On May 18, 1944, soldiers of the 2 Polish Corps hung the Polish flag on the ruins of the Monte Cassino monastery.
On 24 March 1942, the first stage of the evacuation of the soldiers serving in the so-called Anders Army from the Soviet Union to Persia began. About 78,000 exiles, who joined the Polish army and 37 thousand civilians, including about 18,000 Polish children were evacuated in total.
Helena Grodecka-Możdżeniowa, was one of about 90,000 victims of the third great deportation, which began on 29 June 1940. Most of those deported were refugees from the German occupation, mostly Jews. Poles accounted for about 11 per cent.
On April 3,1940, the first “death transport” of Polish prisoners of war set off from the Kozelsk camp.
On 4 February 1940 (presumably!), Nikolai Yezhov, one of the cruellest perpetrators of Stalinist terror, was executed.
On the night of 6 to 7 July (24/25 June old style) 1866, 5,000 kilometres east of their homeland, a group of January insurgents sent to Baikal for penal labour stirred up a rebellion, disarmed their guards and tried to forge an escape route to Mongolia.
