Special edition Warsaw-Monte Cassino May 18, 2019 GLORY TO THE HEROES!

ETERNAL BATTLEFIELD GLORY Dear Readers, n the glorious history of the Polish army, there were many battles where Iour soldiers showed exceptional heroism and sacrifice. The seizure of the Monte Cassino abbey has its special place in the hearts and memory of Poles. General Władysław Anders wrote in his order: “Long have we waited for this moment of retaliation and revenge on our eternal enemy. […] for this ruffianly attack of Germany on Poland, for partitioning Poland jointly with the Bolsheviks, […] for the misery and tragedy of our Fatherland, for our sufferings and exile.” The soldiers of the Polish II Corps did not waste this opportunity and seized the reinforced position in the abbey’s ruins, which had earlier been resisting the gunfire, bombing and attacks of the Allied forces. Polish determination and heroism broke the fierce defense line of the German forces. This victory was however paid very dearly for. On the hillside of Monte Cassino over 900 soldiers were killed, and almost 3,000 wounded. Still, the Monte Cassino success, although paid for with blood, paved the way to independent Poland. Saint John Paul II, when talking about the Battle of Monte Cassino, said about a live symbol of will to live, of sovereignty. These words perfectly define the attitude ...from a far-away country of the Polish II Corps heroes. They proved to be determined, patriotic, and The title might not be original, but it perfectly reflects the Polish-Italian full of will to fight. They were respected relations. The words were uttered in Italian, in 1978, by the Archbishop and admired by the Allies, and feared by enemies. They also proved that a Polish of Cracow, Karol Wojtyła, to the crowds gathered in the piazza below the balcony soldier is like no other, and that the Poles of St. Peter’s Basilica: “I was called from a far-away country.” love their Fatherland and are ready to sacrifice their life for it. The story of Monte Cassino soldiers t is in fact far away. From Cracow, According to a French chronicler, the faraway Italian land over a thousand years is an inspiration also today, and their the old capital of Poland, across ruler of Germany and the Polish king ago was preserved by foreign chroniclers. attitude can be a model of a soldier’s the Slovak Carpathian Mountains, first went to Charlemagne’s grave in According to a recent theory, the father honor, the love for Fatherland and I for freedom. Austrian-Hungarian borderland, Aachen, situated near the current border of Polish historiography, referred to as through Slovenian Ljubljana, the with Belgium. Having opened the tomb, Gallus, was born in Venice in the 12th Venetian Lagoon, Ravenna and Perugia, Otto presented Bolesław with Charles’s century. Poles, mainly priests, repeatedly it is exactly 1,426 km to Rome, according golden throne, on which the emperor’s walked across the “Italian boot,” travelling to Google Maps. This, or an even longer, corpse was supposed to had been sitting to Rome, or to universities, sprouting distance, had to be covered on foot by for two centuries. Together with Otto’s around the country like mushrooms. three hundred armor-clad knights led by sudden death in his palace in Rome, the Nicolaus Copernicus, as well as a famous the first Polish king, Bolesław Chrobry, plans to build a universal empire based on Polish cardinal of the Reformation who, in the year 1000 AD, lent out his four pillars – Gaul, Germania, Italia and period, Stanislaus Hosius, studied in knights to travel to Italy with the Holy Slovene lands, fell through. The memory Bologna and Padua. The latter was Mariusz Błaszczak Roman Emperor Otto II the Red. of the Polish knights who fought in the responsible for establishing a Polish Polish Minister of National Defense Special edition The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino 2 3 The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino Special edition

permeated to Poland and Lithuania, under of three monarchies – the Tsarist Russia, fight with the Austrians, and the king’s Russian occupation, entering the pages the Imperial-Royal Austro-Hungarian abdication for the benefit of his son, meant of both states’ history. Pan Tadeusz: The Empire, and Imperial Germany. Up the end of Polish units in the service of the Last Foray in Lithuania, a national epic to that moment, all European cabinets House of Savoy. poem written by Adam Mickiewicz while mostly perceived Poles as incorrigible One more Pole came to be known in the on emigration after the fall of yet another dreamers and, at the same time, dangerous south. It was General Ludwik Mierosławski, Polish-Lithuanian anti-Russian uprising, revolutionists. famous and admired, but an insanely includes a recollection of the following The agricultural and overpopulated Italy, ambitious dabbler, who took command of story: divided between the Austrian House of a military district in Sicily, revolting against And yet now and then, like a stone from the Habsburg in the north and the Spanish the Neapolitan Bourbons. Also in that case sky, news House of Bourbon in the south (The the mutinous forces suffered defeat. came even to Lithuania; now and then an old Neapolitan Kingdom of the Two Sicilies), Some of Mickiewicz’s legionnaires went man, with the State of the Church in the middle, to Tuscany, whose government offered lacking a hand or a foot, who was begging his impatiently awaited social revolution and them short-term military service, and bread, Risorgimento – national regeneration. later to the Roman Republic territory, would stand and cast cautious eyes around, Virtually, the only significant domestic fighting to protect it. The Pope, earlier when he had dynasty that aspired to leadership in Italy admired by the Poles, escaped to Gaeta. received alms. If he saw no Russian soldiers in was the Royal House of Savoy, ruling over Giuseppe Mazzini, the dictator of the Jan Henryk Dąbrowski “Commander-in- the yard, Sardinia and Piedmont. The very popular Republic – the revolution’s last bastion, -Chief of the Polish Legions 1803.” French or Jewish caps, or red collars, then he would new Pope, Pius IX, could not become announced the creation of a new Polish lithography, the first half of the 19th century confess the leader of the new Italian state even legion, a unit officially allied with Italy. who he was: he was a member of the Polish if he wanted to. The Spring of Nations, Garibaldi became the commander of the One of the headstones at the cemetery legions, which spread across France, the German joint forces. The Republic’s territory of Italian soldiers in Warsaw to and was bringing back his old bones to that states, Austria-Hungary, and the Polish was taken by the French, the Habsburgs, fatherland territories between 1848–1849, also broke commemorate six generals murdered by and the Neapolitan Bourbons. Polish which he could no longer defend. Then how all out in Italy. Just like in the Napoleonic the Germans in Greater Poland in legionnaires bravely defended Rome, but the era, the Republic of Venice and the January 1945 during the march on July 3, 1849, the French forces entered family how even the servants embraced him, Republic of Milan were created in the to the West of the Italian POWs the city, restoring the Pope’s power. The choking north, fighting with Austrian control, and saved from an evacuated Oflag remaining legionnaires and Italian soldiers with tears! He would seat himself at the board the House of Savoy sent their forces to boarded a ship, nomen omen “Pius IX,” and tell provide help. was eventually accepted for service by the and went to the Ionian Islands with a plan of history more strange than fable; he would Polish petitioners for a long time had government of Milan, and fought Austrians to cross the border to Transylvania, where relate how been knocking on the door of the Roman along a relatively unimportant sector of the Hungarian Army, commanded by General Dombrowski was making efforts to Curia, asking for the Pope’s patronage over the front on Lake Garda, with a famous a well-known Polish General Józef Bem, penetrate their political activity. Prince Czartoryski, Camaldoli Hermitage. fought with Austrians and Russians. from the Italian land into Poland, how he was the former foreign affairs minister of Polish General Rybiński, the last However, their plans fell through. gathering Imperial Russia, the first president of commander-in-chief in the anti-Russian To some extent, that Polish-Italian his countrymen on the plains of Lombardy; how the Polish National Government during uprising of 1831, became commander relationship ended together with the Kniaziewicz was issuing commands from the the anti-Russian uprising in 1831, the of the Venetian armed forces, but French and Italian participation in yet Roman main Polish emigration diplomat called unfortunately the agreement he signed another anti-Russian uprising, which Capitol, and how, as a victor, he had cast in the an uncrowned king of Poland, strove with the Venetian government did not broke out in the Kingdom of Poland in eyes of to obtain the Pope’s support and create enter into force. After Austrian victories 1863. Colonel Francesco Nullo from A photograph of Adam the French an hundred bloody standards torn a Polish legion in the State of the Church. in northern Italy, a number of Poles Bergamo, Garibaldi’s friend, a participant Mickiewicz (+1855). Here, like a new from the The same was demanded by a well-known withdrew to Piedmont, and some started of the Italian Spring of Nations, came Moses holding his “pilgrim's cane," which descendants of the Caesars. Polish romanticist and a political activist, to serve for a famous Italian revolutionist, to the Polish Cracow (at the time part of symbolized the fate of the Poles in exile. (Translated by: George Rapall Noyes) Mickiewicz, who, having been granted Giuseppe Garibaldi. General Habsburg Austria). Earlier, he had drawn “Historical, chronological and geographical presentation of the Poles' activity for Polish independence in Italy.” French edition of an audience in the Vatican, shouted at the Chrzanowski, Prince Czartoryski’s man, up a testament. Appointed general by Mickiewicz was the author of the Books of a historical map of 1829 showing the marching routes of Polish Legionnaires in Italy during 1797–1801 the Polish Nation