The Polish Post has issued a postage stamp commemorating the Anders Army combat route, which is to remind about the fate of Polish soldiers on three continents and the accompanying hope to return home.
Andrzej Gosik’s project shows Polish soldiers pulling boxes of ammunition to Monte Cassino Hill. In the background, you can see the profile of their commander, General Władysław Anders. The envelopes on the first day show the Anders Army trail (this year’s issue is devoted to the episode located on the Apennine Peninsula) and soldiers on St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, who stayed there several days after the occupation of Rome by the Allied troops. In the design of the postal date stamp, the graphics presented red poppies – associated for all Poles with Monte Cassino and a song by Feliks Konarski.
This year, 80 years have passed since the beginning of the formation of the Polish Army in the East, which was composed mostly of residents of the Eastern Borderlands of the Second Polish Republic, including soldiers who were captured by the Soviets after the USSR’s aggression against Poland on September 17, 1939. In 1942, they were evacuated to Iran and then went on a combat trail during the Italian campaign.