The Polish Military Cemetery at Casamassima, was established in

Casamassima Casamassima ( Barese: ) is a town and ''comune'' of 19,786 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Bari, in Apulia, southern Italy. Is also called "The Blue Town". The town is located inland from the Italian coastline, thrives and is built on agr ...

, near Bari, in southern Italy, where there are about 431 graves of Polish soldiers and officers of the

2nd Polish Corps The Polish II Corps ( pl, Drugi Korpus Wojska Polskiego), 1943–1947, was a major tactical and operational unit of the Polish Armed Forces in the West during World War II. It was commanded by Lieutenant General Władysław Anders and fought wit ...

who died between 1944 and 1945. This small cemetery, mostly "Italian" in style, with decorative trees, is typical of the

Mediterranean region In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and wa ...

and is located among surrounding

vineyards A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

. Set in the middle of the cemetery, is an altar with the inscription: ''Heroes, not broken by the force of law — bravely and nobly died.'' Combatants who are buried there either died on the

Gustav Line The Winter Line was a series of German and Italian military fortifications in Italy, constructed during World War II by Organisation Todt and commanded by Albert Kesselring. The series of three lines was designed to defend a western section of ...

on the

Sangro River The Sangro is a river in eastern central Italy, known in ancient times as Sagrus from the Greek ''Sagros'' or ''Isagros'', ''Ισαγρος''. It rises in the middle of Abruzzo National Park near Pescasseroli in the Apennine Mountains. It flows ...

, or had been wounded there or at

Battle of Monte Cassino The Battle of Monte Cassino, also known as the Battle for Rome and the Battle for Cassino, was a series of four assaults made by the Allies against German forces in Italy during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The ultimate objective was ...

, and or had died either in hospitals in

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. The commander of the Westerplatte Garrison at the

Battle of Westerplatte The Battle of Westerplatte was the first battle of the German invasion of Poland, marking the start of World War II in Europe. It occurred on the Westerplatte peninsula in the harbour of the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland). In the mi ...

, Major Henryk Sucharski was buried there when he died in 1946. At the entrance gate, visitors are reminded of the words of Paul, the Apostle of Nations: ''I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith...''II Timothy 4:7. During one of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski's visits to Italy, on 4 June 1957, he visited the cemetery at Casamassima. He spoke the following words during this visit, expressing his great respect for their dedication to their homeland: The cemetery is maintained by the municipality of

and the Polish Honorary Consul General in

, Italy. In addition to soldiers from the 2nd Polish Corps, the Cemetery contains the remains of 15 members of the Polish Air Force, members of the 1586 Special Operations Flight, operating supply drops to Poland from the RAF base at Brindisi. They were the crews aboard Liberators BZ589 and BZ949.

External links

Location Map of the Polish Military Cemetery at Casamassima

* ttps://www.panoramio.com/photo/25608929 5 photos of the Polish Military Cemetery at Casamassima or Cimitero Militare Polacco di Casamassima* Article about the Polish Military Cemetery at Casamassima (in Polish) on the Polish Wikipedia. with the quote by Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński.
List of Polish airmen AircrewRemembered.com

References

{{Reflist War cemeteries in Italy Metropolitan City of Bari

Poland in World War II Italy–Poland relations

External links

See also

References