

Władysław DABROWSKI
Polish 2nd Corps
15th Poznań Lancers Regiment
Władysław was born in Warsaw in 1924, but he was raised in Nowogródek in eastern Poland. Because his father was a State Police officer, in April 1940, the family was forcibly deported by the Russians to Kazakhstan, where Władysław was forced to work as a tractor driver.
In the fall of 1942, when ‘amnesty’ was declared for the deported Poles, Władysław made his way to the southern USSR to join the Polish Army being formed there. He served as a tank driver in the 15th Poznań Lancers Regiment from December 1943.This unit was particularly special to General Anders, because he led it in the Polish-Bolshevik war.
The Lancers trained in Egypt, where they exchanged armoured cars for tanks. They eventually embarked for Italy and fought at Monte Cassino and Ancona, on the Got Line, and in the Emilian Apennines.
Occupying a key position on the German Army’s defensive Winter Line, Monte Cassino withstood successive Allied attempts to capture it, starting in January 1944.
Reduced to rubble by Allied bombing and artillery, the monastery was finally taken by the men of the 2nd Polish Corps on May 18 after savage fighting.
It's unbelievable that they were attacking on a steep hill, 5,000 feet high, and going almost straight upwards. But the Poles did it, and eventually, the Polish flag was hoisted on the abbey.
The battle claimed the lives of 923 Polish soldiers, and left 2,931 wounded, and 345 missing.
Władysław was awarded the Cross of Valour, the Monte Cassino Cross, and a number of other medals. In 1947, Władysław Antoni Dabrowski returned to Poland. He settled in Gdansk, on the so-called "Recovered Lands", where he still lives today, having just celebrated his 100th birthday!
Copyright: The Dabrowski family