On the night of 4th to 5th July 1943, General Władysław Sikorski, Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile and Chief Leader, died in a plane crash off the coast of Gibraltar. A British aircraft with a general on board fell into the sea respective seconds after takeoff. An investigation conducted on behalf of the British showed that the origin of the accident was a blockade of the helm of height.
General Sikorski during an earlier visit to Gibraltar in 1941. photograph Wikipedia
On 4 July 1943, at the Gibraltar airport, the overseas territory of the United Kingdom on the confederate coast of the Iberian Peninsula, the powerful British transport aircraft Liberator II, number AL523 was preparing to take off. On board, he flew to London, including General Władysław Sikorski, Chief Commander of the Polish Armed Forces and Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Refugee. The general returned from a fewer weeks of inspection of the Polish Army in the East.
The engine was inflated and at 23.06 a Czech pilot Eduard Prchal picked up a flight machine. After 16 s the plane fell to the sea about 600 m from the end of the runway. Only Prchal survived the crash, which was saved by a life coat most likely already in flight. All another passengers and crew members were killed, a full of 17.
In addition to Gen. Sikorski, his daughter was killed by Lieutenant Zofia Lesniowska (she was an encryptant); Gen. Tadeusz Klimecki, Chief of the Staff of the Chief Commander, Adjutants of Gen. Sikorski: Adam Kułakowski and Lieutenant Józef Ponikiewski, and Colonel Andrzej Marecki, Head of the 3rd Operations Branch of the Chief of the Staff of the Chief of the Leader. 5 victims were not found: 2 crew members and 3 passengers, including Lieutenant Lesniowska.
On July 5, 1943, the search for the bodies of the victims. photograph Wikipedia
Gen. Sikorski's remains extracted from the sea were transported to Plymouth, UK on board the Orcan orb destroyer. The general rested on 16 July at the Polish Air Force Cemetery in Newark close Nottingham. In the fall of 1993, his remains were brought to Poland and buried in the basement of Wawel Cathedral.
– An accident investigation committee set up by the British stated in an authoritative study that the origin of the crash was a blockage of the rudder. However, it was impossible to explain how the accident occurred," says Dr. Henryk Grabowski, historian of planet War II. At the same time, experts ruled out the anticipation of sabotage.
Nevertheless, many conspiracy theories arose about the causes of the disaster and the circumstances of the General's death.. According to any people, the accident was the consequence of the actions of German agents.
– Others claimed that the disaster was expected to cover up the assassination of Gen. Sikorski and his colleagues by russian intelligence or Englishmen, and even Poles who were reluctant to the Chief Leader,” says the historian.
For the English Gen. Sikorski was to be an obstacle to the Polish-Soviet agreement planned at the end of the war, while the Soviets were to avenge their global revelation graves of Polish officers – victims of Katyn crime. As the bodies of any of the victims of the crash were not found, rumors arose that these people, including the General's daughter, were kidnapped into the russian Union. There were even rumours that Lieutenant Lesniowska was later seen in the NKDW villa close Moscow or in 1 of the russian camps.
A coffin with the body of Gen. Sikorski, brought aboard the ORP "Orkan". NAC photo
None of these theories have been confirmed. any rumors ruled out an investigation by the Institute of National Memory conducted in 2008. Within it, the bodies of Gen. Sikorski, Gen. Klimecki, Colonel Marecki and Lieutenant Ponikiewski were exhumed. “As a consequence of the examination of these remains, forensic experts have determined that they all died from injuries to many organs typical of the victims of traffic accidents, including plane accidents,” says Dr. Grabowski. Nor was the explanation that Gen. Sikorski was to be killed before the flight. There was besides no indication of injuries typical of the explosion.
– The death of Gen. Sikorski surely weakened Poland's position on the global arena and in the Allied camp – admits the historian. He adds that the general was an efficient organizer and skillful diplomat who actively sought to make Polish Armed Forces in the West. It was him on July 30, 1941. signed with russian Ambassador Ivan Majski a deal to normalize relations Polish-Soviet, which enabled the formation of the Polish Army in the USSR.
This was Gen. Sikorski in April 1943. After the Germans discovered mass graves of Polish officers in Katyn demanded that the case be investigated by the global Red Cross. – After the General's death and embrace by Stanislaw Mikołajczyk as Prime Minister of the Polish Government in exile and through General Kazimierz Sosnkowski position of Chief Leader The situation of Poland has become more hard – adds the historian.
