Soviet Admiral Charlamov, got to hear that: ““Soviet Russia fights to regain the old borders of the Czar’’s Empire”” [5, p. 267]. Old Russian imperialism had many followers in Soviet Russia.

At that time, the Foreign Office believed that the root of evil of the conflict of Sikorski’’s government with Russia was the problem of the Polish-Soviet border. On July 15, 1943, the ambassadors of the United Kingdom and the U.S.A. informed the Soviets about their need to meet Stalin. But Stalin avoided such a meeting for another month, finding excuses in being on the battlefield. Not earlier than August 11, the ambassadors of the U.K. and the U.S.A. in Moscow, Archibald Clark Kerr and Admiral William Standley, finally saw Stalin. Both ambassadors appealed to the Russian leader to agree to evacuate Polish citizens from Soviet Russia. The action was supposed to improve Polish-Russian relations. Standley declared then that the problem of European borders should be solved after the war in the form of a peace treaty. Stalin and Molotov listened to the ambassadors, but they did not give any commentaries.

To be continued...

Selected bibliography:
1. Kaminski Marek Kazimierz, Edvard Benešš kontra gen. Wladyslaw Sikorski, Wydawnictwo Neriton, Instytut Historii PAN, Warszawa 2005.
2. Kukiel Marian, General Sikorski, Zolnierz i Maz Stanu Polski Walczacej, Instytut Polski i Muzeum im. gen. Sikorskiego, Londyn 1970.
3. Heinrich Müüller, Gregory Douglas, Müüller Journals: 1948-1950 the Washington Years, Volume 1, Bender Publishing, San Jose, 1999.
4. Szafran Czeslaw, Kontrowersje wokol katastrofy gibraltarskiej, in: Moszumanski Zbigniew, Zuziak Janusz [Editors], General Wladyslaw Sikorski, Szkice historyczne w 60. rocznice smierci, Wyd. Adam Marszalek, Torun 2004.
5. Tebinka Jacek, Polityka brytyjska wobec problemu granicy polsko-radzieckiej 1939 –– 1945, Wydawnictwo Neriton, Instytut Historii PAN, Warszawa 1998.
6. Wandycz Piotr, Harriman a Polska, „„Zeszyty Historyczne”” nr 79, s. 88-115, Paryz 1987.
[/quote]


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Re: A New Look at General Sikorski's Death:

#3

Post by henryk » 28 Jun 2008, 19:06

Another investigation:
http://www.polskieradio.pl/zagranica/ne ... 85827.html
Polish Radion: External Service: English Section
Sikorski exhumation debate
28.06.2008
Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski has spoken in favor of the exhumation of Wladyslaw Sikorski, prime minister of the Polish government in exile, to try explain the circumstances of his mysterious death in July 1943. “The tragic circumstances of the death of general Sikorski should be explained. Exhumation might prove helpful. It is always worth seeking the truth” – the president told the Tygodnik Powszechny weekly. The idea is also supported by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

General Wladyslaw Sikorski was returning to London from the Middle East on board a plane which, according to the British sources, crashed over the Straits of Gibraltar shortly after take-off. In 1993 his remains were brought to the Wawel cathedral in Krakow, where Poland’s most distinguished men and women are buried. The Warsaw Society of History Lovers appealed to the Krakow metropolitan cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz to open Sikorski’s sarcophagus and conduct an autopsy. Cardinal Dziwisz made his possible consent dependant on the stand of Poland’s state authorities.

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Re: A New Look at General Sikorski's Death:

#4

Post by henryk » 30 Jun 2008, 20:14

An update, stating that British Archives access was refused:
http://www.polskieradio.pl/zagranica/ne ... gated.html
1943 mysterious death of Polish PM in exhile to be investigated
30.06.2008
Listen 4,41 MB
The Institute of National Remembrance which probes into Nazi and communist crimes considers investigation into the death of the Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile, general Wladyslaw Sikorski who led the Polish government in exile in Paris and later London after Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany in September 1939.

Agnieszka Bielawska reports
Speculations on general Sikorski death continue ever since July 4th 1943 after his plane crashed into the Straights of Gibraltar en route from North Africa to London. He was killed together with his his daughter, Chief of Staff and seven others. Following his death not even an autopsy was conducted, he was buried in the Polish war Cemetery in Newark on Trent. No investigation was launched either in 1993 when his remains were transferred to the Wawel Cathedral in Krakow.

