Władysław Sikorski

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General
Władysław Sikorski
Edward Śmigły-Rydz
Succeeded byKazimierz Sosnkowski
Personal details
Born
Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski

(1881-05-20)20 May 1881
Tuszów Narodowy, Austria-Hungary (now Poland)
Died4 July 1943(1943-07-04) (aged 62)
near Gibraltar
Cause of deathAircraft crash
Political partyIndependent
Spouse
(m. 1909)
ChildrenZofia Leśniowska
ProfessionSoldier, statesman
AwardsSee list below
Signature
Military service
Allegiance Second Polish Republic
Branch/service
Years of service
  • 1914–1928
  • 1939–1943
RankLieutenant general
Commands9th Infantry Division
Battles/wars

Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (Polish pronunciation: [vwaˈdɨswaf ɕiˈkɔrskʲi] ; 20 May 1881 – 4 July 1943) was a Polish military and political leader.

Before World War I, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause of Polish independence. He fought with distinction in the Polish Legions during World War I, and later in the newly created Polish Army during the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921. In the latter war, he played a prominent role in the decisive 1920 Battle of Warsaw.

In the early years of the

minister of military affairs (1923–1924). Following Józef Piłsudski's May 1926 Coup and the installation of the Sanation
government, he fell out of favor with the new régime.

During

.

In July 1943 a plane carrying Sikorski plunged into the sea immediately on takeoff from Gibraltar, killing all on board except the pilot. The exact circumstances of Sikorski's death have been disputed and have given rise to various theories surrounding the crash. Sikorski had been the most prestigious leader of the Polish exiles, and his death was a severe setback for the Polish cause.

Early life and World War I

Sikorski was born in

Austro-Hungarian Empire.[1] He was the third child in his family; his father was Tomasz Sikorski, a school teacher; his mother was Emilia Habrowska.[1] His grandfather, Tomasz Kopaszyna Sikorski, had fought and been wounded at the Battle of Olszynka Grochowska in the November Uprising, during which he received the Virtuti Militari medal.[2]

Sikorski in his youth

Sikorski attended the

second lieutenant (podporucznik rezerwy).[3] In 1909 he married Helena Zubczewska [pl], whom he met while at the high school in Lwów.[1][4] In 1912 they had a daughter, Zofia.[5] After graduation he lived in Leżajsk and worked for the Galician administration's hydraulic engineering department, working on the regulation of the San river, and later was involved in private enterprises related to construction, real estate and the petroleum trade.[1][3][4]

During his studies at the Polytechnic, Sikorski became involved in the

Commission of Confederated Independence Parties (Komisja Skonfederowanych Stronnictw Niepodległościowych, KSSN).[3][4] Having a military education, he lectured other activists on military tactics.[3]

Upon the outbreak of the

Polnische Wehrmacht.[6] In June 1917 Piłsudski refused Austro-Hungarian orders to swear loyalty to the Habsburg Emperor (the "oath crisis") and was interned at the fortress of Magdeburg, while Sikorski abandoned Polnische Wehrmacht and returned to the Austro-Hungarian Army.[6] In 1918, however, following the February Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the battle of Rarańcza, Sikorski chose belatedly to side with Piłsudski, announcing solidarity with his actions, protesting against the planned separation of Chełm Land from the planned Polish state, and thus soon joined Piłsudski in internment (he would be held in Dulfalva (Dulovo)).[4][6] Nonetheless, this was not enough to smooth the differences between him and Piłsudski, and these two major Polish leaders would drift farther apart in the continuing years.[4]

Eastern wars

Polish–Ukrainian war

Sikorski in 1918

In 1918 the Russian, Austro-Hungarian and German empires collapsed, and Poland once again became independent, but the borders of the

Bolshevik leaders saw Poland as a bridge that the communist revolution would have to force to bring communism to the West, and Poland's very existence would soon be at stake.[4][9]

