Władysław Sikorski

William Christian Bullitt, Paris, 15 January 1940, to Secretary of State, Washington
Strictly Confidential

The question of aid to Finland was becoming more and more complicated. The French Government had offered to send an army to Finland either by way of Norway and Sweden or by way of Petsamo. The Norwegians and the Swedes had refused to permit the passage of a French army to Finland, and the British had refused to permit any expedition against Petsamo.

The French had gone so far as to propose that if the British would release the three Polish destroyers which are now with the British fleet they would add sufficient French cruisers to them to make a strong Polish fleet and the Polish fleet would cover the landing of the French army at Petsamo.

The British first had stated that the Poles were absolutely opposed to any such action. General Sikorski, Polish Prime Minister, in the presence of [Léger] himself and Daladier had stated flatly that he would be delighted to have a Polish fleet attack Petsamo and cover the landing of the French army. Confronted with this statement of General Sikorski�s the British had finally taken refuge in a simple negative stating that they controlled the allied effort at sea; that the Polish fleet would have to be based on British ports and that they would not do anything which could be construed by the Bolsheviks as a hostile British act against the Soviet Union.

Léger expressed the opinion that the British were entirely idiotic in believing that they could detach the Russians from the Germans and that they could finally obtain the support of the Soviet Union against Germany.

For the President Personal and Secret
Correspondence Between Franklin D. Roosevelt and William C. Bullitt
ORVILLE H. BULLITT, EDITOR
Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1972, pages 400-401.

From Seven Decisions That Shaped History, Sumner Welles, 1950

Sikorski I found one of the most stalwart and attractive statesmen of the war years, and I conferred with him at great length during his weeks in Washington. . . .

 

He foresaw, and correctly I think, no difficulty in finding an agreement with Czechoslovakia . . . Whether he was equally justified in speaking so confidently, on the basis of his conversations with Stalin in Moscow in 1941, of his ability to negotiate a fair settlement with the Soviet Union is another matter. . . .

In any event, Sikorski, succeeded, with British help, in restoring diplomatic relations between his own Government-in-Exile and Moscow, and arranged for the formation of a Polish Army to fight against Germany on Russian soil. . . .

New York :Harper, 1951, pages 130-31.

Comment not everybody knows that all this had ultimately ended with a monstrous betrayal by Dzygashvilli/Stalin and his groups. WPT

Sikorski, Władysław, 1881-1943. Uniform Title [ Correspondence. Selections. 1987] Title Listy Władysława Sikorskiego do Władysława L. Jaworskiego i Prezydium Naczelnego Komitetu Narodowego (1914-1919) / opracowali oraz wstępem opatrzyli Zbigniew Koziński i Zdzisław Pietrzyk. Publisher Krak�w : Uniwersytet Jagielloński, 1987. Description 260 p. ; 24 cm. Series Varia ;t. 233 ISBN 8323301905 : Note Title on added t.p.: Epistulae Ladislai Sikorski ad Ladislaum L. Jaworski et Supremi Consilii Nationalis Praesides annis 1914-1919 datae. Summary in French. Includes index.

Kot, Stanisław, 1885-1975. Title Conversations with the Kremlin, and dispatches from Russia. Translated and arranged by H.C. Stevens. Publisher London, New York, Oxford University Press, 1963. Description xxx, 285 p. 23 cm. Language English Note Translation of the Rozmowy z Kremlem, and of some 60 documents from Listy z Rosji do gen. Sikorskiego.

Kot, Stanisław, Title Listy z Rosji do gen. Sikorskiego / Stanisław Kot. Publisher Londyn : [Jutro Polski], 1955. Description 576 p. : ports. ; 22 cm.

Tribute to General Sikorski. Publisher London : Printed for the Polish Ministry of Information by Keliher, Hudson & Kearns, [1943?]. Description [32] p. : ill. ; 26 cm. Language English Note Chiefly illustrations. Cover title. Subject Sikorski, Władysław, 1881-1943.

Sikorski, Władysław, 1881-1943. Title General Sikorski's speeches during his visit to the United States in December 1942. Publisher New York, Polish Information Center, 1942. Description 35 p. incl. mounted port. 26 cm. Language English Subject World War, 1939-1945 -- Poland. World War, 1939-1945.

