On May 12, 1944, at 1.00 a.m., the 5th End Infantry Division and the 3rd Carpathian firearm Division launched an attack at Monte Cassino. The fact that Kresova was to take over the Spectre hill and decision on San Angelo, and the Carpathians hit the hills of 593, 569 and Mass Albaneta decided the draw. Unfortunately, it took a fewer more days to win.
Tank M4 Sherman of Lieutenant Szabłowski from the 4th Armoured Regiment "Scorpion" on the hill "Żbik".
At night with 9 on 10 July 1943 on the beaches Sicily landed soldiers of Allied troops. Americans, British, Canadians, and Australians amazed Germans and Italians. However, it was not easy to break through the mountainous areas of Italy. Only on September 9, troops landed at Salerno at the confederate end of the "Italian shoe". Unfortunately, it took a long time to scope the Italian capital. "It took 332 days to overcome 972 kilometres between Syracuse and Rome," Norman Davies calculated in his book "The Rising of ʼ44". The most time – almost 5 months – the Allied troops had to spend in 1944 to overcome the last obstacle, which was strong Fortified City of Cassino And Monte Cassino Hill. Germany – after shortening its defence lines – the massif on which the celebrated Benedictine Abbey was built, and carefully prepared defensive positions called the Gustav Line.
The Belaziar Trail
Allied commanders planned to take Rome from the south. They did not learn from history, as if they did not consider that the terrain was conducive to effective defense. To the south of Rome, rivers are breaking through advanced mountains. To the capital of Italy from the south she led the only road from Naples called Via Casilina. She led the Liri River Valley. Since 536, erstwhile Rome gained the Belizard, the chief of the Byzantine Army, who led victorious war campaigns during the reign of Justinian I the Great, no 1 else succeeded in this, attacking from the south.
Monte Cassino, as Davies stressed, resisted 3 desperate attacks and only surrendered to the fourth. The first 3 were briefly described: “In the first conflict (11 January–7 February) The French and Americans fought futilely against the determined enemy and terrible weather. In the second conflict (15–18 February), during which a pointless bombing of the Benedictine monastery took place, the unsuccessful attack was led by fresh Zealanders. In the 3rd conflict (15–25 March), an unsuccessful effort was made by the Indian division." In the first operation under the code name "Shingle", the second "Avenger" and the 3rd "Dickens" more than 8,200 Allied soldiers were killed, 31,500 were injured and 12,200 were missing.
National Crusade
After the first 3 unsuccessful attacks on Monte Cassino on 24 March, British 8th Army commander General Oliver Leese proposed 2nd Polish Corps commander Gen. Dyw. Władysław Anders the capture of the celebrated hill by Polish soldiers. The British commander, who received the task of breaking the Gustaw Line and Hitler Line, gave the Polish general 10 minutes to reconsider. Anders, after a brief gathering with Colonel Kazimierz Wiśniowski, Chief of Staff of 2nd Polish Corps, He accepted the proposal. About what led him, he wrote in his memories“ It was a minute for me. I understood the difficulty of the future task of the Corps. The passion of fighting in the city of Cassino and on the monastery hill were already well known. Although Monte Cassino's monastery was bombarded, even though troops and allied tanks temporarily reached the neighboring hills, even though Cassino's city was just rubble, The Germans maintained this opposition point and continued to close the road to Rome. [...] However, I realized that the Corps and the another episode would have had immense losses. However, the performance of this task due to the publicity that Monte Cassino gained in the planet at the time may have been of large importance for the Polish cause. It would be the best consequence to russian propaganda, which claimed that Poles did not want to fight Germany. It would sustain the opposition of the fighting country. It would bring large glory to the Polish weapon.”
Soldiers of the 2nd Polish Corps at briefing before combat action. Visible among others: Lieutenant Władysław Matulewicz (3rd from the right), str. Stanisław Skopiec (2nd from the right). They are equipped with Mk.2 helmets and Thompson M1 device guns.
About sending soldiers 2nd Polish Corps General Anders to Italy was already known in the fall of 1943. Therefore, they were prepared to fight in the mountain and high-mountain areas. Subdivisions in September and October took part in maneuvers in Palestine, and in November trained in the mountains in Lebanon. After transport at the turn of October and November, 2nd Polish Corps troops to Egypt besides held classes in the mountainous area. At the turn of 1943 and 1944, the first branches of the 2nd Polish Corps reached Italy. The Corps included 3rd Karpack firearm Division (in strength of about 13,200 soldiers) commanded by Brig. Gen. Bronislaw the Spirit, 5 End Infantry Division (12,900) Brig. Gen. Nikodema Sulik, 2nd Armoured Brigade (3 400) Brig. Gen. Bronisław Rakowski, 2nd Artillery Group of Colonel Ludwik Ząbkowski, 3 reconnaissance regiments and communication, bomb squads and quartermasters (together about 15,000).
Anders' soldiers They made a large impression on Harold Macmillan, a typical of the British government at the Allied chief command. After visiting the 2nd Polish Corps, he wrote: “From this visit I remembered 2 things: the first was extraordinary discipline, military efficiency and the excellent external appearance of Polish soldiers, and above all the soldierly attitude they displayed. [...] The second impression was more subtle and harder to describe. It was an extraordinary sense of patriotic romanticism, not so much a carefree bravado, but a knightly indulgence, pushed to noble risk. Polish troops were more than just military units: they constituted a kind of national crusade.”
