On May 18, 1944, soldiers of the 2 Polish Corps hung the Polish flag on the ruins of the Monte Cassino monastery.
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.
“Poles! The hour of vengeance has come. Today die or prevail! Let us go, and let your breasts be Thermopylae for your enemies!”
