Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (; 20 May 18814 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 Second Polish Republic, Sikorski held government posts including prime minister (1922–1923) and 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 World War II, Sikorski became prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile, Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces, and a vigorous advocate of the Polish cause in the diplomatic sphere. He supported the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Poland and the Soviet Union, which had been severed after the September 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland. Subsequently, in April 1943, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin broke off Soviet-Polish diplomatic relations after Sikorski asked the International Red Cross to investigate the Katyn massacres.
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 Tuszów Narodowy, Galicia, at the time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was the third child in his family; his father was Tomasz Sikorski, a school teacher; his mother was Emilia Habrowska. 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.
Sikorski attended the gimnazjum in Rzeszów (now Konarski's High School in Rzeszów) from 1893 to 1897, then transferred for a year to a Rzeszów teachers' college. In 1899 he attended the Lwów Franciszek Józef Gymnasium, and in 1902 he passed his final high school exam there. Starting that year, young Sikorski studied engineering at the Lwów Polytechnic, specializing in road and bridge construction, and graduated in 1908 with a diploma in hydraulic engineering. In 1906 Sikorski volunteered for a year's service in the Austro-Hungarian army and attended the Austrian Military School, obtaining an officer's diploma and becoming an army reserve second lieutenant (podporucznik rezerwy). In 1909 he married , whom he met while at the high school in Lwów. In 1912 they had a daughter, Zofia. 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.
During his studies at the Polytechnic, Sikorski became involved in the People's School Association (Towarzystwo Szkoły Ludowej), an organization dedicated to spreading literacy among the rural populace. Around 1904–1905 he was briefly involved with the endecja Association of the Polish Youth "Zet", and then drifted towards paramilitary socialist organizations related to the Polish Socialist Party, which was intent on securing Polish independence. He made contact with the socialist movement around 1905–1906 through the Union for the Resurrection of the Polish Nation (Związek Odrodzenia Narodu Polskiego). In 1908, in Lwów, Sikorski—together with Józef Piłsudski, Marian Kukiel, Walery Sławek, Kazimierz Sosnkowski, and Henryk Minkiewicz—organized the secret Union for Active Struggle (Związek Walki Czynnej), with the aim of bringing about an uprising against the Russian Empire, one of Poland's three partitioners. In 1910, likewise in Lwów, Sikorski helped to organize a Riflemen's Association (the Związek Strzelecki), became the president of its Lwów chapter, and became responsible for the military arm within the Commission of Confederated Independence Parties (Komisja Skonfederowanych Stronnictw Niepodległościowych, KSSN). Having a military education, he lectured other activists on military tactics.
Upon the outbreak of the First World War in July 1914, Sikorski was mobilized, but through KSSN influence he was allowed to participate in the organizing of the Polish military units, rather than being delegated to other duties by the Austro-Hungarian military command. In the first few weeks of the war he became the chief of the Military Department in the Supreme National Committee (Naczelny Komitet Narodowy, NKN) and remained in this post until 1916. He was a commissioner in charge of the recruitment to the Polish Legions in Kraków, choosing this role over the opportunity to serve in the Legions as a frontline commander. On 30 September 1914 he was promoted to podpułkownik (lieutenant colonel), and soon after that he became the commander of a Legions officer school (Szkoła Podchorążych). The Legions—the army created by Józef Piłsudski to liberate Poland from Russian and, ultimately, Austro-Hungarian and German rule—initially fought in alliance with Austria-Hungary against Russia. From August 1915 there was growing tension between Sikorski, who advocated cooperation with Austria-Hungary, and Piłsudski, who felt that Austria-Hungary and Germany had betrayed the trust of the Polish people. In 1916 Piłsudski actively campaigned to have the Military Department of NKN disbanded. In July that year, Sikorski was promoted to pułkownik (colonel). Following the Act of 5th November (1916), Sikorski became involved with the Legions' alternatives, the Polish Auxiliary Corps and Polnische Wehrmacht. 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. 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)). 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.
Eastern wars Polish–Ukrainian war
In 1918 the Russian, Austro-Hungarian and German empires collapsed, and Poland once again became independent, but the borders of the Second Polish Republic were not fully determined and were unstable. In the east they would be formed in the escalating conflicts among Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Soviet forces in what culminated in the Polish–Soviet War (1919–1921). Winston Churchill commented: "The war of giants had ended, the wars of the pygmies began." 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.
Polish–Soviet war After his release from internment, from 1 May 1918 Sikorski worked for the Regency Council, organizing the new Polish Army. 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.
Polish independence came in November 1918 with the formation of the Second Republic of Poland. In the course of the Polish–Ukrainian War, and in the opening phase of the Polish–Soviet War, Sikorski, now a high-ranking officer of the Polish Army was involved in further operations in the Galicia region. In January 1919 he commanded troops defending Gródek Jagielloński; in March that year he commanded an infantry division, advancing to Stawczany and Zbrucz. From 1 August 1918 Sikorski commanded the Polesie Group, and the Polish 9th Infantry Division. In order to curtail excesses of the forces under his command, he oversaw trials of 36 officers. His forces took Mozyr and Kalenkowicze in March 1920, and he would command the Polesie Group during Poland's Kiev offensive in April 1920, advancing to the Dnieper River and the Chernobyl region. On 1 April that year he was promoted to brigade general.
As the Polish–Soviet War grew in intensity, in late April 1920 the Red Army of Russia's new Soviet regime pushed back Polish forces and invaded Poland. Subsequently, Sikorski successfully defended Mozyr and Kalenkowicze until 29 June, but later failed to hold the Brest fortress, although he defended it long enough to allow the Polish forces in the region to retreat in an orderly manner. On 6 August he was named the commander of the newly formed Polish 5th Army, which was tasked with holding the front to the north of Modlin, between Narew and Wkra rivers. He distinguished himself commanding the 5th Army on the Lower Vistula front during the Battle of Warsaw. At that time Soviet forces, expecting an easy final victory, were surprised and crippled by the Polish counter-attack. During that battle (sometimes referred to as "the Miracle at the Vistula") Sikorski stopped the Bolshevik advance north of Warsaw and gave Piłsudski, the Polish commander-in-chief, the time he needed for his counter-offensive; beginning with the 15 August his forces successfully engaged the Soviet 5th and 15th Armies. After the Battle of Warsaw, from 30 August, Sikorski commanded the 3rd Army. His forces took Pińsk, and fought during the latter stages of the Battle of Lwów and the Battle of Zamość, and then after Battle of Niemen advanced with his forces toward Latvia and deep into Belarus. The Poles defeated the Soviets, and the Polish–Soviet Treaty of Riga (March 1921) gave Poland substantial areas of Belarus and Ukraine's (Kresy). Sikorski's fame was enhanced as he became known to the Polish public as one of the heroes of the Polish–Soviet War. He also kept publishing military science articles during the war itself. For his valorous achievements Sikorski was promoted to divisional general on 28 February 1921, and was awarded Poland's highest military decoration, the order of Virtuti Militari, on 15 March that year.
In government and in opposition