and the Polish Pilgrimage, The descendants of the Caesars were, Pope that the Holy Spirit is present in the which meant he was conservative, became the insurgent National Government, he similar in style to evangelical allegories in the however, holding strong. Italy was unified blouses of Parisian laborers, causing general the actual commander-in-chief of the led the French-Italian legion across the 19th-century catechism of many European Kościuszko, and the later fall of the state, are brothers). Thus, a new type of army was Poland has not yet perished, under the House of Savoy in 1870, when consternation. The democratic and socially Royal Sardinian Army, and managed to Austrian-Russian border near Cracow on revolutionists forced hundreds of political activists and created, civil and republican (modeled on So long as we still live. the decaying State of the Church finally radical legion created by Mickiewicz, subordinate Mickiewicz’s radical legion. May 3 – a Polish religious and national thousands of soldiers to emigrate. Those Kościuszko’s 1794 uprising army), in which What the foreign force has taken from us, fell, and Italian forces seized Rome, referred to as a heretic and a revolutionist, However, Piedmont’s defeat in the holiday, commemorating the day of who stayed were conscripted into invading the differences in social status and descent We shall with saber retrieve. abandoned by the French, making popes hospice on Via delle Botteghe Oscure armies – Russian, Prussian and Austrian. were to be insignificant. Kościuszko March, march, Dąbrowski, voluntary prisoners of Vatican City. in the Roman Sant’Angelo district. It was Military service in occupiers’ armies himself, having been pardoned and set free From the Italian land to Poland. a kind of a pilgrim’s home organized at remained the bane of the Polish nation from the Russian Peter and Paul Fortress Under your command Spring of Nations St Stanislaus (Poland’s patron, bishop of until 1945, or even longer, if we include by Tsar Paul I, became the symbolic We shall rejoin the nation. (1848–1849) Cracow) church. Fragments of the saint’s the 45-year-long subordination of the leader of the soldiers. The military service, On May 3, 1798, Poles entered the The unsuccessful Polish national relics were brought to the church after Polish Army to the Russian “guarantor” however, resulted in, sometimes dramatic, Eternal City, the capital of the new uprising against Russia made thousands of Hosius’s death. The foundation did not after WWII, and the service of former internal moral struggle. The revolutionary Roman Republic, created on the ruins refugees escape Poland in 1831. They were survive the collapse of Poland, partitioned Polish citizens in the Soviet Army. French army brought French occupation of the Papal States. It was then that the the elite of the Kingdom of Poland, bound in 1795 among three invaders – Prussia, At the end of the 18th century, the only and war with religion under the banner of Polish St Stanislaus church was briefly by a personal union with Russia from 1815. Russia, and Austria. Three years later, actual, although uncertain, Polish ally was liberty and equality. Polish legionnaires opened. Later, the situation deteriorated. It was the time of the so-called Great on May 8, 1798, St Stanislaus Day – the Jacobin France, which was fighting with wanted to fight in order to return to Some legionnaires were given up to the Emigration – great not because of the day when processions from the Catholic Prussia. This alliance remained unharmed their country, but on top of everything Austrians as foreign subordinates by number of exiles, but their status. Officers, Cracow visit the saint’s relics with great through the Action of 6 November 1794, the they were deeply religious Catholics, a French commander of Mantua, which the Sejm of Congress Poland deputies, the fanfare – his church in Rome was opened founding of the consulate, and the brilliant especially those of peasant descent. surrendered in 1799. The legions suffered Polish National Government members, by General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski’s career of the first consul – Napoleon. One Poles were quelling the uprising against terrible losses while covering the beaten renowned landowners, romantic poets, legionnaires, who later took part in a mass. of the most well-known Polish emigrants the French in Papal Romagna, while French army retreating from the battle of journalists and publicists, all went to the was General Dąbrowski, who in 1797 got in Reggio the savoir-faire of Polish Trebbia, fought with the Austro-Russians. west and south of Europe, spreading The Polish Legions permission from Napoleon, at the time soldiers won them popularity among The soldiers who survived the battle of rebellion and revolution germs along the (1797–1807) fighting Austrians in Lombardy, to the citizens. It was there that Marengo (which sealed the success of way. Politicians and soldiers, representing Why were Polish military men in form a separate legion made up General Józef Wybicki, one of Bonaparte’s Italian campaign of 1800), almost all parties existing at the time, from the heart of Italy again after 800 years? of Polish prisoners remaining the more outstanding Polish became the core of a new legion. Later, die-hard conservationists to communist They were not common hired soldiers, in French captivity. It was politicians active at the turn some of them formed Polish units in the radicals, were all bonded, against their own like Lutheran lansquenets of the Roman to support a new French of the 18th and 19th century, Italian Republic army, and some were sent will, by one thing – the strong desire for Catholic Emperor Charles V, who three creation, the Republic of wrote for the legionnaires the to suppress a black insurrection against the Poland to regain independence. In practice, centuries earlier perpetrated the notorious Lombardy. The legionnaires lively Mazurek Dąbrowskiego French colonial rule in Saint Domingue this could be possible only after seriously Sack of Rome of May 6, 1527, butchering wore a Polish uniform, but (Dąbrowski’s Mazurka), the in Haiti. However, many legionnaires disturbing the European political or social Swiss Guard soldiers, who died in glory adopted the Italian and future national anthem of the went over to the insurgents – their black order guaranteed at the 1815 Congress of protecting the Pope. The unsuccessful French cockades, with an Republic of Poland, which descendants still live on the island today. Vienna by the Holy Alliance Treaty. In 1794 Polish Uprising against Russia inscription: Gli uomini expressed hope for returning The undoubtedly heroic war epopee Central and Eastern Europe the moment The formation of the Polish Army in Italy: the former Polish POWs from the Italian camp in Piedmontese La Mandria di Chivasso and Prussia, led by General Tadeusz liberi sono fratelli (Free men to the Fatherland: of Polish legionnaires in Italy quickly came much later, in 1918, after a sudden fall after the end of WWI, December 1918 Special edition The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino 4 5 The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino Special edition

announcing Virgin Mary the Queen in 1808 opened to Napoleon a passage remember the tales, especially those in October the Austro-Hungary K.K. in Santa Maria Capua Vetere stayed neutral towards Catholic Expeditionary Italian forces, stayed in an Ukrainian kolkhoz after of the Polish Crown (1656), as well as to Madrid, proved that numbers are not about Lviv being hit by cannons located Monarchy started to fall apart, he and in Campania. Another Poland and remained fond supporting the Germans on the eastern the war and married a Russian citizen, adopting the first Polish constitution the most important thing, that ambitious at the High Castle. (...) The year 1848 long his friend drew up a falsified leave order, such camp was situated in of its citizens. Up to 1940, front, were welcomed with kindness daughter of Polish peasants. (1791). Nullo was killed two days later in and very loyal hired soldiers may achieve remained in the minds of people from my and returned home to Lviv, the capital of Piedmont, in La Mandria masses of refugees and when passing through Polish territories After Italy had joined the allies in a battle fought with Russians. He was more than domestic heroes. Foreign grandfather’s generation – the Hungarian Austrian Galicia. Other Polish recruits di Chivasso. Altogether, volunteers wanting to join occupied by the Germans, and so were 1943, most Italian soldiers abroad were buried at a cemetery in Olkusz, in Lesser legions in Italy created during the Spring Revolution, and the passage of Russian were not so lucky. Before the fall, about 35,000 volunteers were the newly-created Blue the Spanish and Hungarian units. put in POWs and concentration camps Poland. of Nations period usually numbered only forces across Galicia to Hungary. Two 60,000 were taken to POW camps in Italy, enlisted among the prisoners, Army in France, moved Those war-time Polish-Italian relations by the Germans. In the Warsaw district several hundred Poles. However, Polish of my grandfather’s brothers took part in as Austrian subjects. In the meantime, the who formed regiments across the Italian boot. The were perfectly grasped by Stanisław of Bielany, there is an Italian Military Two World Wars officers played a very important role in the the Hungarian Revolution. One stayed allied Blue Army was created in France, under the patronage of Polish ambassador in Rome, Lenartowicz, who in 1964 directed Cemetery. It is the final resting place for At the beginning of the 11th century, Republican forces. The memory of those in Hungary, the other one emigrated to and its units at the last moment managed the already mentioned Bolesław Wieniawa- the Polish comedy entitled Giuseppe over 1,000 Italians who were German a quite impressive number of 300 Polish days is not as distant as we might think. My Turkey. These were well-known events to take part in the fights with Germany heroes – Dąbrowski, Długoszowski, was w Warszawie (Giuseppe in Warsaw). prisoners during WWI and died in armor-clad soldiers are supposed to own grandfather told family stories about from the history of the minor [Polish] in Champagne. General Józef Haller, Kościuszko, Mickiewicz, appointed