Polish–Soviet war

After his release from internment, from 1 May 1918 Sikorski worked for the Regency Council, organizing the new Polish Army.[6] He was soon at the frontlines again, this time in the Polish–Ukrainian War, where troops under his command secured and defended Przemyśl in October–November 1918.[4][6]

Polish independence came in November 1918 with the formation of the

brigade general.[10]

As the Polish–Soviet War grew in intensity, in late April 1920 the

divisional general on 28 February 1921, and was awarded Poland's highest military decoration, the order of Virtuti Militari, on 15 March that year.[10]

In government and in opposition

Sikorski in 1923

Despite their differences, Piłsudski praised Sikorski in his reports, recommending him for

Polish-French cooperation. He obtained recognition of Poland's eastern frontiers from the UK, France, and the United States during the Conference of Ambassadors on 15 March 1923.[11] He aided Treasury Minister Władysław Grabski's reforms aimied at curtailing inflation and reforming the currency and supported ethnic minorities.[10] His government nonetheless lost support in the Sejm and resigned on 26 May 1923.[11]

Sikorski with Marshal of France Ferdinand Foch (1923)

From 30 September 1923 to 1924 he held the post of chief inspector of infantry (Generalny Inspektor Piechoty).

Lwów.[11]

A democrat and supporter of the Sejm, Sikorski declared his opposition to Józef Piłsudski's May 1926 coup d'état;[11] he remained in Lwów, refused to dispatch his forces, and played no substantive role in the short struggle.[4][11] In 1928 he was relieved by Piłsudski of his command, and while he remained on active service, he received no other posting.[11] That year also saw the publication of his book on the Polish–Soviet War, Nad Wisłą i Wkrą. Studium do polsko–radzieckiej wojny 1920 roku (At the Vistula and Wkra Rivers: a Contribution to the Study of the Polish–Soviet War of 1920).[11] He would spend the following years publishing works on military theory, history, and foreign policy.[11] His most famous work was his 1934 book Przyszła wojna – jej możliwości i charakter oraz związane z nimi zagadnienia obrony kraju ("War in the Future: Its Possibilities and Character and Associated Questions of National Defense", published in English in 1943 as Modern Warfare: Its Character, Its Problems), in which he predicted the return of maneuver warfare.[11][12] He wrote several other books and many articles, foreseeing, among other things, the rapid militarization of Germany.[4]

In due course, soon after he was relieved of command, and as a semi-dictatorial

Ignacy Paderewski, and General Józef Haller) he joined the Front Morges, an anti-Sanation] political grouping.[12]

Prime Minister in exile

Edward Raczyński

In the days before

Polish Armed Forces in France.[12] Two days later, on 30 September, president Raczkiewicz called him to serve as the first Polish prime minister in exile.[12][13] On 7 November he became commander in chief and General Inspector of the Armed Forces (Naczelny Wódz i Generalny Inspektor Sił Zbrojnych), following Rydz-Śmigły's resignation.[12] Sikorski would also hold the position of Polish Minister of Military Affairs, thus uniting in his person all control over the Polish military in wartime.[12]

During his years as prime minister in exile, Sikorski personified the hopes and dreams of millions of Poles, as reflected in the saying, "When the sun is higher, Sikorski is nearer" (Polish: "Gdy słoneczko wyżej, to Sikorski bliżej").[4][12] At the same time, from early on he had to work to reconcile the pro- and anti-Piłsudskiite factions.[4][12][14]

His government was recognized by the western Allies. Nonetheless, Sikorski's government struggled to get its point of view heard by France and the United Kingdom.

Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939.[14] Furthermore, he struggled to secure resources needed to recreate the Polish Army in exile.[14]

Poland, even with its territories occupied, still commanded substantial armed forces: the

In 1940 the

Polish 303 Fighter Squadron achieved the highest number of kills of any Allied squadron.[19] Sikorski's Polish forces would form one of the most significant Allied contingents.[a]

Sikorski (left) with Andrew McNaughton, Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle
Władysław Anders and Sikorski with Joseph Stalin (1941)

The

Fall of France weakened Sikorski's position, and his proposal to consider building a new Polish army in the Soviet-occupied territories led to much criticism from within the Polish community in exile.[14] On 19 July Raczkiewicz dismissed him from his position as the prime minister, replacing him with August Zaleski; however, within days pressure from Sikorski's sympathizers, including the British government, made Raczkiewicz reconsider his decision, and Sikorski was reinstated as the prime minister on 25 July.[14]

One of Sikorski's political goals was the creation of a

Polish-Czechoslovakian confederation.[20] He saw such an organization as necessary if smaller states were to stand up to traditional German and Russian imperialism.[21] That concept, although ultimately futile, gained some traction around that time, as Sikorski and Edvard Beneš from the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, signed an agreement declaring the intent to pursue closer cooperation on 10 November that year.[14] On 24 December 1940 Sikorski was promoted to generał broni.[14] In March 1941 he visited the United States; he would visit the US again in March and December 1942.[5][14]

Following the

Polish II Corps) was formed under General Władysław Anders and later evacuated to the Middle East, where Britain faced a dire shortage of military forces.[4][14] The whereabouts of thousands more Polish officers, however, would remain unknown for two more years, and this would weigh heavily on both Polish–Soviet relations and on Sikorski's fate.[4]

Initially, Sikorski supported the Polish–Soviet rapprochement, which reignited criticism of his person from some Polish factions.

Wilno, if not both.[22] Sikorksi's stance on eastern borders was not inflexible; he noted in some documents that some concessions might be acceptable, however, giving up both Lwów and Wilno was not.[22] Initially he also referred to plans of annexing German land to the Oder as megalomania.[23]

Katyn revelation and death

In 1943 the fragile relations between the Soviet Union and the Polish government-in-exile finally reached their breaking point when, on 13 April, the Germans announced via the Katyn Commission the discovery of the bodies of 20,000 Polish officers who had been murdered by the Soviets and buried in Katyn Forest, near Smolensk, Russia.[4] Stalin claimed that the atrocity had been carried out by the Germans,[24] while Nazi propaganda orchestrated by Joseph Goebbels successfully exploited the Katyn massacre to drive a wedge between Poland, the Western Allies and the Soviet Union.[25] Moscow did not acknowledge responsibility for this and similar massacres of Polish officers until 1989.[26]

When Sikorski refused to accept the Soviet explanation and requested an investigation by the

International Red Cross on 16 April, the Soviets accused the government-in-exile of cooperating with Nazi Germany and broke off diplomatic relations on 25 April.[5]

Beginning in late May 1943, Sikorski began visiting Polish forces stationed in the Middle East.[5] In addition to inspecting the forces and raising morale, Sikorski was also occupied with political matters; around that time, a conflict was growing between him and General Władysław Anders, as Sikorski was still open to some normalization of Polish–Soviet relations, to which Anders was vehemently opposed.[5]

On 4 July 1943, while Sikorski was returning from an inspection of Polish forces in the Middle East, he was killed, together with his daughter, his

Gibraltar Airport at 23:07 hours.[5][27] The crash was attributed to cargo on the plane shifting to the back upon takeoff.[28] Only the pilot, Eduard Prchal (1911–1984), survived the crash.[5]

Sikorski's funeral

Sikorski was buried in a brick-lined grave at the Polish War Cemetery in

Tornado F3 jets, to the royal crypts at Wawel Castle in Kraków, Poland.[5]

Aftermath

Immediately after the crash, a Polish officer who had witnessed the event from the airstrip began sobbing quietly and repeating: "Now Poland is lost! Now Poland is lost!" ("To Polska stracona!")[4] General Sikorski's death marked a turning point for Polish influence amongst the Anglo-American allies. No Pole after him would have much sway with the Allied politicians.[30] Sikorski had been the most prestigious leader of the Polish exiles and his death was a severe setback for the Polish cause.[30]

After the Soviets had broken off diplomatic relations with Sikorski's government in April 1943, in May and June Stalin had recalled several Soviet ambassadors for "consultations":

Fyodor Gusev from Montreal,[clarification needed] and Ivan Maisky
from London.

