Feliks Konarski (pseudonym: Ref-Ren) was a Polish song-writer and cabaret performer. A pseudonym (Greek pseudo + -onym: false name) is an artificial, fictitious name, also known as an alias, used by an individual as an alternative to a persons true name. ... A songwriter is someone who writes either the lyrics or the music for songs. ... Cabaret is a form of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue — a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting around the tables (often dining or drinking) watching the performance. ...

During World War II, Konarski served with General Władysław Anders' Polish Second Corps in Italy. There, on the eve of the Poles' victorious storming of Monte Cassino, he wrote the unforgettable and moving anthem, Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino (The Red Poppies on Monte Cassino). This song, set to music by Alfred Schuetz, became his most famous composition, served to maintain his compatriots' spirits in one of Poland's darkest hours, and after the war was banned in Poland under communist rule. Combatants Allied Powers: United Kingdom France Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Axis Powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Charles de Gaulle Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33... WÅ‚adysÅ‚aw Anders Lt. ... The restored Abbey Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about eighty miles (130 km) south of Rome, Italy, a mile to the west of the town of Cassino (the Roman Cassinum having been on the hill) and about 1700 ft (520 m) altitude. ...