A friend of mine sent me this link to a song about a battle in World War II you might know. She and her family emigrated from Poland after World War II through a rather complicated route to the United States. If you do know of the battle, you are probably not aware of the part Polish troops played in the battle for Monte Cassino. Monte Cassino was and after rebuilding still is an Abby. It was a strong point in what was called the Winter Line in 1944. Because of this religious significance, the allies did not want to destroy it. After losing many men trying to take Monte Cassino, the allies relented and destroyed it in a bombing. It remained a strong point even after the bombing for the Germans. I think most people are not aware of the fact that the Polish people who were not trapped in Poland after the 1939 invasion by Germany as well as their scientists greatly aided the war effort. Polish troops were in the North African Campaign before the Monte Cassino and Italy and on to the end of the war. The third-largest cause of casualties in World War II was landmines. A Polish inventor, Jozef Kosacki, invented a reliable and inexpensive way of detecting mines. His detector saved many lives.
This song is on YouTube. Its address is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAfizXfIXWo. Use the captioning feature so you can see the lyrics of the song in English. Down in the lower right-hand corner of the video is a little box and in are two letters, CC. Click on it and you will see the English subtitles as the song plays.
