The Red Poppies on Monte Cassino

In early 1944 a German stronghold, dug in at the ancient Benedictine monastery atop Monte Cassino, had blocked the Allies' advance toward Rome.

[3] Two opening stanzas were written at that time by Feliks Konarski ("Ref-ren" — "Refrain"), a poet and songwriter and soldier of the Polish II Corps commanded by Major General Władysław Anders.

[5] The Red Poppies on Monte Cassino won popularity with the troops and was soon published by a Polish-American newspaper in New York.

[6] It was banned, however, during the Stalinist period in the People's Republic of Poland, when the government sought to minimize memory of the wartime Polish Armed Forces in the West.

In 2015 a further attempt was made by the Polish Consulate General in Munich and on 15 September 2015 Bavaria renounced all rights to the song and melody, which were transferred to Poland.