Posted on 07/01/2008 9:35:52 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
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. ...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.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Polish war hero?
Yes; he was a war hero and Polish.
“..have demanded that Gen Sikorski’s body be exhumed..”
Will exhumation solve the riddle?
Ping.
Sometimes it is helpful to read the story at the link. In this instance, it says, “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. “
Philby was a traitor for his entire adult life so it’s not implausible that he murdered Sikorski.
There are those who argue that Sikorski’s death was more convenient for the Allies than it was for the Soviets.
As I recall from recent history, a bullet hole in the skull of an airplane crash victim who has set himself against a head of state with the means, opportunity, and motive to kill him doesn’t seem to establish anything at all.
Hey,there's plenty of people in the West (and more than a few in this country) who could learn a lot about courage and sacrifice from the Poles and others in Eastern Europe.
There were a lot of Polish War Heros during WWII, Polish RAF pilots literally saved Britain’s bacon during the Battle of Britain. And this is how Poland was repaid.
I'm currently reading “The Fourth Man” by Andrew Boyle, which details the Cambridge-incubated spy ring that included Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, and Guy Burgess. I'll look for hints about Philby’s role in Sikorski’s death.
This book ultimately led to Margaret Thatcher's public confirmation in 1979 that Anthony Blunt was the “fourth man in the spy ring. About ten years later, a KGB defector claimed that the “fifth man” was John Cairncross.
There were one hell of a lot of Polish war heroes.
I read Boyle’s book but it was a long time ago and I don’t remember anything about this in it. As one other poster pointed out, the Brits might also have found Sikorski troublesome and had their own reasons for engineering his death. They didn’t want anybody rocking the boat with Stalin. WWII had its share of unsavory betrayals and this could have been one of them.
I remember that, too. But at least he didn’t end up at Fort Marcy!
Much of his activity hasn't been spoken about. Wouldn't surprise me to discover he was behind this killing.
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