Red Poppies

Red poppies soaked in Polish blood at Monte Cassino

On May 18, 1944, soldiers of General Władysław Anders' Polish II Corps captured the Monte Cassino monastery after ferocious fighting, breaking the Gustav Line guarding the road to Rome. The Poles paid the ultimate price — over a thousand killed and four thousand wounded — to plant the white-and-red flag on the abbey's ruins. The red poppies watered with Polish blood became an eternal symbol of that sacrifice.