Deportee aged 15 years old, evacuated with Polish 2nd Corps and served at Monte Cassino
Listen to her narrative
View the Gallery
Facts
The Polish 2nd Corps (2 Korpus Polski) 1943-1947 was a major unit of the Polish Armed Forces in the West, commanded by General Wladyslaw Anders. The training site for the 2nd Corps…
The Polish 2nd Corps (2 Korpus Polski) 1943-1947 was a major unit of the Polish Armed Forces in the West, commanded by General Wladyslaw Anders
The training site for the 2nd Corps in the Middle East was Khanaqin-Quizil Ribat in Iraq (1943-44) and was composed of the soldiers who had been released from exile in the USSR, the Carpathian Rifle Brigade, the 12th Podolski Lancers and the 15th Poznan Lancers
Re-organised, the Polish 2nd Corps comprised two infantry divisions each of which had 2 brigades and 2 light artillery regiments
General Anders also formed the Polish Women’s Auxiliary Corps (Pomoczniczna Wojskowa Sluzba Kobiet) and they largely trained as heavy vehicle drivers
Approximately 80% of the Polish 2nd Corps came from Poland’s pre-war Kresy or Eastern Borderlands
In 1944 the Polish 2nd Corps were transferred to Italy where they were an independent unit of the British Eight Army under General Oliver Leese
The Polish 2nd Corps took part in major Italian campaigns – the Battle of Monte Cassino, the Battle of Ancona and the Battle of Bologna
3 previous Allied assaults on Monte Cassino had failed and Monte Cassino was a major victory for the Polish 2nd Corps. With it, the road to Rome was open.
Monte Cassino was one of the most difficult and bloodiest battles of World War II
The Polish 2nd Corps had 11,379 casualties in the Italian campaign
In 1944 the Polish 2nd Corps numbered approximately 50,000 soldiers. By 1946 it numbered over 100,000 with reinforcements from freed POWs and Poles forced to fight for the Germans