President of Lenartowicz was himself a Home Army POWs on the Polish territory. There are have arrived in Italy. Polish legions in the Spring of Nations in the mid-1950s. gentry of those days.” the Commander of the Blue Army and Nullo, Garibaldi. The soldiers were then Poland by President Mościcki, interned soldier and a prisoner of a Russian also cremains of over 1,400 Italians fallen the service of Napoleon’s protectorates They were part of a living family tradition At the beginning of 1918, as an from October the Commander-in-Chief transported to France, from where in in Romania, but could not take office due concentration camp after the war. or murdered in WWII in Nazi POW were all several thousand men strong, and captured the imagination of a little 18-year-old high-school graduate, still of the Polish Armed Forces, supervised 1919, they set off to their own country. to French and English objection. Two The tragedy of the Italian nation had and concentration camps. A meaningful which was a lot considering the relations boy from the Polish Galicia (which up to in his uniform, he joined Polish Auxiliary all Polish voluntary formations, from After 123 years of captivity, the words famous Poles who lived in Rome were its morbid culmination between 1943– plaque that can be seen at the cemetery between the small Italian states. Besides, 1918 was a part of the Habsburg Austrian Corps, a formation in the Austrian Canada to the Russian Vladivostok. of Dąbrowski’s Mazurka became reality: the Primate of Poland August Hlond, 1944. Those who survived Stalingrad, commemorates six Italian generals a 10-minute charge of one squadron Monarchy), whom he was at the time: army. However, the Corps revolted and Soldiers from Italian POWs began to “from Italy to Poland.” who was on his way to France, and Field died in Russian camps. The tragic history murdered on the Polish territory by the of Polish light-cavalrymen on Spanish “My earliest childhood memories go was consequently dissolved, and my enlist in the allied Polish army. There The year 1939 proved to be catastrophic Bishop Józef Gawlina, who arrived was portrayed with humor by Giovanni retreating Germans in January 1945. batteries at the Somosierra mountain pass back to my grandpa’s stories on what grandfather, a trained artilleryman, was was already a Polish company fighting for Poland, defeated by both Germany in Rome after visiting his uncle at the Guareschi in his 1963 novel Comrade don in the Guadarrama Mountains, which happened in Lviv in 1848. I still clearly sent to the Italian front in the Alps. When on the Italian side, formed at the camp and Russia. Italy, supporting Hitler, Camaldolese monastery at Lake Garda. Camillo, where an Italian camp survivor Jacek Żurek

Italian “Blue Berets” in the Polish Commando The first commando squads during the World War II were formed by the British, and they would soon become international elite of Allied forces. Next to the British commandos, there were the French, Greek, Yugoslavian, and even exceptional German and Austrian commandos, who fought in the anti-Hitler coalition. In the Polish commando company fighting in the Polish II Corps in Italy there also were soldiers of other nationalities who polish had decided to fight in the ranks of the Polish army. At the beginning of December 1943, the 1st Independent Commando Company (also known as No. 6 Troop, part of II Corps the international No. 10 Inter-Allied Commando) arrived at the Italian front as the first Polish military troop in this war. “Soldiers! My dearest Brothers and Children! The commandos were sent to the Central Apennines, near Capracotta town in the The time of battle has come. Long have we waited for mountains at the Sangro river, which this moment of retaliation and revenge on our eternal along with the Garigliano and Rapido rivers formed the primary line of German enemy. We will fight shoulder to shoulder with the defense. When in the spring of 1944, following the commandos’ footsteps, the British, American, Canadian, New Zealand divisions. Polish II Corps arrived in Italy, its troops used the help of Italian volunteers. They The French, the Italian, and the Hindu will also fight.” were joining Polish ranks quite willingly, as A volunteer in the Polish Army in the The Polish Army soldiers in the East in Palestine, 1942–1943 the Polish soldiers treated Italian civilians Soviet Union, 1941–1942 very well, providing them with food and medical assistance. At the same time, the hese words were uttered by the hell that the Poles had suffered. For agreement, as a result of which the Polish on the Polish uniform, General Anders Carpathian Rifle Brigade) who were Borderline (Kresy) customs prevailed in Poles lacked soldiers to protect military General Władysław Anders most of them, the world fell apart on Army was to be formed on the territory began to form the Polish Army in the famous for their fights during the Siege this army, both as regards the names of facilities, bridges, roads or warehouses, Tin his order given before the September 17, 1939, when the Soviet Army of the Soviet Union. The army was to Soviet Union. of Tobruk and the Libyan Campaign. military units and regiment traditions. which was a crucial argument for Polish detachments attacked the Monte attacked the eastern regions of Poland to be joined by hundreds of thousands of Eventually, he never entered Poland “The Buzuluks” (Buzuluk is a Russian The Corps’ panzer units called their forming in March 1944 the 111st Bridge Cassino hill, the keystone of the German help Germans in their plan to destroy Poles released from camps, prisons or with his army using the shortest way to town, where at the break of 1941/42 the tanks with proper names, among which Protection Company at the command of Gustav Line, stretching across the Italian the Republic of Poland. Thousands of deportation places. General Władysław the west. Stalin’s intrigues and British headquarters of the Polish Army in the the most popular were the names of two the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division. It was Peninsula and guarding access to Rome. Polish families were suddenly thrown out Anders was appointed commander after interests in Iran were the reason why Soviet union was located), along with the capital cities of the eastern regions of to be an Italian guard and technical unit The attack was carried out by the soldiers of their homes and taken to the infamous having been released from the infamous the Polish Army was evacuated from the Middle-Eastern “Ramseses,” formed the Poland, namely: Lviv and Vilnius. With with Polish commanders. The privates of the Polish II Corps, which between “Gulag Archipelago” to die in the Soviet Moscow’s Lubyanka prison. He was still Soviet republics in Southern and Central new Polish Army in the East. Part of it, those names, they would go from victory were the highlanders from the very 1944–1945 fought Germans in Italy, concentration camps, in the taiga, at the curing the wounds he had suffered while Asia to the Middle and Near East. By in July 1943, became the II Corps, which to victory, starting from the seizure of region where the Polish commandos were participating in the fights for Rome, Polar Circle, or in the desert steppes of fighting the Red Army in September September 1942, about 115,000 people, under Anders’ command in December Monte Cassino on May 18, 1944. This operating, i.e. South Abruzzo and Molise Ancona and Bologna. Kazakhstan. It seemed that the only thing 1939, and his soldiers were to be the same including 78,500 soldiers and 37,000 1943 arrived at the Apennine Peninsula victory was followed by another one in in the Central Apennines. The company awaiting the destitute Poles was death of people who had been stripped of all hope civilians and military families, had been occupied by Germany. According to the Battle of Ancona, and by capturing initially numbered about forty Italian The Way to Monte starvation and exhaustion. on September 17, 1939. Human shadows transported to Iran; the Soviets did not General Anders’ plan, the Polish POWs Bologna. General Anders’ soldiers volunteers, and seven Polish officers and Cassino Their fate changed suddenly and in ragged clothes started to flock to camps agree to release more, so several thousand or Wehrmacht deserters could also join believed that this victorious campaign NCOs. The Battle of Monte Cassino is referred miraculously with the outbreak of the where the Polish army units were to be Polish citizens were forced to stay in the Polish troops, because Germany on would make it possible for them to The fate of the company was affected by to as the Battle of Nations for a good German-Soviet war in June 1941, when formed. Many had died on the way or in Soviet Union. Among the evacuated, the occupied Polish western territory “march from Italy to Poland,” as the the Battle of Monte Cassino, where the reason. There were many more reasons the former allies, the 3rd Reich and the the happy moment of catching a glimpse there were 18,000 children. The survivors annexed to the Reich in 1939 (Silesia, Polish legionnaires in the service of Polish II Corps suffered enormous losses than those General Anders mentioned in Soviet Union, became mortal enemies. of the white-and-red flag fluttering over to the end of their lives were grateful to Great Poland, Pomerania) obligatorily Italian republics sang 150 years earlier. during attack. The Polish command, his order, but compared to all formations A month or so later, the Polish Prime the military camp’s gate. There were also their commander for taking them away Germanized Polish citizens, and made This desire is still inscribed in the trying to figure out how to complement made up of soldiers from around the Minister and Commander-in-Chief in those who had not been informed about from this inhuman lands. In Iraq and them join the German army. stone at the Monte Cassino Polish War the ranks of the Corps thinned in Propaganda poster showing the marching world, the II Corps was a truly remarkable exile in London, General Władysław the forming of the Polish units and who Palestine, these nomad soldiers joined The Polish II Corps became the Cemetery: For our freedom and yours, we, the bloody battle, thought of Italian route of the Polish II Corps in Italy during phenomenon. None of the big corps that Sikorski, succeeded in concluding with thus remained Soviet prisoners. Out of the elite of the Polish Army, namely formation of Poles coming from all soldiers of Poland, gave our soul to God, our highlanders who dedicatedly served the 1944–1945 took part in the battle had been through the Soviet government an official alliance those, who rose from the dead and put the Carpathians (the Independent territories of Poland, but the Eastern life to the soil of Italy, our hearts to Poland. commandos as guides and carriers. Special edition The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino 6 7 The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino Special edition