The Catholic Tygodnik Powszechny said that the President Lech Kaczynski declared that the tragic circumstances of general Sikorski's death should be explained and he is certain an exhumation can help. A similar declaration came from the Prime Minister's Office said the paper.

Michal Kaminski from the President's Office said that even though Sikorski's death is one of the historical mysteries which disturb Poles, his exhumation should not be treated as some sort of a sensation: 'It should be an element of an serious criminal -historical investigation aiming to establish the truth concerning a very important Polish politician. In that time Sikorski epitomised Polish hopes for freedom and died tragically. Many historians claim that if he continued to lead the Polish government in exile Poland's fate would be different. He was the most respected Polish politician in the west. He died and we should know how he died.'

The idea of exhuming Sikorski's body is supported by historian professor Wojciech Roszkowski , who considers that it gives us a chance to at leas double check certain circumstances which are unclear: 'There are various hypothesis about the death of general Sikorski and the British authorities are not willing to help to explain those circumstances, not allowing Polish authorities to explore British archives. I think that the exhumation of general Sikorski's remains will give us a chance to at least find out some aspect of the accident.'

There are a number of questions concerning general Sikorski's death which continue to disturb historians: whether general Sikorski was killed during the crash or before, who is responsible? What were the circumstances of the sabotage, if it was an aircraft crash, or murder, if he was killed before. The official cause is plane malfunction but there are many speculations that political issues played the main part.

'As we know exactly at the same time there was a Soviet plane in Gibraltar in which ambassador Maiyski was travelling to or from Britain. His security was taken care of by a well known person of Kim Philby , who was a Soviet agent in the British intelligence . So there is a hypothesis that the Soviet's were behind the sabotage or the murder and that Kim Philby was shielding this operation. But of course these are hypothesis which need to be double checked. Without access to British archives it is impossible. So maybe the exhumation will throw some light. Probably it will not explain the whole truth but at least throw some light,' adds Professor Roszkowski.

Bearing in mind the many theories published about general Sikorski's death an exhumation and a medical examination would help solve the issue once and for all. Hopefully present answers which should had been made clear at that time, says historian Andrzej Suchcic from the London based Institute of General Wladyslaw Sikorski: 'It will hopefully solve whether he was killed in an accident or murdered. At the very beginning the court of inquiry was very flap dash and left various elements unresolved and that has led to their various theories that it was a cover up.'

The exhumation will not put an end to further speculations. If the cause of death of general Sikorski , is discovered it will lead to further discussions what led to it. But it is an important decision for Poles says Andrzej Suchcic: 'An examination of the body gives a chance of solving something which is obviously a very important issue for the Poles and for our nation, and if any ghosts can be laid to rest then it is a good idea.'

The Society of History Lovers issued an appeal to open the general's sarcophagus at the Wawel Cathedral in Krakow. Cardinal Stanisalw Dziwisz, the Metropolita of Krakow said he has to wait for consent from the state authorities to undertake such an important decision.

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Re: A New Look at General Sikorski's Death:

#5

Post by Boby » 02 Jul 2008, 15:07

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... orski.html
Did British double agent Kim Philby murder Polish war hero General Sikorski?

By Harry de Quetteville in Berlin
Last Updated: 2:29AM BST 01/07/2008

A Second World War murder mystery featuring Winston Churchill, the British double agent Kim Philby and Joseph Stalin could be solved after the Polish government called for the body of a national hero to be exhumed.

General Wladyslaw Sikorski, the leader of Poland's wartime government in exile, died 65 years ago this month when his plane plunged into the sea off Gibraltar.

A British inquiry in 1943 found that the crash was caused by the plane's controls jamming. But rumours persist of a plot to kill Gen Sikorski, whose defence of the Polish national cause threatened to derail Britain's relationship with the Soviet Union.

Now Poland's president, Lech Kaczynski, and his prime minister, Donald Tusk, have demanded that Gen Sikorski's body be exhumed from its tomb in Wawel Cathedral in Krakow, the traditional burial place of Polish heroes. "The tragic circumstances of the death of General Sikorski should be explained," said the president.
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Moves to exhume Sikorski's body follow a long campaign by Polish historians, who claim that it was not examined properly before burial. They claim that he might have been killed before the crash, in which his daughter also died, and only the pilot survived. In particular, they want an examination of his skull to see whether he was shot.

