Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 8, 2005



Władysław Sikorski was a Polish military and political leader. Before World War I, he became a founder and member of several underground organizations that promoted the cause of Polish independence. He fought with distinction during the Polish-Soviet War, in which he played a prominent role in the decisive Battle of Warsaw. During World War II he became Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile, Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces, and a staunch advocate of the Polish cause on the diplomatic scene. He supported the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Poland and the Soviet Union, which had been severed after the Soviet alliance with Germany in the 1939 invasion of Poland. In April 1943, however, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin broke off Soviet-Polish diplomatic relations following Sikorski's request that the International Red Cross investigate the Katyn Massacre. In July 1943, Sikorski was killed in a plane crash into the sea immediately on takeoff from Gibraltar. The exact circumstances of his death remain in dispute, which has given rise to ongoing conspiracy theories.

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