大象传媒

To make life more bearable the inside walls of the tents and the mosquitoes nets were sprayed with water. The worst time for my father was during sandstorm.

In March 1943 Russian Communist Government officially announced that those Poles who were still in Russia automatically became Russian Citizens, that also included Poles
on territories taken over from Poland in September 1939.

The Poles were very angry and couldn鈥檛 bear being kept away from the front line
any longer. It made them very nostalgic as well. Soon they were moved to Kirkut and Mosul. The Kurds made Polish soldiers very welcome and opened their houses to them
to celebrate Easter. In Kirkut the chief of the Polish Army Gen. Sikorski inspected the troops and promised to involve them in the active service soon.
Regretfully he died in a helicopter crash in Gibraltar a few months later.

In September 1943 the troops were on a move again. Now to Palestine via Jordan.
They stayed in Gaza. During short visits to Tel 鈥� Aviv they could buy Polish newspaper, listen to the radio in Polish and practically communicate in Polish language everywhere, because lots of Jews living there were from Poland.

The British military under gen. Montgomery command had plans in mind for Poles.
In November 1943 the orders came to move Polish troops to a small mountain village
of Bechuzzin in Lebanon where they were trained to fight on the mountains slops.

After Christmas 1943 the troops were moved yet again to Egypt.
They spent almost two months in the desert exercising and waiting for new orders.

The orders came in February 1944 to board the boats in Port Said.
The main destination was Taranto in Italy. From there they were transported to
a small village of Toro near Monte Cassio. They were accommodated in private houses.
Monte Cassino was an important strategic point on the road to Rome.
British, American, French and New Zealanders forces tried to take over the monastery on a top of the hill from Germans. It was almost an impossible task because Germans could clearly see any tiny movement and responded immediately.

The next attack included Polish Soldiers under the command of gen. Anders.
Before the attack Gen Andres spoke to his troops. My father remembered the
following lines鈥︹�漟or this action let lion spirit enter your hearts鈥� and
鈥� keep deep in your heart God, honour and our land 鈥� Poland鈥�.
鈥︹�漡o and take a revenge for all the suffering in our land, for what you have suffered
for many years in Russia and for years of separation from your families鈥濃��.
My father said that with that speech in heart they were unstoppable.
And they proved it!

They were counting minutes to the coded hour 鈥淗鈥�.

On the 11th of May at 11pm the attack started with blasts from thousand of artillery guns
across Italy from sea to sea. First Polish 3rd Karpat Division was thrown into action
on the hill coded 鈥�593鈥� then Polish Eastern Infantry Division, behind them hundreds
of tanks provided some fire cover. My father remembered the noise and the blast were
overwhelming. Early morning the fire died down a bit to allow medical team to pickup
the casualties. There were hundreds of them.

A few days before the attack my father guarded Polish communication point.
During the attack he was in charge of medical team. However he performed first aid on injured soldiers, carried those who couldn鈥檛 walk to the army ambulances as well as picked up the bodies.

After heavy fighting on the 17th of May 1944 Polish soldiers conquered German forces and raised the Polish flag over Monte Cassino monastery and rung the bell.
The British forces chased retreating Germans and theirs flag was also raised next to our flag a few hours later.

My father vividly remembered the horrifying times during and after the attacks on Monte
Cassino. He had tears in his eyes remembering caring badly injured soldieries, some with
limbs blown up being overjoyed by the victory. They were dying not being able to see
their love ones yet the victory was sweeter than death.
Others were begging for help, they wanted to live so much. There were those who before their death wanted to share memories from home in Poland and those who prayed
and asked my father to pray with them.

After the victory it was time to bury the dead
The cemetery in Aquafondale was full. Many crosses had 鈥淯nknown鈥� written on them.

After the battle on Monte Cassino Feliks Konarski composed the song which every Pole
young and old knows up to this day. It鈥檚 name is 鈥� The Red Poppies of Monte Cassino鈥�
I would like to quote a few lines from it.
鈥溾�� They went excited and angry,
They went for revenge and to kill,
They went insanely stubborn
As always to fight for the honour鈥�

The red poppies of Monte Cassino
Instead of dew drunk Polish blood.
And on these poppies walked soldier and fall
Because the anger was stronger than death.

The years and the centuries will pass
A few sights from the old days will be left,
But all the poppies on Monte Cassion
Will blossom with red from Polish blood.鈥�

From Monte Cassino the Polish Army fought Germans all the way to Bolonia,
which was take over by Poles in April 1944.

After many months of fighting in Italy my father like many others had been
asked to be a godfather to a little Italian girl in Forli.
That way the Italians showed their appreciation to Polish forces.

After Italian鈥檚 victory my fathers division was sent to England.
Regretfully apart from Polish pilots, other Polish forces which fought along side
Brits all the way from Palestine to Italy didn鈥檛 receive warm welcome in England.
My father felt very uncomfortable there. However like many other Poles he was unable
to return to Poland because Polish Communist government under Russian orders,
would consider him a western spy and our family would have been deported to Siberia.

He stayed in England until 1947 when Russian granted amnesty to all Polish soldiers.
He returned to Poland on the 27th of April 1947 and my youngest sister was born a year later. We have been apart for long eight years.
His friend Mr Flisinski immigrated to the U.S.A.

My father鈥檚 suffering didn鈥檛 end in 1947.
For many years he was watched and interrogated by the communist secret service,
but at lest we were the for him. After the war he never wanted more from life except
having his family and friends around.
CONTINUED FROM PART ONE ON A7210225

To my knowledge he has received five awards for his service during the war amongst
them are :鈥淐ross from Monte Cassino鈥�, 鈥� The Star of Italy鈥� and 鈥淭he War Medal鈥�
from Britain.
However he never talked about them, he didn鈥檛 see a value in being hero, he did what
any other soldier would do, and he has never forgotten those who never had the
opportunity to return home.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.