{"product_id":"the-death-of-general-sikorski-peter-zablocki-9781399039222","title":"The Death of General Sikorski: The Polish Leader's Last Flight in 1943 and the Tangled Web of Poland, the Allies, and the Soviets","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"This new book is a thorough investigation I into the death of General Sikorski. It is a complicated story, with many actors and factions involved, but the author effectively clarifies the various factors into a coherent and readable narrative.\" -WWII History Magazine\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe plane crash at the height of the Second World War which claimed the life of the Polish Prime Minister, General Wladyslaw Sikorski, ranks among the most enduring mysteries of the conflict. It was a death that shifted European alliances and loyalties, brought Stalin into the Anglo-American camp, and sealed Poland's fate for the remainder of the twentieth century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePoland and the Soviet Union's historically precarious relationship had taken an even darker turn in September 1939 when the Third Reich's Adolf Hitler and the Soviet Union's Josef Stalin divided the nation and forced its government to relocate first to France and then to Britain in 1940.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSikorski's Polish government-in-exile established a military, political, and personal relationship with Winston Churchill's government, only to see it fractured by the United States' entrance into the war and the Western Allies' courtship of Stalin following Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Allies overall support of Stalin's denials following the 1943 discovery of 20,000 bodies of Polish officers murdered and buried by the Soviets in Katyn Forest only made matters worse. Sikorski's open protests against describing the Soviet dictator as a benevolent 'Uncle Joe' made him publicly and privately 'difficult' to the new Anglo-American-Soviet coalition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs per reports of the British and Polish intelligence services, seemingly not doing enough to stand up to the Soviets had also strained Sikorski's relationship with different Polish government factions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLeaving from a layover stop at Gibraltar on 4 July 1943, having visited Polish Army units in Iran, Sikorski's RAF Liberator, AL523, crashed into the sea just sixteen seconds into its flight. Whilst Stalin privately blamed Churchill, the Germans were more public in accusing the British. Others pointed to the Soviets or even the Poles.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA British Court of Inquiry convened in 1943 presented an inconclusive report on the crash's cause or foul play and locked up most of its files until 2043. Lacking a respected leader, Poland fell out of favour with the Allies, who allowed Stalin to redraw the Polish borders and establish a pro-communist puppet state in Poland until 1990.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNot only exploring what happened on that fateful day in 1943, but also the events leading up to it and those that followed, \u003ci\u003eThe Death of General Sikorski\u003c\/i\u003e is more of a political thriller than a conspiracy book, telling an often complex, and enthralling story of a tragedy within a tragedy - that of a man and his nation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Peter Zablocki\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1399039229\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781399039222\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Frontline Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/07\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 312\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"Peter Zablocki","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46962595692799,"sku":"9781399039222","price":42.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_b59491ca-ef7d-420a-b3a2-4bace7fb5e54.jpg?v=1750651935","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-death-of-general-sikorski-peter-zablocki-9781399039222","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}