Polish Lot how my fellow soldiers, wounded The Japanese Bushidō code and dying, groaned in pain. says there is no greater solitude Only two soldiers from my than that of a warrior who team survived this attack – survived a battle and reached myself and one more soldier. the end of his road. It’s true. During short breaks in fights, Polish Children A soldier, whom the Providence the stretcher-bearers would allowed to live after a bloody come to take the wounded fight, becomes a different only, as there was no time to man. take the killed. Only after of Indian Maharaja Such people function as the battle ended, they could if they were living in two take the fallen, although “Deeply moved and distressed by the sufferings of parallel worlds: in the present and many a time it was hard to the Polish nation, and especially of those who are in the time of the bygone war, which identify the remains… I was in this hell for persistently, as a palimpsest, pierces twenty days. I got wounded several times, spending their childhood and youth in the tragic through reality. It is not only and but I didn’t pay attention to it at all.” circumstances of this most terrible of wars, I wanted exclusively about trauma. On the contrary, I also visited Colonel Antoni Łapiński to contribute, and in some way improve their lot by those soldiers are often characterized by in Warsaw. His great sense of humor calmness and softness of mystics. I met and serenity hit me from the start. The offering them refuge in a country that is far away such people – all of them were veterans Colonel was a young soldier in the 3rd from the ravages of war. I am extremely pleased that of the Polish II Corps, and they fought Carpathian Rifle Division, and he so I have the opportunity to alleviate the sufferings of in the Battle of Monte Cassino. They had recalled the day of their triumph, May these children.” come to the Corps from all over the world, 18, 1944: “For me, this day was especially and their lives after the war were very happy. In the early morning, our troops different. Still, each of these meetings left entered the ruins of the abbey at Monte Volunteers from the cartography platoon of the Polish II Corps at the Monte Cassino Polish War Cemetery celebrating the second anniversary Uhlan Józef Kowalczyk, 1944 of the battle, May 1946 me deeply moved, and at the same time Cassino. About 9:00 a.m., I was standing quite uplifted by the awareness that I had near the Doctor’s House, looking at the They had proved to be very useful in the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division. Both been lucky to meet a good man. seized ruins of the abbey. That night, that role also at Monte Cassino. For that companies of the Group occupied the All of the veterans, with no exceptions, I had managed to take a three-hour reason, the 111st company was not to be frontline between Villa Virginia and always began with: “I am no hero. Those sleep, resting my head on my medical wasted for guard duty tasks, but rather the bridge near Numana, manned with who died are heroes, but not me.” I heard bag. Suddenly, I saw a group of seven transformed into a combat troop, or even the soldiers of the Carpathian Uhlan that every time. It is the true modesty of soldiers coming from ‘the Ravine' more – into a commando troop. What Regiment, under the command of which soldiers and wisemen who have looked (‘Gardziel'), led by some officer. When was left from the original purpose of this they remained. On the next day, the Italian death in the eye. The first soldier I met they got closer, just a few meters away unit was only its name – the 111st Bridge company had their combat baptism. Its was Colonel Wojciech Narębski, living in from me, I recognized the officer, the Protection Company. The name was left two platoons and the 1st Uhlan Squadron Cracow, Little Poland region, a professor second lieutenant: it was my brother to disinform the Germans as to its actual hit with bravado the enemy-manned hills in geochemistry and petrology. In Italy, Józef! He looked exactly as when he tasks, and calm the Italian Allied forces of Monte Freddo and Hills 119 and 107. he served in the 22nd Artillery Supply was released from a forced labor camp in case of their potential protest against Seizing this important for the entire Company, famous for its special soldier a few years before – skeletal, unshaved, in recruiting Italian citizens to foreign Carpathian regiment position was paid for – Wojtek the Bear, who used to carry a dirty, tattered uniform. This however combat military forces. with the death of two soldiers. In the battle, munition boxes. As they both had the meant nothing compared to the fact that Maharaja Jam Sahib with the Polish children In mid-May of 1944, the commando commando Attilio Brunetti heroically same first name, the Professor jokingly my brother survived! Saying goodbye, company was transferred to Oratino saved his wounded commander, Sergeant told me his fellow soldiers called him he pointed to his soldiers and said: he above words were spoken However, the first one to have offered near Campobasso in Molise, where Zygmunt Piątkowski, transporting him Little Wojtek to distinguish him from »Look how many alive men I was able to by Jam Sahib Digvijaysinhji, help was India. The Indian prince heard new volunteers from the region joined on his own back several kilometers away Wojtek the Bear. gather after my platoon’s attack on Mass TMaharaja of Indian Princely State about Poland for the first time in the it. Additional officers and NCOs of from the frontline. Brunetti was later Released from a Soviet prison camp in Albaneta and the ‘Ravine’.« Before the of Nawanagar, to the Prime Minister of 1920s during his stay in Switzerland. the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division and The Polish II Corps soldiers in Italy, second on the right is Brunon Jankowski (rifleman) decorated with the Polish Cross of Valor. 1941, he was told he had very little chance fight, the platoon counted thirty men and the Polish Government-in-Exile, General There he made friends with his neighbor, the instructors of the 1st Independent The first fight of Italian volunteers to survive. “I became a soldier, but – above was part of the 6th Infantry Battalion of Władysław Sikorski, in London in 1942. Ignacy Paderewski, a Polish pianist, Commando Company were also tasked proved how unjust were the opinions of all else – I was alive, although I left this the 2nd Carpathian Brigade. The second By virtue of a Polish-Soviet agreement composer and politician. During World to start intensive training of Italian about the reportedly low value of an Italian ruthless land as a human wreck,” he told time me and my brother met, he told me signed in 1941 by General Sikorski, about War II, Jam Sahib was one of the two soldiers. After the training ended in mid- soldier, and the battles that followed me with a calm smile. that ultimately over a dozen more soldiers 400,000 Polish citizens deported to and Hindu delegates in Great Britain’s June 1944, the 111st Bridge Protection only cemented the new Polish-Italian I found another veteran of the 3rd from this platoon were found alive later imprisoned in the Soviet Union were cabinet war rooms in London where he Company counted 68 Italian volunteers brotherhood of arms. Not incidentally, Carpathian Rifle Division in Rumia, in – which made up a total of 18 survivors. granted “amnesty,” after which “the met the Polish prime minister. and 23 Polish officers and NCOs. The the first troop to enter Ancona as the the Kashubia region. Brunon Jankowski All other young soldiers in his platoon Polish Army in the Soviet Union” was The Maharaja took a liking to Polish Poles took commanding posts at the forward guard of the Carpathian Uhlan at Monte Cassino served in… Luftwaffe. were killed on the Monte Cassino slope formed under the command of General people, and when he heard about the fate team level and higher. The company Regiment through the gates of Santo Being a Pole from the Pomerania region, covered with red poppies.” Władysław Anders. Not only women, of Polish children, he decided to give them commander was an experienced line Stefano on July 18, 1944, was the 2nd he was forced to join the Luftwaffe anti- In the famous scene of Andrzej but also thousands of children – many shelter. Not far from his residence, at officer, Lieutenant Feliks Kępa, and commando company. aircraft battery, and was sent to the Italian Wajda’s movie Popiół i diament (Ashes and of them parentless – were coming to the the seaside in Balachadi near Jamnagar, the second in command was Lieutenant By the end of July 1944, the Polish and front. In the hell of Cassino, he ran away Diamonds), Maciek Chełmicki is standing military units being formed. In 1942, in today’s Gujarat state, he built the Commander Edward Zalewski. The Italian commandos separated. The Polish to the other side of the front, and joined at the bar counter and talking to his about 115, 000 of people were evacuated Polish Children Camp. “Do not consider youngest soldier in the company – barely 1st Independent Commando Company the famous Carpathians. He recalled: “I friend Andrzej; in the background Sława from the Soviet Union to Iran, including yourself orphans any more. You are now 16 years old – was Mino Pecorelli, who was deployed to be formed again in the remember, as if it were today, the moment Przybylska is singing The Red Poppies on over 75,000 soldiers and almost 40,000 the Nawanagaris, and I am Bapu, the after the war became a renown attorney south of Italy as a result of a decision on I got off the truck and saw a Polish white- Monte Cassino. Maciek sends the vodka civilians, mostly members of military