While Churchill had been publicly supportive of Sikorski's government, reminding Stalin of his pact with Nazi Germany in 1939 and of their joint attack on Poland, in secret consultations with Roosevelt he admitted that Poland would have to make some concessions to appease the powerful Soviets. The Polish–Soviet crisis was beginning to threaten cooperation between the western Allies and the Soviets at a time when the Poles' importance to the western Allies, essential in the first years of the war, was beginning to fade with the entry, into the conflict, of the military and industrial giants, the Soviet Union and the United States.[30]

The Allies had no intention of letting Sikorski's successor, Stanisław Mikołajczyk, jeopardize the alliance with the Soviets. No representative of the Polish government-in-exile was invited to attend the Tehran Conference (28 November – 1 December 1943) or the Yalta Conference (4–11 February 1945), the two crucial events in which the Western Allies and the Soviets discussed the shape of the postwar world and decided Poland's fate.[31][32]

Roosevelt, Churchill

Only four months after Sikorski's death, in November 1943, at Tehran, Churchill and Roosevelt agreed with Stalin that the whole of Poland east of the Curzon Line would be ceded to the Soviets.[31] In Teheran, neither Churchill nor Roosevelt objected to Stalin's suggestion that the Polish government-in-exile in London did not represent Polish interests; as historian Anita Prażmowska notes, "this spelled the end of that government's tenuous influence and raison d'être."[33]

After the Teheran Conference, Stalin decided to create his own

puppet government for Poland, and a Committee of National Liberation (the PKWN) was proclaimed in the summer of 1944.[31] The Soviet Government recognized the Committee as the only legitimate authority in Poland and called Mikołajczyk's Government in London an "illegal and self-styled authority."[34] Mikołajczyk would serve as prime minister's until 24 November 1944 when, realizing the increasing powerlessness of the Polish Government-in-Exile, he resigned and was succeeded by Tomasz Arciszewski, "whose obscurity", according to historian Mieczysław B. Biskupski, "signaled the arrival of the government in exile at total inconsequentiality."[31][35]

Stalin soon began a campaign for recognition by the Western Allies of a Soviet-backed Polish government led by

Potsdam conference in 1945, Poland had been relegated to the Soviet sphere of influence – an abandonment of the Polish Government-in-Exile that led to the rise of the Western-betrayal concept.[37][38]

Remembrance

Władysław Sikorski Monument in Rzeszów

A number of poems dedicated to Sikorski were written by Polish authors during the war.

communist rule in Poland in 1990, when Lech Wałęsa became the first post-communist president of Poland.[39] On 17 September 1993 a statue of Sikorski, sculpted by Wiesław Bielak [pl], was revealed in Rzeszów.[5] In 1995, Sikorski became the patron of the newly formed Polish 9th Mechanized Brigade.[40] In 2003, the Polish parliament (Sejm) declared the year (60th anniversary of Sikorski's death) to be the "Year of General Sikorski".[4] A number of streets and schools in Poland bear Sikorski's name.[5]

Memory of General Sikorski was also preserved both in Poland and abroad, by organizations like the

Death controversy

Plaque in memory of Sikorski at the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned in Gibraltar.
Statue of Sikorski, Portland Place, London, erected 2000

A British Court of Inquiry convened on 7 July 1943, investigated the crash of Sikorski's

Liberator II serial AL 523, but was unable to determine the cause, finding only that it was an accident and "due to jamming of elevator controls", noting that "it has not been possible to determine how the jamming occurred but it has been established that there was no sabotage.".[29] The Polish government refused to endorse this report, due to the contradiction about the cause not being determined but sabotage being ruled out.[44]

