End of Sikorski

The Liberator took off from Gibraltar, soared into the night sky of July 4. Then, soon after the takeoff, its engines stalled and it crashed. Among those killed: General Wladyslaw Sikorski, Premier of the Polish Government in Exile and commander of its armed forces; his daughter, Mrs. Sophia Lesniowska; General Tadeusz Klimecki, Chief of the Polish General Staff; Colonel Andrzej Marecki, military scientist; British Colonel Victor Alexander Cazalet, M.P., political liaison officer to Sikorski.

The death of General Sikorski made future Polish policy uncertain. He was not afraid of facts. Though he loathed Communism, he made a pact with the Soviet Union shortly after it found itself at war with Germany. Though his personal politics were ruggedly conservative, he included some liberals in his Government. But his Government was riddled with backward-looking Poles who opposed his policies, worked unceasingly to destroy his pact with Russia.

Largely through the influence of these men, Sikorski accepted a Nazi propaganda claim, charged the Soviet Union with killing Polish officers in Russia. Russia broke relations with Sikorski's Government, attacked it in official editorials.

Prodded by the British Foreign Office, Sikorski made some efforts to win back Russian recognition for his Government. In Cairo last week he said the peace to come should be based on a federated Europe, with Poland and Czecho-Slovakia forming the central bloc; the new Poland and its federated allies should have close economic relations with Russia.

The Polish Government in Exile appointed Deputy Premier Stanislaw Mikolajczyk acting Premier, said he had been a "collaborator" of Sikorski's. But if strong, smart General Sikorski had been unable to check Polish chauvinism, Mikolajczyk more than had his work cut out for him.

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