Join Professor Norman Davies as he explores the untold story of the Polish Second Corps of the Polish Armed Forces during the Second World War in a video lecture we produced for the Chelsea History Festival.


The Polish Second Corps, which fought under British command in the Italian Campaign of 194345, is best remembered for its heroic capture of the Abbey of Monte Cassino. But the details of its formation under General Anders in Russia and of its amazing feat of making its way to Italy via Iran, Iraq and Palestine, are less known.

Norman Davies recounts the remarkable odyssey of the 'Anders Army' and some of its more colourful members including the extraordinary women draiverki, the Jewish soldiers who joined the Zionist underground, and Wojciech the Bear.