{"id":55224,"date":"2024-03-19T23:48:47","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T22:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=55224"},"modified":"2026-03-19T02:41:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T01:41:30","slug":"the-monte-cassino-polish-military-cemetery-where-the-poppies-drank-polish-blood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2024\/03\/19\/the-monte-cassino-polish-military-cemetery-where-the-poppies-drank-polish-blood\/","title":{"rendered":"The Monte Cassino Polish Military Cemetery, where the poppies drank Polish blood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If we asked many Poles about a sacred place in Italy, perhaps they would not think of Rome and would remember a beautiful and tragic song.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2024\/03\/06\/the-ardennes-american-cemetery-with-more-than-5000-fallen-in-the-world-war-ii\/\">The Ardennes American Cemetery, with more than 5,000 fallen in the World War II<\/a><\/rel><br \/>\n<rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2023\/03\/31\/the-berlin-1939-1945-war-cemetery-that-honors-3595-allied-soldiers\/\">The Berlin 1939\u20131945 War Cemetery that honors 3,595 allied soldiers<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n<p>That song is titled <strong>\"Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino\" (The Red Poppies of Monte Cassino)<\/strong> and is one of the most famous Polish compositions of World War II. It talks about the soldiers of the Second Corps of the Polish Army who fought in <strong>the brutal Battle of Monte Cassino (1944)<\/strong>. The melody was composed by one of those soldiers, Alfred Sch\u00fctz, during the battle, and the first three verses were written by another veteran of those combats, Feliks Konarski. <strong>The first two verses of the chorus say like this:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino<br \/>\nZamiast rosy pi\u0142y polsk\u0105 krew.<\/p>\n<p>Red poppies on Monte Cassino<br \/>\nWere drinking not dew but Polish blood.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>You can listen to the song here:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Polish Military Song - Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Pc_6LHp82uA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The fourth and final verse of the song was written on the 25th anniversary of the battle. Talk about <strong>the cemetery where the more than 1,000 Poles who died in that battle are buried:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Czy widzisz ten rz\u0105d bia\u0142ych krzy\u017cy?<br \/>\nTam Polak z honorem bra\u0142 \u015blub.<br \/>\nId\u017a naprz\u00f3d, im dalej ,im wy\u017cej,<br \/>\nTym wi\u0119cej ich znajdziesz u st\u00f3p.<br \/>\nTa ziemia do Polski nale\u017cy,<br \/>\nCho\u0107 Polska daleko jest st\u0105d,<br \/>\nBo wolno\u015b\u0107 krzy\u017cami si\u0119 mierzy,<br \/>\nHistoria ten jeden ma b\u0142\u0105d.<\/p>\n<p>Can you see the row of white crosses?<br \/>\nThat\u2019s where Poles with honor took vows.<br \/>\nWalk forward \u2013 the farther, the higher<br \/>\nThe more at your feet you\u2019ll find.<br \/>\nThis land belongs to Poland,<br \/>\nAlthough Poland is far away,<br \/>\nFor freedom is measured by crosses,<br \/>\nThat\u2019s history major mistake.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>The Monte Cassino Polish Military Cemetery was inaugurated on September 1, 1945.<\/strong> It is close to the Benedictine abbey where that battle took place. Polish soldiers from the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division fought in that same place. <strong>The cemetery was designed by architects Wac\u0142aw Hryniewicz and Jerzy Walerian Skolimowski <\/strong> and was built by hundreds of Italian workers and stonemasons, assisted by sappers from the Second Polish Corps.<\/p>\n<div class=\"foto_piedefoto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53597504167_cef1928491_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"piedefoto\">The Monte Cassino Polish Military Cemetery, with the Benedictine abbey in the background (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/256776137676452\/photos\/pb.100068225108972.-2207520000\/759551827398878\/?type=3\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Polski Cmentarz Wojenny na Monte Cassino<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p><strong>A large Virtuti Militari cross, the highest Polish military decoration, is inscribed on the cemetery floor<\/strong>, along with this text: <em>\"Przechodniu, powiedz Polsce, \u017ce\u015bmy polegli wierni w jej s\u0142u\u017cbie\"<\/em> (<em><strong>Passerby, tell Poland that we have fallen faithful to its service<\/strong><\/em>).<\/p>\n<div class=\"foto_piedefoto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53598838450_14f6a65cc4_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"piedefoto\">An aerial view of the Monte Cassino Polish Military Cemetery (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/mapypamieci.ipn.gov.pl\/mp\/form\/r625720194466,Monte-Cassino-Polski-Cmentarz-wojskowy.