The general's death has attracted a swarm of conspiracy theories, which variously accuse British, Soviet and even rival Polish factions of orchestrating his murder.

But the most insistent rumours suggest that his death was ordered by the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, incensed by Gen Sikorski's demand for an investigation into the Katyn massacre of Polish officers by Soviet troops.

Stalin's accusers claim that Gen Sikorski's plane was left unguarded on the runway at Gibraltar, and could easily have been sabotaged. They also point out that on the day of the crash, July 4, 1943, a plane carrying the Soviet ambassador Ivan Maisky and a small retinue of Soviet troops parked next to the doomed Polish leader's aircraft.

Allegations of a plot by the Soviet Union, determined not to let Polish nationalism get in the way of communist expansion after the war, have been further fuelled by the presence on Gibraltar of Kim Philby.

The notorious spy was in charge of British intelligence operations in the territory from 1941 to 1944. The crash occurred 20 years before he defected to Russia, but he is thought to have been a double agent from the start of the war.

Investigators have also pointed the finger at the British wartime leader Winston Churchill. In 1967 the German dramatist Rolf Hochhuth suggested in the play Soldiers that Churchill was so anxious over Gen Sikorski's impact on ties with Stalin that he ordered the assassination.

Performances of the play were at first banned in Britain. Two years later Harold Wilson, briefed on the case, told the House of Commons such rumours should be "dismissed and brushed aside with the contempt they deserve".

In his defence, Mr Hochhuth referred to the memoirs of the Yugoslav vice-president Milovan Djilas, who said Stalin warned that the British might try to kill Tito as they had Sikorski.

However, in declassified papers from 1969, the former pilot Sir Robin Cooper reviewed the wartime inquiry into Sikorski's death and concluded that "the possibility of Sikorski's murder by the British is excluded".

"But," he added, "the possibility of his murder by persons unknown cannot be so excluded."
Boby,

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Re: A New Look at General Sikorski's Death:

#6

Post by henryk » 06 Jul 2008, 21:28

Another new look:
http://www.polskieradio.pl/zagranica/ne ... eries.html
Polish Radio: External Service: English Section.
Controversial theory about General Wladyslaw Sikorski's death in a TV series

06.07.2008

The five part series presents a controversial theory that the general did not die in the plane crash near Gibraltar, but was murdered.

The director, Lidia Kazen, and co-author of the screenplay historian Dariusz Baloszewski speculate about a British coup set up against Sikorski, and point to a Pole being the assassin. The theory is that Sikorski had become troublesome for the British and the British wartime leader Winston Churchill was anxious over Sikorski’s impact on ties with Stalin.

The film will be on release next year.

General Wladyslaw Sikorski died on July th 1943 when his plane plunged into the sea off Gibraltar. His daughter, Chief of Staff and seven other passengers were killed. His death has attracted various conspiracy theories since no autopsy was conducted before the burial in England, nor when his remains were transferred to the Wawel Cathedral in Krakow in 1993.

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Invesigation Continues

#7

Post by henryk » 03 Dec 2010, 21:32

http://www.thenews.pl/international/art ... inues.html
Investigation into General Sikorski’s death continues
03.12.2010 07:50
The re-opened investigation into the circumstances which led to the death of General Władysław Sikorski continues at a cemetery in Newark, England, this week with the exhumation of the bodies of three Polish soldiers killed also in the 1943 air crash near Gibraltar. The exhumation is being done on request of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) which is investigating the circumstances of the crash. The remains of Chief of Staff General Tadeusz Klimecki, Colonel Andrzej Marecki and Captain Józef Ponikiewski will be brought to Poland. After autopsies at the Forensics Institute in Kraków General Klimecki and Colonel Marecki will be buried at the Powązki military cemetery in Warsaw and Captain Ponikiewski in his home town Oporów.

