Evening star., 1943-07-05
Sikorski
Continued From First Page.)

killed last night when the Liberator
aircraft in which he was travelling
crashed shortly after taking of
from Gibraltar.
The general was accompanied
by Mai. Gen. Klimecki and other
members of his staff. The only
survivor Of the accident is the pilot,
who was seriously injured and is
In a hospital"
Gen. Tadeusz Klimecki, 48, Is chief
OF the Polish general staff.
Other Crash Victims.
Other victims included:
Col. Andrzej Marecki, chief OF the
operational section and expert IN
military science, who visited the
United States twice-the last time
in December, 1942-and a British
colonel, Victor Alexander Cazalet,
who was a political liaison officer
and sometimes served as an inter-
prefer Of Gen. Sikorski's public
speeches.
Also in the plane were Col. Gra-
leWski, 1t. Pobiewski and Mr.,
,Julakowski, one Of Gen. Sikorskl's S
civilian aides.
President W1adyslaw Racziewicz
Immediately designated Deputy Pre-
mier Stanislaw Mikola jczyk, leader
of the Polish Peasant party. as Act.
ing Premier pending the selection OF
Gen. Sikorski's successor.
Gen. Marian Kukiel, Polish Minis
ter of Defense, was placed in charge
of Polish armies to succeed Gen.
Sikorski in that capacity.
Shortly before Gen. Sikorski left
for the Middle East he spent an
hour with British Foreign Secretary
Anthony Eden. discussing the entire
field of relations between Poland
and Russia.
He had been expected to return
from Cairo either late today or to-
morrow.
Gen. Sikorski arrived in the Mid
die East May q and was met by
Polish and Allied officials. In a
broadcast from Beirut, Lebanon,
June % he declared that Polish
troops in the Middle East were
''spoiling for action"
Favored Federated Europe.
Polish troops, the general said,
are equipped with the finest ma
terial of war that the United States
and Britain could give them. He
told correspondents in Cairo that
the future peace should be based on
a federate Europe with Poland and
Czechoslovakia taking dominant
roles in the central bloc.
After making only a brief pre-
iiminary AMI n1ouncement of the acci-
dent, the Folish government later
issued an official statement which
said that President Racziewicz paid
homage to the memory OF Gen.
Sikorski and had asked the min
listers to continue their duties until
q new cabinet is formed.
National Mourning Ordered.
"The President has ordered ma
tional and military mourning and
has appealed to the nation to pay
homage to the memory Of Sikorski
by redouoling their efforts in the
Polish cause. At 5:45 pm. today
the President will address the Polish
nation from the BIC" the state
ment said.
(The Berlin radio broadcast
Transocean propaganda agency
dispatch saying residents Of La
Linea, Spain. saw the plane
crash In flames only 300 yards
offshore. Spanish eyewitnesses
observed all four engines stalling
for unknown reasons" said the
broadcast, recorded by the Asso-
ciated Press It added that
searchlights were used all night
in attempts to rescue the occu-
pants of the plane.
Less than two hours after the
accident was announced in Lon
don. the Berlin radio used the
death of Gen. Sikorski as grist
for it's divide-and-conquer prop
aganda mill. DNB quoted POL
ish emigrant circles in Stock
holm" as saying the head Of the
Polish government-in-exile was
murdered" by British secret
service agents because his dis
pute with Moscow was felt to be
an extreme nuisance for British
Soviet relations.D
Gen. Sikorski was born in 1881
and educated at the University
Technical College at Lwow, where
he was graduated in 1908.
Served in World War.
He was the chief organizer OF
prewar Polish military organizations
in 1909 and served as q lieutenant
colonel of Polish legions during
the Wo-ld War, playing a prominent
Mf }h4 Jafo ~ YLASR A1n6