pre-WW2 Władysław Sikorski Autograph, Cross of Valour Legitimation

Certificate No. 198 for the Cross of Valor, issued to Lieutenant Stanisław Banaś, commander of a Motor Company, for cross number 6356.

The right side of the certificate is missing and has been replaced with a piece of cardboard.

The certificate bears the handwritten signature of General Władysław Sikorski, Commander of the 3rd Army.

General Władysław Sikorski (1881–1943) was one of the most prominent military and political leaders of the Second Polish Republic. During World War II, he served as Prime Minister of the Polish Government-in-Exile and Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces. He became a symbol of Polish resistance and the struggle to restore national independence. He died in a plane crash in Gibraltar in 1943 under circumstances that remain unclear to this day, continuing to provoke debate and speculation.