The investigation into the death of General Sikorski was re-opened two years ago to finally settle whether Poland’s Commander-in-Chief during WW II was assassinated or that he died in an accident, which has been the line the British took at the time. In November 2008, INP examined the remains of General Sikorski which were brought over to Poland from Britain and it was established that the general had suffered injuries typical of an air crash. General Sikorski was then interred with proper honours at Wawel in Kraków, the resting place of Polish kings.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in Warsaw have asked Britain’s military air force, the RAF for documents with technical details of the Liberator bomber that crashed into the sea shortly after taking off from Gibraltar in 1943. "To find out if the aircraft was sabotaged we need the opinion of aviation experts, so therefore we need the documents on the Liberator," Dariusz Psiuk, a prosecutor from Poland's Institute of National Remembrance told the Scotsman newspaper on Thursday. (pg/ek)

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Re: A New Look at General Sikorski's Death:

#8

Post by michael mills » 07 Dec 2010, 02:51

The five part series presents a controversial theory that the general did not die in the plane crash near Gibraltar, but was murdered.

The director, Lidia Kazen, and co-author of the screenplay historian Dariusz Baloszewski speculate about a British coup set up against Sikorski, and point to a Pole being the assassin. The theory is that Sikorski had become troublesome for the British and the British wartime leader Winston Churchill was anxious over Sikorski’s impact on ties with Stalin.
This is absolute nonsense.

Ever since 1940, Sikorski had been an advocate of ending the de facto state of war between Poland and the Soviet Union (caused by the Soviet invasion of 17 September 1939) and of seeking an alliance with the Soviet Union against Germany.

On 19 June 1940, Sikorski proposed to the British Government an approach to Stalin "to improve the tragic situation of the Polish population in Soviet-occupied territory and in the Soviet Union itself (prisoners of war deatined there) in order to create, with the agreement of the Soviet authorities, a Polish army of some 300,000 men for service against Germany" (Documents on Polish-Soviet Relations, I, no. 76, 95).

Sikorski was also prepared to compromise over the Polish territories annexed by the Soviet Union, in exchange for Allied agreement to the westward expansion of Polish territory to the Oder-Neisse line by annexing German eastern territory, a policy that had always been favoured by Sikorski and his political allies.

Sikorski's preparedness to seek a reconciliation with the Soviet Union was strenuously opposed by his ex-Sanacja opponents within the Polish Government-in-Exile, in particular by Zaleski and President Raczkiewicz. Accordingly, if anyone assassinated Sikorski, it was more likely to have been his anti-Soviet opponents in the Polish exile community than either the Soviets or the British, who were quite satisfied with his support for the British-Soviet alliance.

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Re: A New Look at General Sikorski's Death:

#9

Post by Artur Szulc » 07 Dec 2010, 09:56

Sikorski's preparedness to seek a reconciliation with the Soviet Union was strenuously opposed by his ex-Sanacja opponents within the Polish Government-in-Exile, in particular by Zaleski and President Raczkiewicz. Accordingly, if anyone assassinated Sikorski, it was more likely to have been his anti-Soviet opponents in the Polish exile community than either the Soviets or the British, who were quite satisfied with his support for the British-Soviet alliance.
Perhaps that was true from 1940-42, but how about the discover of the Katyn massacre in 1943?

Sikorski recieved heavy critic from Churchill for his steps taken in this matter. And he was certainly not loved by Stalin.
As You remember Stalin cut off diplomatic relations with the Polish exile government at the end of april 1943. Sikorski became a problem both for Churchill and Roosevelt since he disturbed the War effort and relations towards the Soviet Union.

Best regards
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Re: A New Look at General Sikorski's Death:

#10

Post by Ponury » 02 Sep 2011, 13:24

Maybe the plane was loaded with contraband goods such as diamonds, alcohol? The General did not need to know about it.

Cp. PONIKOWSKI in local cementery:

Cpt. Joseph Ponikowski died in the crash Gibraltar. His remains were exhumed in the Polish military cemetery in Newark, England last week and after an autopsy at the Department of Forensic Medicine in Cracow transported to the family city Oporow.

http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/regionalne/ol ... -mini.html

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Re: A New Look at General Sikorski's Death:

#11

Post by youngbruno » 09 Oct 2012, 06:15

This story may not be liked but I have recently finished a book on my father's military history and based upon alot of his memoirs

It relates to the death of General Sikorski.