father of all the people of Nawanagar, so and journalist. Just like the Polish transforming it into the 2nd Commando and-red flag on a long flagpole. I thought: shots to Andrzej, shooting them across families, among them almost 20,000 also yours,” he said in his welcome speech. company, the Italian one was also divided Motorized Battalion. The Italian Finally! I am among my fellows.” the counter, then kindles the drinks children. Some of them became part of into three platoons. Instead of green company returned under the command After my visit in Pomerania, I went to – Andrzej pays tribute to their fallen the army, e.g. women in the Women’s Good Maharaja berets – commonly worn in commando of the Carpathian Uhlan Regiment and the other end of Poland, to Podhale – to friends by naming the shots: Haneczka, Auxiliary Service, or boys and young men In the period of 1942–1946, about 1,000 units – Italian commandos wore blue fought along with its soldiers until the Orawka near Nowy Targ. There, after Wilga, Kossobudzki, Rudy, Kajtek… He in the Student Soldiers Units (Oddziały Polish children were brought up there, berets with Polish eagle insignia and red seizure of Pesaro on September 2, 1944. It many years of exile in the West, Józef blows out the match when Maciek wants Junackie), which accompanied the Polish and they called Jam Sahib their good Poland patches on their arms. With time, was then that the decision on disforming Kowalczyk found his own harbor. He was to kindle the last two vodka shots, and Army all the way to Palestine and Egypt, maharaja. “India provided shelter for us, Italian commandos were referred to as The 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division soldiers. From the left: Antoni Łapiński and Ryszard the 111st Bridge Protection Company the uhlan of the 12th Podolian Uhlan says: “We’re still alive.” Maciek bursts and then to Italy, where the Polish II not only did we have a place to live and “the Blues” (“Bławaty”), and this name Kaczorowski, a rifleman and the last Polish President in Exile (1989–1990) was taken. The Italian company – under Regiment, whose soldiers were the first to into manic laughter. Here, again, the Corps fought with Germany. This food to eat, but we also had a school, scout clang to them until the end of the fights Polish command until October 18, 1944 plant their victorious flag in the rubble of song lyrics can be heard: They went to way, a decision of Soviet authorities on teams, drama and sports classes,” said along the Adriatic coastline. Moreover, Major Władysław Smrokowski (the deployed from Oratino to the Adriatic – lost 14 soldiers in total (10 of them the abbey. When asked about the Battle avenge and to kill; on the enemy’s destruction, keeping the majority of Polish citizens in Wiesław Stypuła, the oldest living resident unofficially, the 111st Bridge Protection hitherto commander of the 1st company) coastline. At the beginning of July, Italian), and 29 soldiers were wounded. of Monte Cassino, he replied, tears in his bent; to their honor they harnessed their the Soviet Union could have been, at least of the Camp, at the first screening of the Company was called “the 2nd commando took the command. the unit arrived at the Monte Lupone General Anders, in recognition of the eyes: “Let me remind you the inscription will. After each of my meetings with the partially, evaded. However, for the young Polish-Indian movie called Little Poland company” or simply “the Italian While the Italian volunteers were frontline via Monte Pagan and Porto valor of the Italian commandos, decorated over the gate of the Monte Cassino Polish veterans, like a déja vu I would replay survivors, some place safe had to be found in India in 2013. The Maharaja not only company”. The very good training results intensively training commando fight, San Giorgio. The group was assigned them with Polish combat insignia: out of War Cemetery: Passer-by, go tell Poland this scene in my mind. It is thanks to my to keep them there to the end of the war. offered the children refuge, but also often affected another decision of the II Corps’ the II Corps was tasked by the Allied at the tactical level to the Polish 2nd all 19 decorated Italians, 17 were awarded that we have perished obedient to her service. Heroes – in spite of their protests, I will In response to the request of the Polish visited his guests, was interested in the command, namely the formation of the command in Italy to independently carry Panzer Brigade and was deployed in the with the Cross of Valor (nine of them I remember the German artillery fire be calling them that – I did experience government in London, several countries Polish culture, watched the plays staged by 1st Commando Group by joining the 1st out an offensive towards Ancona. The 1st Castelfidardo region, but was not engaged posthumously), one with the silver and decimating my team on Hill 593. The the scene in real life. offered refuge to Polish children, among children, and hosted them in his residence. Independent Commando Company and Commando Group was engaged in the in the first fights for Ancona. On July 8, one with the bronze Cross of Merit with Germans replied to our attack with well- them Mexico, New Zealand, and the Near the end of war, the Communists, the 111st Bridge Protection Company. operation, and on June 21, 1944, it was General Anders allocated the Group to Swords. aimed and powerful gunfire; I remember Piotr Korczyński British colonies in Africa. who took power in Poland, requested Special edition The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino 8 9 The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino Special edition

that the children come back to their center; and the scoutmaster of the scouts Victoria in Uganda, and in Masindi Santa Rosa hacienda near León city in Poland, and the rest left to live in other choose their future country of residence. died in 1966. When asked during the war memory. “The Sejm is paying a tribute to Fatherland. In order to prevent that, the was the young Zdzisław Peszkowski, later district, Uganda. The refugees lived in the center of Mexico. They were provided countries. The majority of residents of From among the camp residents in New by General Sikorski how Poland could the Maharaja for his great contribution children were officially jointly adopted a Catholic priest, well known in exile and villages in huts covered with pearl millet with medical care, education, and there Mexican Santa Rosa found their home Zealand’s Pahiatua, only several dozen repay him for his kindness of hosting and remarkable disinterestedness he by the Maharaja, Jeffrey Clark (British in Poland. In total, it is estimated that or banana leaves. In the camps, there were a theater and two swimming pools. in the USA, Canada, and Great Britain. people decided to return to Poland, the a thousand homeless Polish kids, Jam showed when he saved over a thousand officer) and Franciszek Pluta (a Polish about 5,000 Polish children survived the were churches, hospitals, kindegardens, New Zealand also offered help to Polish Some children found their parents. The rest remained in New Zealand. Also from Sahib said: “In independent Poland, Polish children from hunger and priest and camp commandant). The war safe in India. schools, handicraft workshops, and farms. kids. In the fall of 1944, over 730 of them new Polish government demanded that India, barely several hundred people please name one of the Warsaw streets suffering,” the resolution says. camp in Balachadi was officially closed Almost half of civil Polish refugees “It was our Little Poland, and we were – and 100 of Polish personnel – arrived at the minors return to Poland, despite the came back to Poland. Others, after they after me.” In Indian Balachadi, in the buildings in November 1946, and the kids were from the Soviet Union, which is about free and happy,” wrote in one of his blog the Wellington Port. A children camp was fact that their local fatherlands – pre-war came of age, chose to live in Canada, the Today, a square in Ochota – the district of the former camp, there is now a cadet transferred to Valivade, the largest Polish 18,000 people, found their shelter in posts Artur Woźniakowski, who during settled in Pahiatua, and it stayed opened eastern districts of Poland – had been in USA, or Australia. of Warsaw – is called “Good Maharaja,” school, and the stay of Polish refuge camp in India, near the city of Kolhapur. the British colonies in the East and the war lived in the Koja camp with his until 1949. 1945 annexed by the Soviet Union. The The Maharaja ruled the Princely State and there is also a statue of the Maharaja children is remembered in the form of In the Polish town lived mainly women South Africa. There were about twenty mother and brother. After the end of war, most Polish governments of the countries which of Nawanagar until February 1948, and there. He is also a patron of Warsaw’s a statue erected in front of the school with children. There were also a hospital, camps for the Polish refugees. Three Almost 1,500 Polish refugees, including refugees were afraid to come back to hosted the children decided however to when India gained independence, he “Bednarska” School Group. In 2016, on building by ex-residents of the camp. a post-office, kindergartens, schools, largest ones were located in Tengeru, over 800 children (mostly orphans), found Poland ruled by Communists. From protect them against obligatory comeback became one of the first representatives the 50th anniversary of Jam Sahib’s death, a church, a firehouse, and a community Tanzania, on Koja peninsula by Lake their shelter in Mexico. They lived in the Africa, only 3,000 people returned to to Poland, and the minors could freely of his country in the United Nations. He the Polish parliament celebrated his Anna Dąbrowska

