The battle for Monte Cassino was a crowning victory for the Allies in Italy but, it was bought with the blood of thousands of Poles in Gen. Wladyslaw Anders' 2nd Polish Corps. The abbey was pulverized by Allied bombers. But, the heralded "Unconquerable Gustave Line" was still controlled by the elite German 1st Parachute Division until the Poles dislodged the Nazi forces and raised the red and white Polish flag atop the mount at 10:20 a.m. May 18, 1944. When the battle was over, the hillside was covered with red poppies made all the brighter red by the blood of Polish soldiers. As reported by Maria Jaworska in an earlier Am-Pol Eagle feature, 923 Polish soldiers died in the battle, almost 3,000 were wounded and 145 are still missing in that action.