Our journey continues to rediscover symbolic places of the Second World War. The Polish cemetery of Casamassima (in Polish polski cmentarz wojenny w Casamassima) is one of the four military cemeteries in Italy where the soldiers of the 2nd Army Corps rest.
On 4 May 1944, a few days before the Polish attack in the Battle of Monte Cassino, a military hospital was set up in Casamassima (BA) for the treatment of the soldiers of the 2nd Polish Army Corps who fought between 1943 and 1945 in close to the Gustav line first and the Gothic line after.
Most of the injured came from the Cassinate area where soldiers in need of care were transported both with ambulances and with air connections to the Gioia del Colle airport terminal. The soldiers were distributed from the 6th Polish Military Hospital of Venafro to Campobasso, Casamassima and Palagiano.
The center had 1200 beds but during the bloodiest phases of hostilities around two thousand soldiers were welcomed monthly.
Not far from the hospital, the first cemetery was built where the war dead were buried. In addition to this, two temporary graveyards were opened near Cassino: one in Acquafondata, intended for the departments of the 5tha Kresowa infantry division and San Vittore del Lazio for the 3nameivision of the Carpathian riflemen.
The Polish military cemetery of Casamassima has a rectangular plan divided by avenues that intersect in the shape of a cross. The central point of the cemetery is the altar with the image of Our Lady of the Vilnius Gate of Dawn. Below the painting is the inscription “ne vi ius opprimatur fortiter et nobilitier ceciderunt” (Not destroyed by the force of law, fallen bravely and nobly). At the main entrance you can see the coats of arms of the 2nd Polish Army Corps, the dates 1943 – 1946 and the writing good, certain, certain, fidem, preserved – ideo reposita est mihi corona iustitiae “I have fought the good fight, I have finished my race, I have kept the faith. Now all I have left is the crown of justice"1.
The cemetery houses 429 tombs, distributed all together, without distinction of religion. The Christian graves with their stone cross, the Orthodox graves bearing the double cross, the Muslim graves with the symbol of the moon and the star and the Jewish graves with the Star of David.
1 cit. Second letter of Saint Paul to Timothy
Photo: F. Cristantielli
