The Battle of Monte Cassino, also known as the Battle for Rome and the Battle for Cassino, was a series of four assaults made by the Allies against German forces in Italy during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The objective was to break through the Winter Line, and facilitate an advance towards Rome.
Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about 130 kilometres (80 mi) southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, 2 kilometres west of Cassino and at an elevation of 520 m (1,710 ft). Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first house of the Benedictine Order, having been established by Benedict of Nursia himself around 529. It was for the community of Monte Cassino that the Rule of Saint Benedict was composed.
The 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division, also commonly known as Christmas Tree Division due to the characteristic emblem of a cedar of Lebanon superimposed upon the Polish flag, was an infantry division of the Polish Armed Forces in the West that fought during World War II on the Italian Front. It was formed in 1942 of the Polish Independent Carpathian Brigade and the forces of Lieutenant-General Władysław Anders' Polish 2nd Corps evacuated from the Soviet Union.
Władysław Albert Anders was a general in the Polish Army and later in life a politician and prominent member of the Polish government-in-exile in London.
The Polish II Corps, 1943–1947, was a major tactical and operational unit of the Polish Armed Forces in the West during World War II. It was commanded by Lieutenant General Władysław Anders and fought with distinction in the Italian Campaign, in particular at the Battle of Monte Cassino. By the end of 1945, the corps had grown to well over 100,000 soldiers.
The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile, was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Poland of September 1939, and the subsequent occupation of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Slovak Republic, which brought to an end the Second Polish Republic.
Cassino is a comune in the province of Frosinone, Southern Italy, at the southern end of the region of Lazio, the last city of the Latin Valley.
Feliks Konarski was a Polish poet, songwriter, and cabaret performer.
Wojtek was a Syrian brown bear bought, as a young cub, at a railway station in Hamadan, Iran, by Polish II Corps soldiers who had been evacuated from the Soviet Union. In order to provide for his rations and transportation, he was eventually enlisted officially as a soldier with the rank of private, and was subsequently promoted to corporal.
Hlybokaye or Glubokoye is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus, and the administrative center of Hlybokaye District. The city is located on the international road from Polotsk to Vilnius with the historic railway line to Woropajewo (Варапаева) completed in 1932 in the interwar Poland. It has 18,200 inhabitants as of 2010.
Anders' Army was the informal yet common name of the Polish Armed Forces in the East in the 1941–42 period, in recognition of its commander Władysław Anders. The army was created in the Soviet Union but, in March 1942, based on an understanding between the British, Polish, and Soviets, it was evacuated from the Soviet Union and made its way through Iran to Palestine. There it passed under British command and provided the bulk of the units and troops of the Polish II Corps, which fought in the Italian Campaign. Anders' Army is notable for having been primarily composed of liberated POWs and for Wojtek, a bear who had honorary membership.
The Polish Armed Forces in the West refers to the Polish military formations formed to fight alongside the Western Allies against Nazi Germany and its allies during World War II. Polish forces were also raised within Soviet territories; these were the Polish Armed Forces in the East.
Sergeant Władysław Grydziuszko (1910–1946) was a soldier in the Polish Army during World War II. He was born on September 6, 1910 in the small rural village of Mikulicze, Poland. Prior to military service, Władysław worked as a master tailor until he was enlisted with the Polish Forces in 1939. On August 28, 1939 he was called from reserve and together with the Polish Police unit participated in the 1939 Invasion of Poland campaign. Grydziuszko was taken prisoner of war by the former Soviet Red Army and was held in the USSR. Following his ordeal on the basis of the Sikorski–Mayski agreement of July 30, 1941, Władysław Grydziuszko was released for the purpose of joining the Polish Armed Forces in USSR. From 1942 to 1944 Władysław received military training by the British Army in the Middle East. Then in 1944 to 1946 he embarked on the Italian campaign.
Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino is one of the best-known Polish military songs of World War II. It was composed in May 1944 in Italy, during the Battle of Monte Cassino, on the eve of the Polish Army's capture of the German stronghold.
Irena Renata Anders (12 May 1920 – 29 November 2010), born Iryna Renata Jarosiewicz (Yarosevych), was a Ukrainian-Polish stage actress and singer. During World War II she performed with Henryk Wars' troupe and later with the Polska Parada (Polish Parade) band, entertaining the Polish Armed Forces in the West (commanded by General Władysław Anders, her future husband). She was one of the first singers to perform the anthem, Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino (The Red Poppies on Monte Cassino).
Italian Resistance
The Polish 5th Kresowa Infantry Division was an infantry division of the Polish Armed Forces in the West during World War II. Formed in March 1943, it fought in the Italian Campaign as part of Lieutenant general Władysław Anders' Polish II Corps, affiliated with the Western Allies, under command of the British Eighth Army.
The Red Poppies on Monte Cassino - poems and songs 1939–1945 is the title of a collection of period works by Feliks Konarski. The book's title, "Czerwone Maki", is also the name of one of the most famous Polish songs to emerge from World War II.
The Monument to the Battle of Monte Cassino is a monument in Warsaw, Poland located in the square between General Anders Street and the gates of the Krasiński Gardens near the National Archaeological Museum in the Warsaw Arsenal.
Polish Cemetery in Bandar-e Anzali is a cemetery in Bandar-e Anzali northern Iran. It was made during Evacuation of Polish civilians from the USSR in World War II. This war cemetery contains the remains of 163 graves of the Polish soldiers of the Anders' Army and 476 graves of the Polish civilians who perished due to sickness during their transport to the Middle East, for a total of 639 graves. Bandar-e Anzali is the port where the Polish Anders' Army disembarked, in an operation that lasted from April 1, 1942 until October 1942, after evacuating from the USSR.