creating a passage for the British XIII Corps to get into the depths of German defense in Liri Valley, it was Anders who decided to make one more attempt On the Italian to seize Monte Cassino. The second assault, launched on the night of May 16/17, this time ended in victory. Despite hard-fought resistance, the Polish forces partially broke off the German lines, and when the attack started to break down, the last reserve force – an improvised Front battalion of drivers, clerks, and soldiers In 1944, the units of the Polish II Corps were transported by the British to the Apennine of auxiliary forces – went to fight. On the morning of May 18, Mass Albaneta and Peninsula (under German occupation since September 1941) from the Middle East. Hills 593 and 569 were seized, followed by capturing the abbey’s ruins on Monte Cassino deserted by the Germans. About he Polish II Corps, along with WWI, he proved to be a great officer, Army. In 1919, he was engaged in forming found my little medal with an image of the 10:00 a.m., the patrol of the 12th Podolian the American and British forces, distinguished by personal courage and the Polish forces in Greater Poland Holy Mother. They gathered around my Uhlan Regiment planted the white-and- T was to join the Italian Campaign. superb commanding capability. As a result region, western part of Poland, where an medal. I heard this boorish laugh: »We’ll red flag there. The Corps was commanded by a Polish of his daring cavalry raids, he gained uprising broke out against the German see if this b… helps you in the Soviet A bloody epilogue of the battle was General, Władysław Anders. recognition of the Russian commanders, rule. As the chief of staff of the Greater prison.« My holy medal was thrown to the fight for Piedimonte San Germano, promotions to higher ranks, and was Poland Army (Armia Wielkopolska), he the floor and trampled out. I can’t recover fought by the Poles between May 20 and Cavalryman awarded many military decorations. proposed a daring offensive towards the from it to this day – I still remember that 25. It ultimately paved the way to Rome, Anders is one of the most famous Polish Following the 1917 February north, via Polish Pomerania, to open the terrible feeling. Afterwards, in prison, and the US forces entered the Eternal commanders – a talented officer, who Revolution in Russia, he left the ranks of way to – very much desired by the Poles I used to have dreams about my medal. LtCol Władysław Bobiński in the M4 Sherman tank during fights for Ancona, July 17–18, 1944 City on June 4. organized the army, an ideological and the occupant’s army, and joined the Polish – the Baltic Sea coastline. Later on, as In my dreams, I saw a little face of the Polish losses were heavy – as many as political leader of post-war immigration, I Corps, a voluntary formation allied with a commander of the 15th Poznań Uhlans Black Madonna of Częstochowa, very by the Polish Government-in-Exile with Peninsula into half, and shutting off the infantry attacked, the German forces 924 Polish soldiers were killed or died an uncompromising opponent of the the Russian army commanded by Polish Regiment, he had a number of successes often similar to the face of St Teresa. prerogatives of the President of Poland. way to Rome. The key to this lock was opened well-aimed mortar and machine- of wounds, 2,930 were wounded, and Soviet Russia and Polish communists. General Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki, who in the 1920 Polish-Soviet War. I felt her constant care. My faith in God Władysław Anders never accepted the Monte Cassino. The defense of the region gun fire. The Polish forces, although 345 missing. The fallen were buried He was born on August 11, 1892, on hitherto had also been in the Russian Anders’ achievements on battlefields was deepening with every atheist laugh communist rule in Poland; he demanded was the task of the elite 1st Parachute temporarily, managed to occupy some of in 1946 at a war cemetery built on the the territory of Poland deprived of service. After the Corps’ demobilization were significant. As a result, he was sent I heard around me. My faith gave me that the truth about the fate of thousands Division, which decimated American the hills, but rapidly growing losses and hillside between Monte Cassino and independence and partitioned between in 1918, forced by the Germans to study at the French Ecole Superieure strength to overcome human weaknesses of Polish officers murdered by the forces trying to seize Monte Cassino German counterattacks halted the assault. Hill 593. Soon after, it became one of three occupants, on the Russian- occupying western governorates in the de Guerre, and then deployed to the in my hardship.” Russians in 1940 (the Katyń massacre) in January 1944, and the British units A difficult, mined area, and artillery Polish mausoleums. When approaching occupied territory of the Vistula Land Russian Empire, he got through to General Cavalry Inspectorate (Generalny Severely battered and brutally be revealed. For that reason, he was (Hindu, New Zealanders, English, Irish), fire hindering the engagement of the the tombs, visitors are treading on (Kraj Przywiślański, which is the Russian Warsaw. Here, he joined the Royal Polish Inspektorat Kawalerii). His career was not interrogated for almost two years, he was considered as the primary enemy by the which were attacking the mountain in reinforcements and tanks, forced Anders a monumental inscription on the name for the central territory of Poland). Army (Polnische Wehrmacht), a military disturbed even by his fight against Marshal released from the Russian imprisonment communist authorities in Poland. He was February and March. As it turned out, to withdraw back to their initial positions. pavement slabs at the cemetery’s gate: Władysław Anders descended from formation subordinate to the authorities Piłsudski during the military coup d’état in Moscow’s Lubyanka in August 1941, deprived of Polish citizenship, slandered it was nonsensical for the US air force to Although the Poles did their task, Passer-by, go tell Poland that we have a family of German-Swedish-Hungarian of the Kingdom of Poland, which was in May 1926, when he supported the after the signing of the Polish-Soviet by propaganda, but nevertheless bomb the abbey into ruins as it was free blocking significant enemy forces, thus perished obedient to her service. roots, but he felt closely knit to the formally a vassal of Imperial Germany government and the president, who put up agreement. He then became a commander continuously respected by his former from military quartering by virtue of Polish culture. Just as his three younger and Austro-Hungary. armed resistance to the rebellious forces of “the Polish Army in the Soviet subordinates, particularly the soldiers of political agreements: only after the abbey brothers – Karol, Jerzy and Tadeusz, he At the moment of collapsing of all commanded by the Marshal. On the Union,” formed out of a mass of Polish his army saved from the Soviet gulags had been destroyed, the Germans took pursued his career in the military, which three occupants in November 1918 and contrary, Piłsudski gave Anders command citizens released by the Russians from in 1941. In the Soviet-enslaved Poland, their positions in the ruins. he started in the Russian army during his regaining independence by Poland, of the 2nd Independent Cavalry Brigade, concentration camps, prisons or from Anders personified hope for regaining When the Allies decided to renew the studies at Riga Polytechnicum. During Anders became an officer in the new Polish and in 1934, he promoted him to the rank exile. The Army – as Anders himself freedom and was the symbol of persistence offensive in the spring, they chose to send of brigadier general. defined it – was a “nomadic little Poland,” in the fight for the sovereignty of his a newcomer in Italy to the frontal attack: When commanding the Nowogródzka which in 1942 was evacuated from the Fatherland. The General did not live the Polish II Corps. General Anders took Cavalry Brigade during the fights with Soviet Union to the Middle East. From to see it – he died in exile in 1970, and this unrewarding task in the hope that the Germany and Russia in September 1939, there, part of it – now as the Polish II according to his last will, he was buried potential success could be later used in the he was wounded twice, and was taken Corps – still under Anders’ command, got among his subordinates at the Monte game for keeping Poland’s sovereignty, prisoner by the Soviets. He was born to the Italian front at the break of 1943/44. Cassino Polish War Cemetery. since as of January 1944, Polish territory Lutheran, and here is his recollection of By the end of World War II, Anders had been occupied – for the second time in how he was welcomed in a Moscow prison: took the duties of commander-in-chief, The Poles at Monte this war – by the Red Army. “I was ordered to get off in the yard. and held the post until June 1945. Cassino The attack, which was to distract the It was clearly the prison’s yard. The demobilization of the And they planted their red-and-white Germans’ attention away from the activity They led me through the nooks Polish Armed Forces fighting flag in the rubble amid the clouds – Feliks of the Allies, was preceded by very detailed and crannies. I was body- in Western Europe took Konarski wrote in his song The Red Poppies preparations, such as building the famous searched several times. After place during 1946–1947, but on Monte Cassino – a poignant story about Polish Sappers Road (the Cavendish the first body search, they Anders had already lived in sacrifice and devotion of Polish soldiers in Road). On May 11, 1944 at 11:00 p.m., the took all my things, including London, where until 1954 he this bloody battle. drum artillery fire launched Operation my suitcase. What I was left was the General Inspector of During WWII, the Germans fortified Honker – the assault of the British 8th with was a blanket, a soap, the Armed Forces, and during the mountain massif with the famous Army and the US 5th Army on the a toothbrush, and a cup. My 1954–1970 – a member of the Benedictine abbey, including it in the Gustav Line. The assault fire in the Polish Left: Władysław Raczkiewicz, Polish President in Exile during 1939–1947. Right: clothes, shoes – all cut up and so-called Council of Three, co-called Gustav Line – the line of sector by three hundred guns weakened The soldiers of the 15th Poznań Uhlan Regiment of the Polish II Corps welcomed General Władysław Anders, Polish II Corps Commander. London, March 1946 ripped. At some point, they i.e. a collegial body created fortifications cutting the Apennine the enemy only slightly, and when the by Ancona residents Special edition The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino 10 11 The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino Special edition

