In 1944, 3,784 soldiers of the Polish Carpathian Corps were killed or wounded in fighting at the site. In May, the Allied troops broke through the German defenses, opening the way to Rome.
The Poles were the first to reach the old abbey, which was the center of the German defenses and was destroyed by Allied bombers. The fame of the Poles who fought here was celebrated in Poland with a song called ''Red Poppies on Monte Cassino,'' which was frowned upon by Poland's postwar Soviet-backed rulers.
* NO, I am not Polish( Swedish). I just wanted to bring attention to ALL of the fallen..
** Maybe I'll start a new "International Memorial of the Fallen" thread?
Here you go: I just found this in one of my books( < is an amateur historian);
" ON the 18 of May, the Poles occupied the monastery and raised their flag above it. In the Cassino operation they lost nearly 4,000 men, many of whom are buried in a cemetery on nearby Snakeshead ridge, beneath this inscription:
We Polish soldiers
For our freedom and yours
Have given our souls to God
Our bodies to the soil of Italy
And our hearts to Poland. "
Salutes Rook's Grandfather!!!!!!( That must have been a very long journey for him, Poland( on foot probally) to France, France to UK, UK to Italy, Italy back to UK, then home to Poland!)
Huh, actually, he was forced to sign the volkslist and join the Wehrmacht, but he desertireed when the train was somewhere in the French woods and joined the resistance. Sadly, I don't know the rest of the story, apart from the fact that he fought at Monte Cassino.
On a side note, my other great-granddad was an engineer in RAF's 302nd squadron during the Battle for Britain.
From what I understand, the Poles in the Italian campaign were "Free" Poles*. These where all the Polish forces who where able to escape to France before Poland was over-run.
That still makes sense. Maybe he jumped off the train during the battle for France and was able to evacuate with the other French and Polish forces( Dunkirk).
* Poland set-up a government in exile in London, all of the evacuated Polish and French forces where re-armed by Britain and formed into new units.....
Yes exactly...Cool!**Edit(Cool as in, that we both understood the story of his Grandfather's adventure,survival,journey,hardship,loss, and ordeal)Peace!!!!
Last edited by Tod001 on Wed May 31, 2006 11:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
I spent the first decent amount of time with my dads eldest brother a couple years back, Uncle Eric, it was his 80th birthday.
My dad said it was the first time he had ever heard Eric tell his stories.
He first invaded Africa during Operation Torch, then later on his was involved in attacking Italy, I cant remember the name if the Italian port that he landed at, but he told me how the whole harbour was filled with wrecked and burning ships and how he had to work his way ship to ship till he could finally get his feet on the ground.
At one point he said he wanted to show me something, it took him an age to go upstairs and come back with one of the things he has kept. It was a Germans papers, his ID book, a couple of photos, some money, an innoculation form and a few other things, it was all the guys personal stuff.
It was kinda sad thinking that my uncle had killed that guy but by the look in that 80 year old mans eyes I knew that guy had been trying to kill him, their personal battle must have meant something for my uncle to save his belongings, I know the dead guy wasnt the only one my uncle met.
He also said to me at one point "You want to see War?" he showed me some photos he had taken, one I particularly remember was in Italy, theres a crowd of guys with a head on a stick, the head belonged to a collaborator.
It was all pretty heavy stuff, im very glad to have heard a little of what he did, he had never told anyone in all those years.
Philip II of Macedon sent a message to Sparta:
"If I win this war, you will be slaves forever."
The Spartan ephors sent back a one word reply: "If".
