The Polish Corps II was the largest tactical unit of the Polish Armed Forces in the West. Its battles have become legendary and its commander, General Władysław Anders, is regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century Polish history.

At the Anglo-American Quebec Conference (August 11-24 1943), during which the forthcoming invasions of France and Italy were discussed, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to send the Polish Corps II to Italy. Churchill wrote, ‘The time has come to bring the Polish troops into the Mediterranean theater. The men wish to fight. The intention is to use them immediately.’

In 1944, Polish Corps II was transferred from the Middle East, where they had been completing military training, to Italy and became part of the British 8th Army under General Oliver Leese. British soldiers willingly acknowledged the fighting spirit of the Poles, one officer recounting that ‘of their resolve there was no doubt […] they seem to know no fear.’

In May, the corps moved up to Monte Cassino, and here, the Poles proved their worth in capturing the abbey and penetrating the German defenses, a defense that had not been broken despite three earlier assaults and heavy bombing. To Polish soldiers, who had been roaming Russia, the Middle East and, now, Italy for almost five years since the initial defeat and subjugation of their country and people, the Battle of Monte Cassino was an opportunity to confront a hated enemy and regain their honor.

Władysław Anders was the commanding officer of the Polish Army in the Middle East and Italy during World War II. He was born on August 11, 1892 in Błonie, sixty miles west of Warsaw, which was then in the Russian sector of partitioned Poland, to a family of landed gentry.

Before World War II

Anders completed six semesters at Riga Polytechnic, a technical institute in Latvia, then part of Imperial Russia. In 1917, he graduated from General Staff Academy in St. Petersburg. The February Revolution, which ended the 500 years of autocratic rule in Russia, saw Anders in Romania, where he served as chief of staff of the 7th Rifle Division. During the Polish-Bolshevik war 1919-1920, a conflict between Soviet Russia and Poland, Anders commanded the 15th Poznań Uhlans Regiment.  Anders left Poland between 1921 and 1923 to study at the War College in Paris, France, and on his return to Poland, he became a staff officer at the General Cavalry Executive and in January 1934, Anders was promoted to brigadier general. 

Anders During World War II

In September 1939, after Germany invaded Poland, Anders commanded the Novgorod Cavalry Brigade operating within the “Modlin Army”, one the Polish armies that were part of the Polish defense against German invasion. He was wounded while fighting against the Soviet army, which had also invaded Poland by then. 

Soviet Capture, Release and Anders’ Army

On September 29, 1939, Anders was detained by the Soviets and was imprisoned for twenty-two months. Surviving a brutal captivity, he was only released from prison after the outbreak of hostilities between Germans and Soviets. Anders was promoted to division general and appointed commander of the Polish Army in the Soviet Union.

Much to the displeasure of the Soviet leaders, Anders issued an order encouraging all newly-released Polish citizens, who had been detained under the Soviet regime to make their way to camps set up for them. 

This new Polish military force continued to grow as more Poles arrived, and it became known as Anders’ Army. In 1942, the Soviet Union transported Polish troops, including civilians, to Iran under an agreement with Britain and the Polish government-in-exile. General Anders ensured no Polish citizen was left behind and organized the evacuation to Iran. Around 41,000 troops and 74,000 civilians were evacuated, but many Poles were later declared Soviet citizens by Joseph Stalin and faced forced labor or service in the Red Army.

While in Iran, Anders’ Army officially became the Polish Corps II, and it is during this period that the Corps found Wojtek the Bear. After training in Palestine, the Corps was transported to Italy in December 1943 and soon saw its first combat along the Gustav Line. The line was a 100-miles long chain of fortified positions that stretched from the Garigliano River, through Monte Cassino to the mouth of the Sangro River.

After Polish Prime Minister Władysław Sikorski died on July 4, 1943, Anders became the new focus of Polish nationalistic pride, an inspiration to his countrymen and a military leader whose ability commanded respect.

Battle of Monte Cassino

On May 11, 1944, the Polish Corps II launched its part of the attack in the fourth attempt to take Monte Cassino. During the battle, Anders continually adjusted tactics after the first assault on Monte Cassino so that the artillery would continue supporting Polish infantry until the objective was taken. His tactics were extremely effective and Polish and British armor captured Monte Cassio and several other key locations in the days after the battle. 

Anders after World War II

After the war, in 1946 the Soviet-installed communist government in Poland deprived him of Polish citizenship and of his military rank. He remained in exile in Britain, unwilling to return to a Soviet dominated Poland where he most likely would have been imprisoned or executed. Anders died in London on May 12, 1970 and he is buried at the Polish War Cemetery at Monte Cassino.

Wojtek was a 500-to-600 pound Syrian brown bear, whose name means a warrior to whom combat brings joy, that was essentially adopted by the 22nd Transport Company’s Artillery Division in Polish Corps II.

Some sources say that on April 8, 1942, Wotjek was discovered in the mountains of Iran by a group of Polish prisoners who were being transported from a Siberian gulag through the Middle East. Other sources detail a young Iranian (then, Persian) boy carrying the bear who sold him to the soldiers for a few cans of corned beef.

One of the soldiers who looked after him once wrote, “[Wotjek] would accept lit cigarettes, take a puff and swallow them.” “He loved to drink from a beer bottle; when it was empty, he would look through the opening to see where the rest of the beer was.”

Wojtek wasn’t much of a warrior, but he was officially adopted into the army. There are many stories of how the small brown bear provided entertainment for the troops.  One such story tells of how the bear would chase after oranges that the men used for grenade practice or of how Wojtek would steal cigarettes from soldiers and swallow them whole.

During the Battle of Monte Cassino, Wojtek was seen on the front lines carrying what was presumed to be live ammunition to help load guns, though others report that the bear was really just carrying empty ammo crates and used shells.

At the end of World War II, Wojtek’s fate was uncertain. His caretakers did not want him to return to Poland, fearful that the bear would be used as a symbol for communism. He ended up in Hutton, Scotland, where he lived with other former Polish fighters who lived there temporarily after the war.

Wojtek died in 1963, partly from damage to his esophagus, likely due to swallowing so many cigarettes while fighting with his comrades during the war.

After more than two months of fighting, including three major offensives, the Allies had failed to capture Monte Cassino and breach the Gustav Line. On March 24, General Anders agreed that the II Corps would launch a fourth assault to capture the Monte Cassino massif and the abbey, knowing that victory would bring attention to Poland’s cause. Thanks to aerial reconnaissance, Anders learned that the Germans’ defense consisted of two rings connected so as to form a figure of eight. One ring ran from Massa Albaneta, Phantom Ridge, Colle Sant’ Angelo to Albaneta Farm; the other from Massa Albaneta to Colle D’Onofrio and included Monastery Hill. The system was designed so that every soldier could aim their weapon anywhere inside their ring. Anders determined that each division would attack a separate bastion point in each ring before attempting the climb to the monastery: Point 593 and Colle Sant’ Angelo.

The Polish troops moved into position on the night of April 23-24 during which they faced heavy German barrage. Over the next eighteen days, the Poles waited as other Allied forces moved slowly into position to prepare to support the Polish assault. On May 12, Polish infantry made their first attack on Point 593. Though they briefly held it, German counter attacks pushed them back with heavy losses. But on May 17, they renewed the assault and captured Pont 593 and Colle Sant’ Angelo. The following morning the Germans evacuated the monastery and the Poles hoisted the Polish flag over the old abbey. In the bloody battle, 72 officers and 788 other ranks were killed, but the Gustav Line had been broken and the road to Rome was open.