The battle took place in the spring 1944, when the Allies were liberating Italy from the Germans. The ally forces were advancing from the south towards Rome and the hill Monte Cassino, with the famous monastery, was a part of the Gustav Line, a fortified zone formed by German forces nearby Rome. Due to its strategic location, the hill was a very important deffensive point so the possibility of continuing moving forward by the Allies depended on its capturing.
So the ally forces focused just on capturing the hill, but it turned out to be very difficult. Not only British and American, but also New Zealand, Moroccan and Indian units tried to occupy the fortified hills and the town Cassino, but none of them could do that.
Only the Polish II Corps commanded by Lieutenant General Władysław Anders managed to capture the hill on May 17, and after bloody fighting thanks to unparalleled heroism of Polish soldiers the Gustav Line finally collapsed.
During the fighting in the Monte Cassino area 924 Polish soldiers were fallen, 2930 were hurt and 345 were reported as missing. After the end of the war, a polish military cemetery was developed nearby Monte Cassino, where also Anders, after his death in 1970, was buried (he wanted to rest among his soldiers).
In Poland, during the socialist times, the role of Anders' army soldiers was marginalized, but today they are honoured as great heroes. By the end of the communist era it became even possible to put up a monument to them in Zabrze. The monument, designed by a sculptor from Katowice, Zygmunt Brachmański, was unveiled in 1992, just after the overthrow of communism and was the first memorial commemorating the Monte Cassino soldiers in Poland. It commemorates 59 soldiers fallen in the Monte Cassino area, which came from the Upper Silesian region.