In May 1944, 40,000 Polish soldiers attacked and captured the hilltops of Monte Cassino, bringing to a close the largest, bloodiest battle fought by the western Allies in the Second World War. Days later the Allied armies marched into Rome seizing the first Axis capital. No-one in 1939 could have foreseen an entire Polish Corps engaged on the Italian Front. Most had been held prisoner in the USSR following Polands defeat and their release by Stalin was only achieved through the intense negotiations of British and Polish politicians generals, notably Sikorski and Anders,. The Polish Army was evacuated to Iran in 1942 and subsequently incorporated into the British Army as the Polish II Corps. Their ultimate post-war fate was shamefully ignored until too late. This book, which charts the extraordinary wartime story of the exiled Polish Army in the east, makes extensive use of undiscovered archive material. It reveals in depth the relations between the British and Polish General Staffs and the never ending hardships of the Polish soldiers.
Chapter 1. The First Blitzkrieg
Chapter 2. A Polish Army in the USSR
Chapter 3. Exodus to the Middle East
Chapter 4. Along British Lines
Chapter 5. A Year of Challenge
Chapter 8. Mountain Warfare and the Defence of the Sangro River
Chapter 9. The Monastic Fortress
Chapter 10. Preparations for Battle
Chapter 11. Assault on the Gustav Line
Chapter 13. Victory at Monte Cassino
Chapter 14. Breaking the Adolf Hitler Line
Appendix 1. Orders of Battle for Polish II Corps May 1944
Appendix 2. Personnel Statistics and Equipment Holdings of II Corps