Marshal's plan
Field Marshal Harold Alexander, commander-in-chief of the Allied troops in Italy, who straight commanded the 15th Army Group, after 3 unsuccessful attacks on Monte Cassino, was not forced to prepare the next attack quickly. According to British historian Matthew Parker in his book “Monte Cassino”, Alexander “inquired appropriate measures to break the Gustaw Line”. Parker stated that the marshal “was simply looking to completely annihilate German forces in confederate and central Italy.” The British historian added: “This was the priority, not the symbolic business of Rome. He convinced others that he needed: time to train and remainder the division exhausted after the winter battles; good weather so that an tremendous advantage of the Allied in tanks and aircraft could be used; and plenty of additional soldiers to accomplish a numerical advantage of at least 3 to one."
Bombers of the 5th End Infantry Division in a shelter on the Polish Bombers Road equipped with Mk.2.
The Marshal managed to gain additional force and, more importantly, decision it so that Germany did not see it. Matthew Parker described how the Allies tried to mislead hostile troops: “A disinformation run was launched to convince Kesselring that the next step would be a landing in Civitavecchia north of Rome. A wide scope of reconnaissance flights were carried out over this area, and Canadian and American soldiers were ostentatiously practicing a sea landing close Naples."
The beginning of the 4th battle
The marshal's trick, according to Parker, went well. On May 11, erstwhile the 4th conflict of Monte Cassino began, the Germans had 2 strong divisions north of Rome. They were besides amazed that there were 7 divisions other them more than they expected. The operation was given the code name ‘Honker’ – the scream of chaotic geese. The 4th conflict began at 23.00 p.m. artillery fire of German positions with 1060 guns. For more than an hour, thousands of missiles swept German batteries behind the front lines and then targets of the 2 American divisions attacking infantry. A fewer twelve minutes after the Americans, 4 French squadrons from the French Expeditionary Corps began the attack, and about half an hr after midnight on the Rapido River, soldiers on 8th Indian and British 4th Division landing boats began crossing.
On 12 May at 11.00 a.m., 2 divisions of the 2nd Polish Corps began at the same time a raid on a high-lying area around the ruins of the monastery. Their commanders before the conflict pulled knots from General Anders' hand. They drew the direction of the attack for their soldiers. Under Brig. Gen. Bronisław the Spirit struck the hills of 593, 569 and Mass Albaneta. After their mastery, the 3rd Karpacki firearm Division was to occupy the monastery. The 5th End Infantry Division of Gen. Nicodemus Sulik She moved towards the hill of the Phantom. The plan assumed it would then make an attack on San Angelo and then take up hill 575. Both divisions had tank support from 4th Armored Regiment “Scorpion” and the Ułański regiments from the 2nd Warsaw Armored Brigade. Unfortunately, artillery fire has small harm to German positions. The infantry from the Polish division found this.
Troops from the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Carpathian firearm Division managed to capture the hill 593. The shooters then moved towards hill 569. However, the Germans fired on Poles from respective directions from device guns and mortars and conducted counterattacks to get the lost area. At the expense of massive losses, the Carpathians maintained a position on hill 593 until noon, and erstwhile they ran out of ammunition they were ordered to withdraw. On the another hand, troops from 2nd Brigade 3 DSK, which moved towards Albanet's plateau, besides had to withdraw. In turn, the 5th End Infantry Division subdivisions captured the Spectmo hill and moved towards hill 575 and San Angelo. Unfortunately, they did not make it far due to the fact that German artillery and minefields stopped them. Like the Carpathians, the Kresovians suffered tremendous losses. On 12 May at 2 p.m., General Anders ordered them to return to their starting positions.
Soldiers of the 2nd Polish Corps at the conflict of Monte Cassino
The commander of the 2nd Polish Corps, summarizing the first attack, pointed out that his soldiers encountered enemy forces far above the predictions of Poles. "That night the Germans brought fresh meals, and we found at the same time those troops that were to be relaxed, and those that had just arrived. These fights were very difficult, but it is precisely this random accumulation of German forces that is due to the fact that the Germans were incapable to throw adequate troops at the left wing at the same time, against the English who were heroicly struggling for a foothold at the time on the Rapido River," General Anders wrote.
For the 2nd Polish Corps, however, the operation “Honker” did not end after the first attack. Anders' soldiers inactive had to wait a fewer more days to be able to perceive to the mariatic hennal at noon, who played spit at the ruins of the monastery of Monte Cassino. Emil Czech.
Bibliography:
Wojciech Krajewski, “Soldiers of General Anders”, Jagiellonian Publishing House, Kraków 2007
Władysław Anders, “Without the last chapter. Memories from 1939-1946", National Cultural Centre 2018
Matthew Parker, “Monte Cassino. The conflict of planet War II Nations”, Rebis Publishing House, Poznań 2024
Norman Davies, “Insurgency of ‘44’, Wydawnictwo Znak, Kraków 2004
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On the anniversary of the beginning of the decisive clash against Monte Cassino, he paid tribute to the soldiers of the 2nd Polish Corps, Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Minister of National Defence and General Wiesław Kukuła, Head of the General Staff of the Polish Army, placed flowers in front of the Monument of the conflict of Monte Cassino in Warsaw. – There is no awareness and future of the nation without tradition and identity, without what we grow out of. This is us, Poles, and especially today, in the face of various threats, we request to show our achievements in the past as a loyal ally and as brave people," said the head of the MON.
Film: Dominika Celińska, Magdalena Miernicka / ArmouredTV
The 80th anniversary of the triumph of General Władysław Anders will be celebrated next week. 1 form of commemoration of the large triumph will be the 3rd edition of Trekking on the Historical way of the conflict of Monte Cassino. The Sporting Międzyzdroje moving Club and the Military Publishing Institute invitation you for a walk. We invitation you to share the 80th anniversary of the Polish weapon.
