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Polish Military Cemetery of Montecassino: where the heroes of the 1944 battle rest
On the hillside overlooking Montecassino Abbey, in the municipality of Cassino, 1,051 travertine crosses mark the graves of soldiers of the 2nd Polish Corps who fell in the battle of May 1944. The Polish Military Cemetery is the only war memorial close to the Abbey, which is visible from the terraces where the fallen rest. The cemetery has always been entrusted to the care of the Benedictine monks.
The battle and the sacrifice
Between 11 and 18 May 1944, Polish soldiers stormed Monte Calvario, the hill 593 metres a.s.l. that commanded access to the monastery, and German positions entrenched on the surrounding heights. On the morning of 18 May they raised their flag over the ruins of the abbey. They paid with over a thousand lives lost. On 1 September 1945, exactly six years after the Nazi invasion of Poland, the cemetery was inaugurated in the presence of the Polish government in exile.
What to see today
At the entrance, an inscription on the floor welcomes visitors. The graves are arranged in terraces rising upward; they include that of General Władysław Anders, who died in London in 1970 but was buried here according to his own wishes. Eighteen Stars of David recall the fallen of Jewish origin. Since 2014, the Memorial Museum, designed by Pietro Rogacień, the son of a veteran, tells the story of the 2nd Corps through photographs, uniforms, mementos and archival footage.
