Did Philby murder General Sikorski?

[Kyt]

Did British double agent Kim Philby murder Polish war hero General Sikorski? - Telegraph

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.

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."

[Ferhilt]

Philby is certainly a popular topic in intelligence stories, mostly for the mysterious happenings. Mark of a good spy I guess, even with dubious loyalties.

[morse1001]

Philby was head of the Iberian Section of MI6, so he had the both the motive and the means to do it.

One of those reporting to Philby, was the actor, Christopher Lee, who was a RAF Intelligence Officer in Spain.

[Kyt]

Poland to probe mysterious death of Second World War commander Wladyslaw Sikorski | Mail Online

Polish prosecutors are investigating whether Poland's wartime leader General Wladyslaw Sikorski died accidentally in a 1943 plane crash or was in fact assassinated.

Prosecutors of the state-run National Remembrance Institute plan to file a formal request to look into classified British Second World War files as they probe the crash of the British bomber in British-ruled Gibraltar in which Sikorski was killed.

A British probe initially blamed the crash on jammed controls, but a separate Polish investigation did not rule out sabotage, and Polish historian Dariusz Baliszewski has said his research suggests Sikorski could have been assassinated.

Now Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Lech Kaczynski have echoed the call to investigate Sikorski's death.

There is an "existing and justified suspicion of a criminal cause of the death," which has not been investigated in Poland or elsewhere, the institute said in a statement released today.

Alhough it did not name suspects, the institute said it was investigating a "communist crime," suggesting its suspicions fall primarily on the Soviet Union, which attacked Poland after forming an alliance with Nazi Germany at the start of the war.

Ewa Koj, a leading prosecutor in the institute's Katowice branch, which opened the probe, said it will look at documents and new testimony from people linked to the initial investigations shortly after the crash.

Sikorski's Liberator II aircraft crashed into the sea just 16 seconds after taking off from Gibraltar on July 4, 1943.

The crash came only three months after Joseph Stalin broke diplomatic ties with the Polish government in exile, following Sikorski's demand that the International Red Cross investigate the Katyn massacre.

He called for the investigation after German forces discovered the graves of some 21,700 Polish military officers, intellectuals and priests - executions later proven to have been carried out by the Soviets.

Investigators may also need to open Sikorski's tomb at the Renaissance Cathedral of the Wawel Castle in Krakow, where his remains rest among those of many Polish kings and top figures.

Sikorski, who was chief commander of Poland's armed forces, made a stopover at Gibraltar as he was returning from an inspection of forces in the Middle East.

He was also the prime minister of Poland's government-in-exile based in London, strongly pushing Polish interests with the Western Allies and the Soviet Union.

For decades, Sikorski's death has generated theories that he was murdered, alternatively by British, Soviet or even Polish factions.

One theory holds that British double agent Kim Philby - who was on Gibraltar at the time of the crash and who defected to the Soviet Union in the early 1960s - might have had a role in the crash.

Sikorski's death "influenced Poland's wartime fate," historian Baliszewski said on TVN24 television. "For the sake of truth we should know what really happened."

[liverpool annie]

Originally Posted by Kyt

Poland to probe mysterious death of Second World War commander Wladyslaw Sikorski | Mail Online

On July 2 2008 archbishop Stanisław Dziwisz has decided to give consent for exhumation of Władysław Sikorski. Such exhumation is necessary to examine how he died despite the official version given by British Government

Wonder if they will disclose the findings ?? or will they be classified ??

[Kyt]

Well the fact that the exhumation has been made public means that they will have to announce something....whether it is the truth is another matter

[liverpool annie]

Originally Posted by liverpool annie

Wonder if they will disclose the findings ?? or will they be classified ??

I found this also ... which maybe of interest !!

Real History and the Death of General Sikorski

[liverpool annie]

Originally Posted by liverpool annie

I found this also ... which maybe of interest !!

Real History and the Death of General Sikorski

I can't read Polish ... but some of these pictures tell a story !

http://www.udskior.gov.pl/kombatant/200306_spec.pdf

[Brian S]

Originally Posted by liverpool annie

I can't read Polish ... but some of these pictures tell a story !

http://www.udskior.gov.pl/kombatant/200306_spec.pdf

Documents containing Cabinet discussions regarding the allegations in 1969 were only released on 25th July 2008.

Delays such as this can only create speculation.

CAB 163/131 -132