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instytut Pami\u0119ci Narodowej<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p>At the top of the cemetery <strong>there is an obelisk built by Polish veterans<\/strong> in tribute to the soldiers of the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division. <strong>The names of the 1,115 fallen that that Division had in Italy appear on the obelisk<\/strong>, along with this text: <em>\"Za nasz\u0105 i wasz\u0105 wolno\u015b\u0107 my \u017co\u0142nierze polscy oddali\u015bmy Bogu shower, cia\u0142o ziemi w\u0142oskiej, a serca Polsce\"<\/em> (<em><strong>For our and your freedom, we Polish soldiers give our spirit to God<\/strong>, our body to the land of Italy and our heart to Poland<\/em>).<\/p>\n<div class=\"foto_piedefoto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53598379116_9929028555_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"piedefoto\">One of the two stone eagles that guard the entrance to the cemetery, the work of Duilio Cambelloti (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/mapypamieci.ipn.gov.pl\/mp\/form\/r625720194466,Monte-Cassino-Polski-Cmentarz-wojskowy.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instytut Pami\u0119ci Narodowej<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p><strong>In the cemetery there are Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim Poles<\/strong>. Not all of those buried there died during fighting in World War II. <strong> General W\u0142adys\u0142aw Anders, commander of the Polish Second Corps, asked before he died to be buried next to his fallen comrades in Montecasino<\/strong>, and his remains rest there today. Forty years later his wife, <strong> Irena Anders<\/strong>, who died on November 29, 2010, was buried next to him. She had been one of the first people to sing \"Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino\" during the war.<\/p>\n<div class=\"foto_piedefoto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53598838430_f4bf906eb8_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"piedefoto\">In the Monte Cassino Polish Military Cemetery there are more than 1,000 fallen from the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944 (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Cimitero_polacco_militare_di_Monte_Cassino_2010-by-RaBoe-22.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ra Boe<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p><strong>On the cemetery there is a large cross in the center of which is the White Eagle<\/strong>, the national coat of arms of Poland. In this sacred place two flags always fly: that of Italy, the country in which those heroes died, and that of Poland, the country for which they died. Between the two flags are <strong>the stone shields of the units that were part of the Second Polish Corps<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"foto_piedefoto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53598838420_ff9fefc32f_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"piedefoto\">Polish soldiers paying tribute to their fallen compatriots at the Polish Military Cemetery in Monte Cassino, on the occasion of the 78th anniversary of the battle (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.consolatopolonianapoli.com\/pl\/78-rocznica-bitwy-pod-monte-cassino\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Konsulat Honorowy RP w Neapolu dla Regionu Campania<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p><strong>I dedicate this entry to all the Polish soldiers who fell in the Battle of Montecasino<\/strong> in 1944.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><big2>Cze\u015b\u0107 ich pami\u0119ci!<\/big2><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">Honor to their memory!<\/p>\n<p>---<\/p>\n<p><small>Main photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pap.pl\/aktualnosci\/msza-na-polskim-cmentarzu-wojennym-na-monte-cassino\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PAP<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If we asked many Poles about a sacred place in Italy, perhaps they would not think of Rome and would remember a beautiful and tragic song.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19536,11549,16886],"tags":[21473,16685,21472,11680,21474,10370,10469,17789,9734,10389],"class_list":["post-55224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-we-said-yesterday","category-military-history","category-sacred-places","tag-3rd-carpathian-rifle-division","tag-battle-of-monte-cassino","tag-irena-anders","tag-italy","tag-monte-cassino-polish-military-cemetery","tag-poland","tag-polish-army","tag-polish-second-corps","tag-wladyslaw-anders","tag-world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55224\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}