The 4 battles of Monte Cassino were disastrous. The abbey was destroyed and the Allies took 3 times the casualties of the Germans but took the abbey ruins and then Rome. Among the Allies were Americans, New Zealanders, French Algerians, British, and free Poles, whose story we will tell. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This stamp remembered the Polish participation in the Battle of Monte Cassino 40 years later. There would not have been a stamp on the 10th anniversary. The first position of the communist government was not to honor the service of the free Polish forces in the later campaigns against the Germans. The free thing was the issue, many of these veterans did not return to Poland ruled by communists. Eventually a good story will be told though and many nations tried to climb that hill over several months and it was the Poles who made it to the top.
Todays stamp is issue A826, a 15 Zloty stamp issued by Poland on May 18th, 1984 on the 40th anniversary of the taking of the ruins of the abbey. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.
The abbey of Monte Cassino was built in 529AD. In 1943, Italy was occupied by Germany after the Royal government deposed Mussolini and changed sides. The allies had landed in Sicily and were slowly pushing north. The Germans set up a defensive Gustav Line that took advantage of mountains and a river in order to defend the approaches to Rome. The Abby itself was not occupied by the Germans, it was already an historic site, and the Germans had assisted in relocating the abbeys treasures to Vatican City. As a stone edifice at the top of a high mountain it still became a symbol of what stood between the Allies and Rome. First the abbey was heavily bombed by the allies but at that point it only held Italian civilians seeking refuge. That does not mean the Germans were not elaborately emplaced with strong artillery support. The first two assaults were carried out by Americans who suffered horrible losses. At that point the Americans were poorly lead and had little fighting experience. The third assault was by the British and as per their usual, many of their troops were from their Empire, including New Zealanders and Gurkhas. The Free French in the form of their colonial Algerians and Moroccans took part. Some progress was made but the British did not follow through on gains.
By now the Germans were evacuating Rome and withdrawing their army intact to the new Spengler line further north. It fell upon the British and the Poles fighting alongside for the final assault on the Monte Cassino abbey. The mountain had now been fought over for many months that spring and allies looking up at it marveled at the red poppies that sprang fourth every morning with the dew. This inspired the Polish song written the night before the final assault by Alfred Shutz and quoted in translation in the title of this piece. The assault cost the Poles 1000 men but they were the first to reach the summit. Only 20 Germans were captured that were too wounded to move. Rome fell without a fight to Americans a few weeks later.
I mentioned that many of the Polish veterans did not return to Poland under the communists. Alfred Shutz was among them settling and marrying in Munich post war. When he died without heirs, the rights to the song passed to the German state of Bavaria. That was awkward, but the state than gifted the song to the modern Polish government in 2009.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the soldiers on all sides who fought near Monte Cassino. The allied assaults were poorly planned with little follow through with the bombing of the Abbey itself a militarily useless tragedy. The Germans for there part commited their reserves too early that made it harder to hold Rome. The Italians themselves were no shows. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019