The political context of the event, coupled with a variety of curious circumstances (for instance, the Soviet agent Kim Philby was head of counter-intelligence for MI6 in Gibraltar at the time), immediately gave rise to numerous speculation that Sikorski's death had been no accident, and may have been the direct result of a Soviet, British, or even Polish conspiracy.[5][30][45][46][47] Some modern sources note that the accident is not fully explained.[35] However, as Roman Wapiński noted in his biographical entry on Sikorski in the Polish Biographical Dictionary in 1997, no conclusive evidence of any wrongdoing has been found, and Sikorski's official cause of death is listed as an accident.[5]

In 2008 Sikorski was exhumed and his remains were examined by Polish scientists, who in 2009 concluded that he died due to injuries consistent with an air crash and that there was no evidence that Sikorski was murdered, ruling out theories that he was shot or strangled before the incident; however they did not rule out the possibility of sabotage, which was investigated by the Polish Institute of National Remembrance.[48][49][50] In 2013, the investigation ended, with the Institute of National Remembrance concluding that deliberate tampering to the aircraft could be neither confirmed nor ruled out.[51]

Honours and awards

Plaque to Sikorski in a church in Warsaw inaugurated on the 1000th anniversary of the establishment of Poland - fot. Ivonna Nowicka
Seated sculpture of Sikorski as a young officer, Inowrocław, Poland

Works

General Sikorski was also an active writer on the subjects of military tactics and describing his personal war experiences.[4] His works include:

  • Regulamin musztry Związku Strzeleckiego i elementarna taktyka piechoty (Drill Regulations of the Riflemen's Association and Basic Infantry Tactics), 1911.
  • Nad Wisłą i Wkrą. Studium do polsko–radzieckiej wojny 1920 roku (At the Vistula and the Wkra Rivers: a Contribution to the Study of the Polish–Soviet War of 1920), 1923; latest edition, Warsaw, 1991.
  • O polską politykę państwową. Umowy i deklaracje z okresu pełnienia urzędu prezesa Rady Ministrów 18 XII 1922–26 V 1923 (Polish National Policies: Agreements and Declarations from My Tenure as Prime Minister, 18 December 1922 to 26 May 1923), 1923.
  • Podstawy organizacji naczelnych władz wojskowych w Polsce (Basic Organization of the Supreme Military Authorities in Poland), 1923.
  • Polesie jako węzeł strategiczny wschodniego frontu (Polesie as a Strategic Node of the Eastern Front), 1924.
  • La campagne polono-russe de 1920 (French: The Polish-Russian Campaign of 1920), 1928.
  • Polska i Francja w przeszłości i w dobie współczesnej (Poland and France in the Past and in the Present Day), 1931.
  • Przyszła wojna – jej możliwości i charakter oraz związane z nimi zagadnienia obrony kraju (War in the Future: Its Capacities and Character and Associated Questions of National Defense), 1934; translated into French in 1934, and into English. 1943.in 1943; latest edition Warsaw, MON, 1972.

Some of his works have been collected in:

  • Generał Władysław Sikorski: Publicystyka generała Władysława Sikorskiego na łamach Kuriera Warszawskiego w latach 1928–1939 (General Władysław Sikorski: Articles by General Władysław Sikorski in the Warsaw Courier, 1928–1939), Oficyna Wydawnicza Aspra, 1999, .