Sikorski, Władysław, 1881-1943. Title Nad Wisłą i Wkrą, studjum z polsko-rosyjskiej wojny 1920 roku. Publisher London, M.I. Kolin ltd. [1941] Description 2 p. �., [vii]-xi, 275 p. fold. map, fold. plans, fold. tables. 24 cm. Note Map, plans and tables in pocket. Reprint of 1928 edition published in Lemberg etc. by Zakład narodowy im. Ossolińskich. Preface dated: December 1940. Note "Bibljografja wojny polsko-rosyjskiej, 1918-1920": p. [259]-271.

Sikorski, Władysław, 1881-1943. Title La guerre moderne; son caract�re, ses probl�mes. Pr�face de m. le mar�chal P�tain. Publisher Paris, �ditions Berger-Le-vrault, 1935. Description xiii, 246 p., 1 �. fold. tab. 23 cm. Language French Note At head of title: G�n�ral W. Sikorski. Note Bibliographical foot-notes. Contents Pr�face.--Introduction.--1. ptie. Sous la menace d'une nouvelle guerre.--2. ptie. La guerre moderne et les probl�mes de la d�fense nationale.

Sikorski, Władysław, 1881-1943. Title Le probl�me de la paix : le jeu des forces politiques en Europe orientale et l'alliance franco-polonaise / Władysław Sikorski ; pr�face de Paul Painlev�. Publisher Paris : �ditions de La Vie latine, 1931. Description 268 p. ; 26 cm. Language French

Comment   The alliance franco-polonaise having been a long tradition, at times it had much to do with Germany. This has not been uniformly so.
   As of today : It can be guessed that any such Germans who could get along with the Poles would most likely be also able to endure the French. (This could perhaps be seen as a sort of contest of the German cultural and scientific orientation versus the Prussian militarism).
    The relations with the Poles were by no means always bad. After some (or, numerous) skirmishes circa the 11th century, a German emperor found it fit to marry his daughter with a Polish king. The lengthy story of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia does contain some chapters of peaceful cooperation. There have been strong support in Germany circa 1830 of the Polish uprising at the time. The Polish independence was eventually favoured by Bismarck, albeit with some misgivings, and by numerous German statesmen as a matter of practical considerations (cf. Fritz Fisher, etc). It was Poland, in the German estimation, that was to be a sort of buffer on their eastern flanks. (This had proved eminently true in 1920 ; and in the 1980's).
    The task seems to be, to find what value can be present in 2006 (etc) in such texts as this one on the alliance franco-polonaise without yet re-engaging in any old rows. This kind of alliance could be perceived as oriented against the Teuton ; but one must also consider that after 1917 the main threat to Europe was the Bolshevik in the felled Russia, and as soon as the Poles regained the constitutional independence, the perceptions (and actualities) of any threat there were practically exclusively connected with the developments in the East.
    This was very much part of the Franko-Polish relations at the time. It can be guessed that, if Churchill and Clemencau (French) got their ways — (or, in other words, had not Lloyd George's muddle been influential) — as regards the Bolshevik threat, the subsequent history of the 20th century could have been much different and much more palatable.
    The main practical issue to-day (2006) may be the still-present marxian influence, in many quarters round the globe (a sort of false religion, and, a militant false religion). One may be reluctant to utter sorts of apology for alliance franco-polonaise described in a text which one had not seen. These are notes meant as fumbling towards some solutions in the present. — (WPT)

Sikorski, Władysław, 1881-1943. Title La campagne polono-russe de 1920; traduction par le commandant M. Larcher; avec 8 croquis; préface de m. le maréchal Foch. Publisher Paris : Payot, 1928. Description 320 p. illus. (maps) 23 cm. Series Collection de mémoires, études et documents pour servir à l'histoire de la guerre mondiale. Language French Note At head of title: Général de division L. Sikorski.

Sikorski, Władysław, 1881-1943. Title Nad Wisłą i Wkrą; studjum z polsko-rosyjskiej wojny 1920 roku. Publisher Lw�w, Wydawn. Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich, 1928. Description vii, 275 p. fold. maps, tables. (in portfolio) Note "Bibliografja wojny polsko-rosyskiej, 1918-1920": p. [259]-271.