after the withdrawing along the coastline goals of the allied offensive – capture an killed, over 1,200 wounded, and over dozen German 278th Infantry Division turned undamaged port, at which five days later missing. The killed soldiers were buried at out to be very difficult, because the the first supply ships arrived. the Polish War Cemetery in Bologna. enemy’s delaying activity was extremely The Ancona offensive was the only The Italian campaign of the Polish skillful, blocking in effect the narrow ( just operation that was independently II Corps took place in the shadow of – a few kilometers in width) littoral passage, planned and carried out by Polish soldiers incomprehensible to the Allies – tragedy available for the motorized forces. Only only. During this operation, General of its soldiers. The eastern territories as late as on July 1, the army succeeded in Anders commanded not only the Polish of Poland had just been annexed by the seizing Loreto with its famous Basilica of II Corps, but also – subordinate to it – Russians: these lands were homeland for the Holy House (sanctuary of the Virgin the Italian Liberation Corps, and the most Poles, who in 1942 left the Soviet Mary), the bridgeheads behind the British: 7th Queen’s Own Hussars, and Union with Anders’ army. That meant Musone River, and started their struggle 17th and 26th Anti-Aircraft Artillery their return to Poland was not possible. for Ancona. In the first week-long phase Regiments. This enormous success was In August 1944, Warsaw Uprising broke of those fights, called the Battle of Loreto, however paid dearly for: in direct fights out against the Germans, and the Red the Polish forces ultimately pushed the for Ancona, 377 soldiers were killed and Army, standing on the other side of the enemy away, who however did not break wounded, and during the entire offensive front, did not help the insurgents, waiting off, called for reinforcements, and formed on the Adriatic coast – 496 killed, 1,789 at ease for the Nazi to annihilate this a new defense line. wounded, and 139 missing. The bodies of birthplace of Polish mutinies. At that Anders used the break in the attack the fallen were buried at the Polish War time, Anders sent from Italy a message to to arrange the detachments, replenish Cemetery in Loreto near the sanctuary of the Polish Minister of National Defense A sapper of the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division A tankman of the 6th “Lviv Children" supplies and prepare for direct attack on the Virgin Mary. and to the Commander-in-Chief in during the Battle of Bologna, April 1945 Panzer Regiment at Monte Cassino Ancona. According to plan, on July 17, After the exhausting chase in summer London: “A soldier does not understand the Polish 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division and fall of 1944, the Polish II Corps the purposefulness of the uprising in Ancona and Bologna launched feigned aggressive activity, shifted to defense activity at the Senio Warsaw. Nobody here had any illusions The fights between the Polish II Corps which was to engage German forces, River. In March 1945, the Corps launched about the Bolsheviks helping Warsaw, and Germany in Italy started in February while at the same time the 5th Kresowa preparations for a new offensive to damage despite their continuous promises. In 1944, and the Battle of Monte Cassino Infantry Division, supported by the German forces in northern Italy. One these conditions, Warsaw – despite in May were their peak. However, in 2nd Panzer Brigade and the British 7th of the main tasks for the 8th Army was unprecedented examples of heroism total Polish soldiers participated in this Queen’s Own Hussars, performed the given to the Polish soldiers who were to in history – is doomed to be destroyed. campaign for 15 months, fighting in the main attack to the west of the city. Despite force the Senio river and – after breaking We consider evoking the uprising as mountains and coastal areas, forcing the fierce resistance, Polish detachments down German defense – outflank towards a heavy crime, and we ask who carries the rivers and fortification lines. were gradually pushing the enemy away, Bologna and cut the enemy off. They responsibility for it.” After the battle, the Allied offensive successively seizing towns and breaking launched a successful attack on April 9 In 1945, Polish detachments in Italy sped up. The exhausted II Corps was off enemy defensive lines by the end of with the support of the British corps and were very close to rebellion against their initially to be withdrawn from the front the day. At eight in the evening, Anders engineering units, artillery and aviation. previous allies. Ultimately, in the next for a month, but the commander of the ordered the Polish panzer forces to turn While chasing the enemy, the Corps year, the army was demobilized – the 15th Army Group, General Harold towards the sea, and cut the enemy off was forcing consecutive water obstacles, British agreed to transport the Polish Alexander, deployed it to the Adriatic to prevent retreat. The German forces and on April 21, it seized Bologna. This army to England and Scotland. From front to conduct pursuit activity. From however managed to withdraw part of success significantly contributed to there, Polish soldiers, having adapted June 4 to 25, the detachments were being their troops from Ancona. On July 18, at disrupting German troops in Italy, and themselves to civil life, left to eventually deployed to the eastern edge of the Italian 2:45 p.m., Polish commandos, supported in consequence, to their capitulation and scatter around the world. boot. However, before the deployment by the 15th Poznań Uhlan Regiment, ending the Italian Campaign by the Allies. This soil belongs to Poland, ended, they had received an order to An Italian girl on the M4 Sherman tank with the soldiers of the 1st Krechowce Uhlan entered the undefended city. They During the spring offensive, the losses Though Poland be far from here. The Sturmgeschütz III (StuG III) German panzer cannon destroyed by the 6th “Lviv launch attack towards Ancona. The chase Regiment after the Polish II Corps entered Bologna, April 21, 1945 succeeded to achieve one of the main of the Polish II Corps reached over 200 Wojciech Markert Children" Panzer Regiment during the fights for Montoro near Ancona, July 6, 1944

Virgin. It is believed that his wish was to the II Corps, who told me: »Bishop, from Warsaw lamented that he had been 6th Advanced Dressing Station, where be buried at the Monte Cassino Polish it’s time.« Ten minutes later, we set off wounded in »a body part that I can’t name the indefatigable Bernardine monk, A Polish Bishop War Cemetery, and that is where he rests to Venafro. On the way, I found out or show to the Bishop, so they didn’t let me Father Łuszczki, worked. The house today. that Chaplain August Huczyński fell at stay to the end of this party.« (...) was full of wounded soldiers. Doctors “From the day of March 26, I began the Main Dressing Station, that Father I was afraid I would find the severely looked ghastly, unable to stand firmly on my pastoral visits, when snow still Józef Król crashed while taking off from wounded Father Lisowski in agony, but their feet. The building shook with every at Monte Cassino covered the ground. First, I met with England, and that Chaplain Franciszek I had been mistaken – this tongueless grenade explosion. Having made sure soldiers in Carpinone and Carovilli. Lisowski’s tongue and jaw were torn off and jawless man had a truly unbreakable that the wounded are tended to, and the I went to San Pietro with the generals. by a shrapnel. (...) spirit. He was quite moved for a second or administration worked well, I decided to “On May 18, the Ascension Day, I celebrated the second mass, with The whole village had been blown up by I am one of those old soldiers, who have two, but he immediately started writing look around. (...) Unceasing rumble and the first one said by Father Bocheński. I did not know that the Polish the Germans, except for the church on more than once looked death in its morbid his questions: Has the Abbey been seized? noise of grenades – as if a whole glass which you could see the inscription: Das face, and have taken part in many battles. (...) Does the English report – with pavilion were gliding through the air – flag was then already fluttering above the abbey ruins seized by ist für Eure Verwundeten (This is for your I myself have been wounded several times, unflattering insults directed at our allies could be heard, coming at us from three our soldiers.” wounded). Ruins and ruins. (...) I know something about the apathy of the – finally mention Polish participation in sides. We were in fact very close to the It would take too long to name all the heavily, and the talkativeness of the lightly the Battle of Monte Cassino? (...) abbey, about which I found out later from [Józef Gawlina, Memoirs] Italian villages in which our »boys« were wounded. I have heard their unavoidable Further along, at the Main Dressing the very top of the hill. (...) celebrated as true Catholics. (...) In Bojano complaints on officers, and their merciless Station, worked the truly dedicated On May 18, the Ascension Day, ózef Gawlina was born Middle East, in Africa, and just like the Army’s units, travelled from (...) I set up my temporary quarters. The judgment on »those sawbones« – the Chaplain Bas. There were many dying I celebrated the second mass, with the in the Prussian Silesia afterwards again on the Uzbekistan, across Turkmenistan, Persia, cathedral was in ruins. The community stretcher-bearers. However, during that there. (...) I helped dress their wounds. first one said by Father Bocheński. I did Jin 1892. During the European continent. As he Mesopotamia, and Palestine, to Egypt. complained about Americans, that they particular battle I witnessed something Kneeling beside one of those people, not know that the Polish flag was then Great War he served as wrote about that period of He took part in the Italian campaign sbagliano sempre (always make mistakes), unexpected, which made me reconsider giving him absolution, I was startled already fluttering above the abbey ruins, a German soldier on the his life: “A field bishop does of the Polish II Corps in 1944. On the because instead of shelling German my hitherto experience. The mood of by the division pastor, Father Wiktor seized by our soldiers. (...) western front, and later not even have a dwelling way, he visited the Polish communities heretics, they shell the good people of His our wounded was quite different. They Judycki, asking me if I would like to The moment the battle ended (...), in Palestine. Gawlina was place. My palace during the in America, and he still made it to the Holiness. »They will learn,« I told them, all asked one question only: – Has the »throw myself into the fire.