GENERAL SIKORSKI

Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (Polish pronunciation: [vwaˈdɨswaf ɕiˈkɔrskʲi] ( listen); May 20, 1881 – July 4, 1943) was a Polish military and political leader. He was born in Tuszów Narodowy a village in the present-day Subcarpathian Voivodeship of south-eastern Poland, which at the time was part of Austria-Hungary, one of Poland’s three partitioners. Prior to World War I, he established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause of Polish independence. He fought with distinction in the Polish Legions during World War I, and later in the newly created Polish Army during the Polish-Soviet War (1919 to 1921). In that war he played a prominent role in the decisive Battle of Warsaw, when Soviet forces, expecting an easy final victory, were surprised and routed by the Polish counterattack. In the early years of the Second Polish Republic, Sikorski held government posts including prime minister (1922 to 1923) and minister of military affairs (1923 to 1924). Following Józef Piłsudski’s May Coup (1926) and the installation of the Sanacja government, he fell out of favor with the new regime. Up until, and throughout 1939, he remained in the opposition, and wrote several books on the art of warfare and on Polish foreign relations. On July 4, 1943, while Sikorski was returning from an inspection of Polish forces deployed in the Middle East, he was killed, together with his daughter, his Chief of Staff, Tadeusz Klimecki, and seven others, when his plane, a Liberator II, serial AL523, crashed into the sea 16 seconds after takeoff from Gibraltar Airport at 23:07 hours. Only the pilot Eduard Prchal (1911–84) survived the crash. Sikorski was subsequently buried in a brick-lined grave at the Polish War Cemetery in Newark-on-Trent and it is for this reason he is included in the Trent Miniatures Adventure range. This mini range brings together a variety of historical figures that have been associated with the town of Newark in Nottinghamshire, England. The models have been designed by Master Sculptor, Mark Copplestone. There are ten Characters in the series for you to collect