The Rebuilding of the Polish Army in Great Britain; The Polish Air Force

Abstract

The fall of France put General Sikorski in a very difficult position, since his political opponents, particularly from the Sanacja camp, accused him of having wasted the Polish army and tried to remove him from power. An additional pretext for their attack was a memorandum submitted by the General to the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax. The memorandum suggested that Hitler could only be defeated on the dissolution of his alliance with Stalin and that, in such an eventuality, there would arise an opportunity to form a Polish army on Soviet soil. Although this was indeed what happened not long afterwards, in July 1940 the General’s enemies considered him almost a traitor. President Raczkiewicz relieved him of the premiership, but such was the Army’s influence that the crisis lasted barely twenty-four hours.¹