« We went the grayness of everyday life returned. a Polish Roman Catholic war was always a stranger’s liberation of the Netherlands by the to which they replied: »They should have Abbey been seized already? How are despite the protests of Father Dean The true Polish nature stepped in again. priest, a social activist and house, and many a time not Poles, and the Lower Saxony campaign, learned before the war.« True, American things on the front? I could not believe Cieński, who had been appointed to (...) The representatives of the infantry a journalist in the interwar even a house. It was a room in which ended in May 1945. After the war, pilots had once bombed the French; my ears. Everyone praised their officers, watch over me. Helmets on and forward, regiment accused me of being unfair period, a general and a field bishop of the a convent in Paris, a closet attached to he wrote memoirs covering his entire life. they were even said to have roasted their and even the stretcher-bearers. They through the Inferno Track, under heavy to the infantry yet again, because I had Polish Army; after the war – an important a Polish church in London, a haystack Below are fragments regarding the fights own people with their carpet-bombings. particularly appreciated the chaplains: German fire. Shrapnel shells – somewhat relocated their chaplain. Still tense after archbishop in Rome, providing pastoral during my escape, a cattle wagon in near the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Italians said that when the German »Our chaplain walked among us like obsolete munitions – were bursting over the battle, they even became enraged; and care to the Polish diaspora scattered Russia, a tent in the deserts of Persia and Cassino, dedicated mainly to the memory aircraft are coming, the Allies hide, when Santa Claus, distributing fruit, even our heads. When we exited the Track, when I tried to calm one of them down, around the world. Mesopotamia, some ruins near the front of the Polish Army chaplains. the English are shelling, the Germans treated me to a glass of whisky.« There everything around us was obscured by saying: »Wait a moment, my dear boy,« He emigrated in 1939, and later could line, an aircraft during my travels.” He Deeply religious and brave, like all hide, but when the Americans are coming, was not one wounded that did not have artificial fog. A symphony of ear-splitting he stood at attention and replied: »I beg not return to Poland under the German was the only Roman Catholic bishop who Silesians, he died suddenly in Rome in 1964, all of them – Germans, Allies, civilians – in his ‘army passport’ the signature of booms and bangs! The Germans must to report that I am no bumpkin, but and Russian occupation. He spent the was given permission (in 1942) to travel during a Vatican Council, in the middle run for cover. (...) a chaplain with the annotation ‘provided have noticed us, because we were clearly a Monte Cassino battle hero.«” war with the Polish forces in France, to the Soviet Union, where he visited of a dispute with other bishops regarding On May 10, I met with (...) Colonel for.’ (...) Chaplains Joniec, Grzondziel and targeted. The driver was going like crazy: (Gawlina, Józef, Memoirs. Myszor, Priest Józef Joniec later in England and Scotland, in the the newly created Polish Army, and later, the respect that is due to the Blessed Szymanski, an American liaison with Walczak are especially praised. (...) A man »They won’t get us.« Soon, we reached the Jerzy, ed. Katowice, 2018) at Monte Cassino Special edition The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino 12

seven months halted the march of the allied forces.” After this introduction, YOU people could finally read the news they had been waiting for – the official military announcement on the victory Don’t of the Polish soldier: “In the afternoon of May 17, and at the night of May 17/18, the detachments of the Polish Corps Dance in Italy broke through enemy defense at the hill complex of Monte Cassino, to That San Angelo, and Hills 563 and 569, and repelled a series of fierce enemy counter- attacks, supported by concentric artillery Tune and mortar fire. The defeated enemy attempted to flee from the vicinity of the Almost every Pole abbey and the city of Monte Cassino. At 9:20, the Polish flag was raised over the remembers ruined walls of the abbey.” a scene from the According to witnesses, the announcement was like balm for the Dom (House) Monte Cassino abbey in ruins. tortured Polish soul. News of such great Sketch drawn by the geographers of the Polish II Corps, 1944 Polish victories were rarely found in the TV series, where press during WWII. It is no wonder then a tipsy laborer tries The Red Poppies on Monte Cassino that the moment stayed in the Polish lyrics by Feliks Konarski, music by Alfred Schütz minds for a long time. After the war, in to drag one of the the dark night of communist oppression Do you see the rubble at the top? The red poppies on Monte Cassino... and propaganda, Monte Cassino became main female There, like a rat, lurks your foe! a symbol recognizable for all people who You musn't stop, you musn't stop Do you see the white crosses in a row? characters to the But from the clouds the enemy throw! That's where the Poles pledged their all. identified themselves with free Poland, And so, onward and upward they went; The farther, the higher you go, while the song praising the Polish victory dance floor in They went to avenge and to kill, The more you'll find them fall. acquired emblematic significance, On the enemy's destruction, bent; This soil belongs to Poland, becoming a melody to which one should a post-war Warsaw To their honor they harnessed their will. Though Poland be far from here, not dance, but stand straight and listen For 'tis crosses measure freedom's span — taproom. The red poppies on Monte Cassino That is history's lesson dear. attentively. Almost like the Polish Drank Polish blood instead of dew... national anthem. O'er the poppies the soldiers did go The red poppies on Monte Cassino... Biuletyn Informacyjny published he orchestra is playing The Red 'Mid death, and to their anger stayed true! the address made to the Polish soldiers Poppies on Monte Cassino, and the Years will come and ages will go, A quarter-century has passed, on May 19, 1944 by Gen Kazimierz laborer is quickly grounded by Enshrining their strivings and their toil!... The dusts of battle no longer rise, Sosnkowski, the Commander-in-Chief T And the poppies on Monte Cassino And the monastery's walls at last a grumble coming from other guests: “You Will be redder for Poles' blood in their soil. Once again climb, white, to the skies... in exile: “Soldiers of the Polish Armed don’t dance to THAT.” The scene shows But memory of those nights terrible Forces at home and abroad! Our deeply what the victory at Monte Cassino meant to The forlorn hope charged through the fire! And of the blood that once flowed here — moved thoughts reach out to Italy, where the Polish nation oppressed by the German More than one was struck and felled... Echoes in the monastery bells the II Corps has given new splendor to and Russian occupiers, not only during the Yet like the horsemen at Samoisierra, That toll the fallen to sleep!... the Polish Army. Glory to the victors They charged with a force unrepelled, war, but also for many, many years after. Like those at Rokitna years ago. of Monte Cassino! Soldiers of Poland – The song, commemorating one of And they made it, and carried the day. wherever you are; observe a minute of the most glorious moments for the And they planted their red-and-white flag silence in memory of the heroes that fell Polish Army during WWII, became In the rubble amid the clouds. at Monte Cassino, and in honor of the a symbol, with an aura of holiness around living exclaim: hurray!” it, targeted against both occupiers’ Dominik Kaźmierski propaganda. Biuletyn Informacyjny (Information Bulletin), the official, main underground weekly published covertly in occupied Poland during the war, was the first to give the news on the Polish victory on May 25, 1944, one week after the fights for Monte Cassino ended. The first page of the weekly read: “A grand event has taken place: the Polish Army has achieved one of their greatest victories in this war.” Later, it was explained to the Polish readers that: “As we know, the initial success streak of the English and American forces in Italy ended suddenly at the lower bank of the river Liri, where the Germans had built a line of first-class fortifications in the already inaccessible mountainous terrain. They had erected the so-called Gustav Line, which for The soldiers of the 5th Kresy Infantry Division of the Polish II Corps attacking Monte Cassino

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Project supervised by Anna Putkiewicz Wojskowy Instytut Wydawniczy Translation and copy editing by Anita Kwaterowska, Dorota Aszoff (Military Publishing Institute) Factual accuracy review by Jacek Żurek Aleje Jerozolimskie 97, 00-909 Warszawa Graphic design by Marcin Izdebski Illustration on page 1: photo by Cezary Pomykało, Marcin Dmowski, Director: Maciej Podczaski Wydział Składu Komputerowego i Grafiki WIW Polska Zbrojna (monthly) Photographs: 100 lat z mapą. Z dziejów Geografii Wojskowej, Warsaw 2019, Editor-in-Chief: Izabela Borańska-Chmielewska Partner Central Military Archive (CAW), Library of Congress, National Digital Archive (NAC), www.polska-zbrojna.pl National Library of Poland, Polish Army Museum, Regional Museum of the Limanowa Land, Polska Zbrojna. Historia (quarterly) B. Jankowski, J. Kowalczyk, A. Łapiński, J. Żurek Photo coloring by Mirosław Szponar Editor-in-Chief: Anna Putkiewicz Printed by Wojskowe Zakłady Kartograficzne sp. z o.o., ul. Fort Wola 22, 01-258 Warszawa WWW.POLSKA-ZBROJNA.PL