The last battle of the Polish soldiers on the Italian front. The last battle of the II Corps in Italy. After fierce combats in the northern part of the Italian Peninsula, Polish soldiers triumphantly entered Bologna. The citizens welcomed them with flowers and joyful shout-outs. The suprise of the American soldiers must have been great when they entered the city two hours later only to realize, that it had already been liberated!

It was a great success of the allied forces with huge Polish participation. However, for the II Corps it was at the same time the end of their war route. In order to prevent Polish troops from meeting the Red Army operating in Yugoslavia, the allied leaders stopped further Polish actions.

To commemorate the victorious fights and the liberation of Bologna from the German occupation, the authorities of the city decorated Polish soldiers with the 215 medals Al liberatori che primi entrarono in Bologna 21 Aprile 1945 – per benem erenza (For the liberators in acknowledgment of  entering the Bologna as first on 21 April 1945) and 17 commanders of the 9th Carpathian Rifle Brigade (which was soon being called “Bolognese”) received an honorary citizenship.