​🌍 Formal Academic - [WHITE PAPER: DECLASSIFIED]

​

'To Live Well is to Hide Well' — White Paper
 

The Intersection of Hereditary Memory, Intelligence History, and the Sikorski Case

​​

Author: Peter Urbański
Subject: Historical analysis, intelligence studies, forensic biography,
and the 1943 death of General Władysław Sikorski
Updated: November 2026

​

Executive Summary

'To Live Well is to Hide Well' is a primary-source intervention in twentieth-century intelligence history. Rather than relying solely on redacted state archives, it preserves the deathbed account of Bronisław Urbański, a senior Polish Underground operative (spy/assassin) associated with the elite A.K. Unit 993/W (“Revenge Co.”), also known as “Wapiennik". He was also directed by MI6 long before WW2 and during WW2.

​

The book presents evidence that General Władysław Sikorski’s death in the crash of Liberator AL523 at Gibraltar in 1943 was not an accident, pilot error, or mechanical failure, but a deliberate act of sabotage. It argues that Bronisław Urbański uniquely obstructed the aircraft’s controls, causing the fatal 'sixteen-second dive' into Gibraltar harbor. This can be replicated and has been achieved numerous times.
 

This white paper sets out the book’s evidentiary framework, the independent scrutiny it has received, and the renewed official investigation into Sikorski’s death as a suspected assassination by sabotage.

​

The Historical Capsule

Peter Urbański describes himself as a “historical capsule”: the custodian of information passed directly to him by his father shortly before Bronisław’s death.
 

In 1984, Bronisław Urbański, suffering from terminal COPD, revealed to his youngest son (Peter) a hidden wartime life. He said he had been a Polish intelligence operative, working with MI6 and directed by SOE Christine Granville, also as a cryptologist, wireless expert, assassin, and deep-cover agent connected with MI6 Section D—the section popularly associated with Ian Fleming’s James Bond. He even worked in the Balkans with Peter Fleming aslo in the MI6 Section D. Churchill's baby that turned into the SOE.
 

Bronisław asked Peter to wait at least thirty-five years after his burial, before making the account public. Peter spent more than a decade gathering photographs, documents, film footage, technical evidence, and testimony before presenting the story.
 

Bronisław Urbański: The Hidden Operative

The central figure of the work is Bronisław Urbański, presented as a man who lived under multiple identities and false names to protect himself and his family from Nazi reprisals. Never using his real name ever again.

​

The book portrays him as:

• A Polish Underground operative associated with A.K. Unit 993/W, “Revenge Co.”

• A cryptologist and wireless-radio specialist, with claimed connections to pre-war Polish cryptographic work and the commercial Enigma environment in Warsaw.

• A deep-cover operative linked to British intelligence MI6 and SOE-associated networks.

• One of General Sikorski’s dozen bodyguards at Gibraltar in early 1943. All could use false names due to the Sippenhaft rule (NAZI kill all families related to them). He is also filmed as one of his guards 1943.

• The man identified in the book as having issued or executed the secret signal and sabotage method said to have brought down AL523.
   

The narrative also connects Bronisław with Christine Granville (Krystyna Skarbek), the SOE agent presented as a model for Ian Fleming’s - Vesper Lynd. The book further claims that Bronisław influenced Fleming’s conception of James Bond.

​

The Evidence in 'To Live Well is to Hide Well'

The book’s central claim rests on a combination of personal testimony, documentary material, imagery, and technical analysis. All solidly showing the same answer.

​

The Sikorski photograph 

A newly presented photograph is identified by Peter Urbański and historian Stewart Egerton as to Bronisław's appearance and also in a photograph showing Bronisław beside General Sikorski’s body in 1943 as one of his guards in London. The author presents this as a physical link between Bronisław and the immediate aftermath of the Gibraltar crash, his handy work, what he was sent there to achieve.

​

The secret signal

The book identifies a specific secret signal, said to have been broadcast through the Gibraltar airways in public, as the trigger for the operation against Sikorski.

​

The sabotage method

The work describes a method of obstructing the Liberator’s elevator controls. It argues that this obstruction produced the aircraft’s fatal dive, rather than pilot error, excess weight, or mechanical failure. All known crazy ideas, previously thought reasons were tested and eliminated scientifically.

​

Independent crash investigation

WWII air-crash investigators Chris Wroblewski and Garth Barnard examined British court-of-inquiry transcripts, aircraft components, systems, and eyewitness evidence. Their book, 'Sabotage!', concludes that deliberate obstruction of elevator-control travel caused the crash of AL523. Then the author and Bronislaw is given a entire chapter in 'The Death of Sikorski' 2024 Professor Peter Zablocki and mentioned the as the assassin by Professor Norman Davies in the Polish version of 'Plus-Ultra' 2024. 

​

Official Investigation Update

The most significant development since the original white paper is that the evidence has become part of an active official Polish investigation.

​

2 July 2025 — IPN reopens the case !!

The Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) opened a new investigation into the 'To Live Well is to Hide Well'. A new case number was indeed issued to author Peter Urbański, and the matter is now framed as a suspected assassination by sabotage.

​

March 2026 — Australia–Poland legal assistance

Under a Poland–Australia mutual legal assistance request (MLA), the Australian Federal Police (AFP) interviewed Peter Urbański in Adelaide and collected evidence for transfer to Polish authorities. The AFP assessed the author’s statements, evidence, books, photographs, film, and supporting materials. International Crime Cooperation Central Authority (ICCCA) Also issued a new case number to action the AFP to investigate. Ref: Its contact email is iccca@ag.gov.au, and it is based in the Attorney-General’s Department in Canberra.

​

25 August 2026 — AFP conclusion

A designated skilled in historical events / investigators of the AFP group reviewed all evidence, including the filmed interrogation responses to approximately 30 plus IPN questions. After three months of investigation, the Attorney‑General and ICCCA through the AFP has accepted this evidence from the author (Peter Urbański) as credible and had the Affidavit of the author accepted in the Adelaide Magistrates Court, in S.A. and formally transmitted the complete package to the ROP / IPN Chief Prosecutor (Poland).

​

What happens next

The Republic of Poland and the IPN now to determine the next phase of the investigation, including whether the newly presented evidence should alter the historical record of Sikorski’s death.

​

Academic and Expert Attention

Peter Urbański’s research has been examined and supported by historians, scholars, and WWII crash investigators, including:

​

• Garth Barnard — WWII air-crash investigator and co-author of Sabotage!

• Chris Wroblewski — co-author of Sabotage!

• Professor Norman Davies — British-Polish historian, whose Plus Ultra includes Peter’s historical conclusions.

• Professor Peter Zablocki — historian and author of The Death of General Sikorski.

• Stewart Egerton — historical researcher who interviewed Bronisław’s wartime partner, “Teddy.”

• Zbigniew Szubanski (Clive) — leader of A.K. Unit 993/W, “Revenge Co.,” and Bronisław’s former commanding figure.
   

The book has also received attention from former military and intelligence figures, including MI5 and SAS veterans, who have praised its personal testimony and its attempt to fill gaps left by official secrecy.

​

Conclusion

'To Live Well is to Hide Well' is more than just a family memoir. It is presented as a historical document that challenges decades of official silence surrounding the death of General Władysław Sikorski.

​

By combining a father’s deathbed account with photographs, documents, technical evidence, independent crash analysis, and a renewed Polish investigation, Peter Urbański asks readers to examine the evidence and decide for themselves.

​

The case is no longer merely a historical controversy: it is now the subject of a formal, active investigation framed as a suspected assassination by sabotage.