See also

Notes

a

Polish contribution to World War II
article.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Roman Wapiński, Władysław Sikorski, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, zeszyt 154 (T. XXXVII/3, 1997, p. 468
  2. ^ Olgierd Terlecki (1976). Generał ostatniej legendy: rzecz o gen. Władysławie Sikorskim. Polonia Bookstore and Publishers Co. p. 7. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Roman Wapiński, Władysław Sikorski, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, zeszyt 154 (T. XXXVII/3, 1997, p. 469
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae (in Polish) Adam Dobroński. Biogram Archived 4 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Biuletyn "Kombatant" nr specjalny (148) czerwiec 2003. (Biography. Special Edition of Kombatant Bulletin No.148 6/2003 on the occasion of the Year of General Sikorski. Official publication of the Polish government Agency of Combatants and Repressed)
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Roman Wapiński, Władysław Sikorski, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, zeszyt 154 (T. XXXVII/3, 1997, p. 475
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Roman Wapiński, Władysław Sikorski, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, zeszyt 154 (T. XXXVII/3, 1997, p. 470
  7. . Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  8. . Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  9. . Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Roman Wapiński, Władysław Sikorski, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, zeszyt 154 (T. XXXVII/3, 1997, p. 471
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Roman Wapiński, Władysław Sikorski, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, zeszyt 154 (T. XXXVII/3, 1997, p. 472
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Roman Wapiński, Władysław Sikorski, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, zeszyt 154 (T. XXXVII/3, 1997, p. 473
  13. ^ Stanislaw Mikolajczyk The Pattern of Soviet Domination Sampson Low, Marston & Co 1948 Page 7
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Roman Wapiński, Władysław Sikorski, Polski Słownik Biograficzny, zeszyt 154 (T. XXXVII/3, 1997, p. 474
  15. ^ . Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  16. . Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  17. . Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  18. . Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  19. . Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  20. . Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  21. . Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  22. ^ . Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  23. ^ Sarah Meiklejohn Terry. Poland's Place in Europe: General Sikorski and the Origin of the Oder-Neisse Line, 1939–1943. Princeton University Press. p. 260.
  24. ISBN 0-268-00849-3. Archived from the original
    on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  25. ^ Goebbels, Joseph. The Goebbels Diaries (1942–1943). Translated by Louis P. Lochner. Doubleday & Company. 1948
  26. ^ Russia to release massacre files. BBC News, 16 December 2004. Retrieved on 27 October 2007.
  27. . Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  28. ^ Beevor, Antony (2012). The Second World War. United Kingdom: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 472.
  29. ^ . Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  30. ^ a b c d (in Polish) Stanczyk, Zbigniew L. p "Tajemnica gen. Sikorskiego" Archived 23 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, "Przegląd Polski Online", 7 December 2002. Retrieved on 2 August 2005
  31. ^ . Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  32. ^ Grzegorz Ostasz, The Polish Government-in-Exile's Home Delegature Archived 10 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Article on the pages of the London Branch of the Polish Home Army Ex-Servicemen Association. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
  33. . Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  34. . Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  35. ^ . Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  36. . Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  37. . Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  38. ^ "What Lech Walesa did". Economist.com. 22 September 1990. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
  39. . Retrieved 13 November 2012. Sikorski posiadał m.in. odznaczenia: Order Orła Białego (pośmiertnie), Order Virtuti Militari II i V kl., Order Polonia Restituta I i III kl., Krzyż Walecznych (czterokrotnie), Złoty Krzyż Zasługi. Minister Obrony Narodowej decyzją nr 62 'MON z dnia 19 maja 7.9.9.5 roku polecił 9 Podlaskiej Brygadzie Zmechanizowanej Odznaka i oznaka 9 w Siedlcach przyjąć imię gen. broni Władysława Sikorskiego
  40. . Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  41. ^ "Time to lay the hero's ghost". Telegraph. 24 September 2000. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  42. ^ "Dedication of the new memorial to General Sikorski at Europa Point". Gibnews. 4 July 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  43. . Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  44. . Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  45. . Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  46. . Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  47. ^ "No evidence Polish hero murdered". BBC News. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  48. ^ "IPN ujawnił jak zginął Sikorski". Tvn24.pl. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
  49. ^ "Śledztwo ws. śmierci gen. Sikorskiego przeniesione z Katowic do Warszawy". Wiadomosci.gazeta.pl. Archived from the original on 30 May 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
  50. ^ "Śledztwo ws. śmierci gen. Władysława Sikorskiego umorzone". Onet Wiadomości (in Polish). 30 December 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  51. ^ M.P. z 1946 r. Nr 145, poz. 286

Further reading

Other sources

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Prime Minister of Poland

1922–1923
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Felicjan Sławoj-Składkowski

(Prime Minister in Poland)
Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland

1939–1943
Succeeded by
Military offices
Preceded by General Inspector of the Armed Forces
1939–1943
Succeeded by