My father was originally a K.O.P. Plutowny and survived KATYN by changing his clothes and his birthdate. Captured at Kulikov he was filmed by the Wehrmacht (on youtube video) and taken to Stalag VA and then VC and finally VB. In 1942 towards August after demonstrating to the commondant that he can grow potatoes to feed the Stalag.

They placed him on a Farm to grow potatoes for the third Reich, here he escaped to France and eventually in 1943 he finds General Sikorski and due to his previous position as Protector of Poland K.O.P. he one of his personl men that protected him.

Just before my father's death in 1984 there were a few world secrets he wanted out and this is one of them. And he was very angry about this one.

What he told me about Sikorski was this

1. It was 100%sabotaged
2. The method the person used was so simple no one has found it today done under the cover of darkness it was a small rag jammed into the exterior wing that allowed it to lift and that's all the pilot could do and crashed
3. It was another Pole under pressure by Ander's and Churchill to do the deed to Stop Sikorski causing a war with Britain at all costs.

None of this could be mentioned as he would have been killed instantly and create dissention in Poland.

Thats it, it was so simple, whether you believe it or not it made sense to me and I suppose no one has found otherwise so I believe my fathers directive to tell once he was dead.

Peter

youngbruno
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Re: A New Look at General Sikorski's Death:

#12

Post by youngbruno » 09 Oct 2012, 07:44

My apologies Item 3 was supposed to say .....stop sikorski causing a war between Britain and Russia......

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henryk
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Re: A New Look at General Sikorski's Death:

#13

Post by henryk » 09 Oct 2012, 20:39

Why would Anders want to prevent a war between Britain and the USSR?

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wm
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Re: A New Look at General Sikorski's Death:

#14

Post by wm » 09 Oct 2012, 22:29

That's interesting, but I have my doubts that a corporal of the militarized border police, defending the Polish-Soviet border, could become a personal servant or bodyguard of Sikorski. With Sikorski in Gibraltar the lowest rank officer was a Lieutenant, if I'm not mistaken.
Did he even speak English? I suppose he could speak Russian or Ukrainian but English speaking corporals must have been not only a rarity at the Soviet border but anywhere in Poland.

youngbruno
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Re: A New Look at General Sikorski's Death:

#15

Post by youngbruno » 09 Oct 2012, 23:11

Hi WM

Its my understanding that Plutowny is between S/Sergeant and Lieutenant in K.O.P. as in the Western World that position doesnt exist. My father spoke Polish, German, Russian and Ukranian and poor english.
We now realise his is listed with M.O.D. as well and what we have found out is he was into intelligence and was given Polish U.S. contacts to talk to also whilst in North Africa / Italy. What we know is they went to Italy and fought there and we believe was trained in Brindisi in Inteligence and special tactics and dropped back into Poland.

Its from this point and I have seen some photographs of him as he was to kickstart Polish Resistance Groups and I have seen him with someone called Lupazco or similar in a group called 5 Wilenska Brygada he is on the left holding a Russian machinegun this is used on a lot of Polish Forums.

He then joined then the Brygada Swietokryska n late 1944 and hid in a forrest for 4 months and was called a Salamander. I have his red arm patch badge.

Today is his 100th anniversary of his birth and Poland has sent over a medal for his involvement with the Brygada Swietokryska for his involvement on the 5/5/1945 freeing the women in the Holysov Concentration Camp. Dad apparently coordinated the event with the U.S. Polish translators with General Pattons 3rd Army as they came up a few hours later.

Apparently as I have found out they were impressed by him and the Brygada so they the U.S. Army hired him after he was first listed as a Polish Guard then C.G.T.C. guard as they took him to U.S. Occupied Germany and gave him their own U.S. Army clothes and dyed them Navy blue.

And it goes on.

All I wished to do was to tell what he asked me to do back in 1984 that specifically
Sikorski was sabotaged and it was done by simply placing a "rag" into the wing in the dark and that simple action caused the crash.

I am not going on to continue the talk as its the one and only time I am doing another of my father's requests as the other world secrets have been accurate like the witnessing of 4 aborigines used as guinea pigs and it being proved by a Royal Commision to be correct etc.

Unfortunately WM he was one of Sikorskis Men.

Believe it or not.

Cheers

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