The 2nd Infantry Rifle Division, commanded by General Bronislaw Prugar-Ketling, took part in the fighting against the Germans in France in June 1940. Between 18 and 19 June 1940, it fought in the areas of Maîche, Damprichard and Saint-Hyppolite. After running out of ammunition, the division was ordered to withdraw to Switzerland, where its soldiers, numbering around 13,000, were interned until the end of the Second World War. They stayed in the camps that were set up, working in road and bridge construction, agriculture, industry and other sectors of the Swiss economy, and had the opportunity to study.

Nine soldiers of the 2nd DSP who died between 1941 and 1945 are buried in the Madretsch municipal cemetery in Biel (Bienne). Their graves were decommissioned in the 1970s. However, the area remained undeveloped and overgrown with grass. The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Bern took the initiative to build a memorial at the site in 2023, which was welcomed by the municipal authorities of the city of Biel. This commemoration was designed and executed by the sculptor Romuald Polachowski, son of a soldier of the Second Rifle Division. The construction was financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

The monument has the form of a 140 cm high obelisk made of Tessinian granite. Its essential element is a bronze plaque with an inscription containing 9 names of the soldiers buried here and a divisional eagle, also made of bronze.

The text on the plaque is as follows: "IN HONOUR OF THE DECEASED SOLDIERS OF THE 2ND POLISH RIFLE DIVISION / ZU EHREN DER VERSTORBENEN SOLDATEN DER 2. POLNISCHEN SCHÜTZENDIVISION / KAN. STEFAN BEDNAREK 1907 - 1941 / STRZ. STANISŁAW DROB 1906 - 1945 / CAN. STANISŁAW JAKUBOWSKI 1909 - 1944 / STRZ. IGNACY KOCH 1920 - 1941 / STRZ. FRANCISZEK NIECZYPOR 1909 - 1943 / FIREF. MARIAN FIVER 1897 - 1942 / CAN. JAN PLEWIŃSKI 1920 - 1943 / ENSIGN. WŁADYSŁAW ZIEMIŃSKI 1899 - 1943 / PLUT. TADEUSZ ŻUREK 1914 - 1943".