Battle of Monte Cassino
On January 17, 1944, the Allies launched one of the longest and bloodiest fights of the Italian campaign – the Battle of Monte Cassino.
Although Italy had surrendered on September 3, 1943, Germany was determined to fight for control of the Italian mainland. In a series of head-on assaults, the Allies slowly battled their way up the Italian peninsula to Monte Cassino, 75 miles south of Rome.
Their efforts were slowed by bad weather, difficult terrain, and the tough German defense, particularly by General Kesselring’s German forces at the Gustav Line. Fighting in the first stage of the Battle of Monte Cassino began on January 17, 1944, with British troops attacking the Germans across a 20-mile-wide front along the coast.
The Allies launched another attack two days later, and as a result, the Germans called in additional support from Rome to reinforce their defenses. Fighting continued for several weeks with the Allies gaining ground, but they were unable to keep it.
While that fighting was going on, the Allies launched Operation Shingle, landing 36,000 men at Anzio on January 22, 1944. Surprising the Germans from behind, the Allied forces were met with little opposition. However, rather than pushing forward, they attempted to further reinforce their position, allowing Kesselring time to develop a powerful counteroffensive which kept the Allies pinned down at Anzio for four long months.
Meanwhile, Allied leaders believed the Germans had set up observation posts at the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino. It was a site of cultural and historic importance, so they didn’t want to rush to bomb it. However, some reasoned that if the Germans weren’t already using it, they should bomb it to prevent them from doing so. So in February, the order to bomb the historic abbey of Monte Cassino was approved. It was shelled for two days and most of the abbey lay in ruins. After that the Germans took over the monastery, fulfilling the Allied fears.
After two more failed attempts at penetrating the Gustav Line, the Allies created Operation Diadem. This deployed British, American, French, New Zealand, South African, and Polish forces in surrounding areas aimed at forcing the German retreat. Though the fighting was fierce, victory was achieved within a week. On May 18, Polish troops secured the mountaintop monastery at Monte Cassino.
This success allowed the Allies to reach Rome and free it on June 4. General Clark, who was at the forefront recalls, “There were gay crowds in the streets, many of them waving flags… Flowers were stuck in the muzzles of the soldiers’ rifles and of the guns on the tanks. Many Romans seemed to be on the verge of hysteria in their enthusiasm for the American troops .…” The fall of Rome marked the final phase of the war. Two days later, Eisenhower’s forces landed in Normandy.
The hard-fought Battle of Monte Cassino was an important victory leading to the breakthrough to Rome. Despite its success, the battle had a high number of casualties – 55,000 Allies and 20,000 Germans.
Click here for a neat video about the battle.
Click here to see what else happened on This Day in History.
I thought that the PT boat was only used in the Pacific theater.
Correct me if I’m wrong
Thank you
So many lives lost on both sides. If only the world leaders had stopped Hitler and the Nazi’s when they first heard his message of hate and desire for world dominance. Churchill knew he should not be trusted early on but Neville Chamberlain’s attempt to appease Hitler in 1938 has been proven by history to have been a failure. And prior to that we can look to the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 ending World War I whose terms lead to resentment in Germany that Hitler seized upon to rise to power. Thankfully after WW II the Marshall Plan was implemented and the German people can be proud of their nations place on the world stage today.
Thank you Mystic Stamp for this informative info on WW 11. Monte Cassino was just a place in my memory that I knew very little about. Being mostly Italian and a bit German in my ancestry I forget that in my lifetime they were enemies of the USA.
Thank you also Bond, James Bond for your interesting commentaries. I learn and enjoy them too.
Unstated in in this account is how Mark Clark ignored orders to block the main road to the north which might have prevented most of the Germans from heading into northern Italy. There for the next year the remaining Allied troops engaged in a slow slugfest up the remainder of the Italian boot towards the Alps. Instead, Clark sent most of his troops barreling towards Rome so he could have the glory of taking the Eternal City.
so true. Clark was an incompetent commander whose actions cost way too many lives.
Churchill referred to Italy as the “soft underbelly’ of Nazi held Europe. As this article points out, it was anything but. Not mentioned in the article is the valiant participation of the all Japanese-American division-the 442, nickname, the “Go for Broke” division.” These soldiers had volunteered to fight for America in this segregated unit despite the fact that most of them had relatives that had been rounded up and forced to live in so-called “relocation” camps. Many were killed or grievously wounded including former Senator Daniel Inouye (1924-2012) of Hawaii.
I lost a great uncle at Anzio because of the poor leadership after the beachhead was secured. There were so many errors in this campaign which need to be addressed.
Thank you for all these comments.