Monte Cassino
Introduction
I have written this paper to show the reader that this was an important battle of World War II. It might have been a turning point for the Germans because they had lost many battles before that. I do hope that the reader will enjoy this story.
Monte Cassino
Before Anzio, which was a beachhead, the Germans had to try to stop the Allies' advancement toward Rome. They turned to a monastery with the name of Monte Cassino. This monastery is [still] located between Naples and Rome on the Rapido River. To the Germans, it was an excellent military position with it's rocky and steep hillside. The monastery was 350 meters (383 yards) higher than the village. The distance between them was about 1500 yards (1372 meters) and there were many hills in between. The Germans soon had it under control. They fortified it with huge guns.
The first (Allied) objective was to try to cross the Rapido. It took at least a couple of weeks of preparation. Soon, all was in readiness. They used rubber boast or rafts to get across the river. On their way to it, many boats were hit by heavy artillery. Few boats and men were left when they reached the Rapido. The few who got across it dug into the rocky hillside. They stayed until they were killed by either lead or hunger.
The next attempts were made by the 141st and 143rd. The 141st was assigned south of Saint Angelo. That division was successful with the help of a smokescreen. The 143rd, who were attacking north of Saint Angelo were unsuccessful. They had crossed the river but were driven back across by heavy mortar and machine gun fire, those who could swim.
Soon after this bloody battle, the American's ammunition was running out and they could not radio for help because [their] radio had been knocked out in a mortar bombardment. By 4 o'clock that afternoon, it was all over. The 36th, which was a combination of the 141st and 143rd, had lost 2681 men, 875 of which were missing. The 36th, a great fighting force, had been reduced to a regiment.
Next, the Second New Zealand Corps tried its hand at tackling the Rapido. General Alexander explains, "It was clear that the Second New Zealand Corps (SNZC) would be obliged, not merely to debough through a gateway flung open for them, but to capture the gate themselves." The SNZC were made up of the 2nd New Zealand and the 4th Indian Divisions. [They would] later join up with the 78th British and the 1st US Armored Division. All these men combined kept going despite being cold and on half rations.
More fresh troops were sent in and their welcome [was] a heavy artillery bombardment.
Finally, the Allied commanders, who were using this as a last resort, decided to bomb the monastery. They did warn the Germans. Leaflets were dropped to the ground saying,
"We have until now been careful to avoid bombardment of Monte Cassino. The Germans have taken advantage of this. The battle is now closing more and more around the sacred precincts. Against our will, we are no obliged to direct our weapons against the monastery itself, We warn you so that you may save yourselves. Leave the monastery at once. This warning is urgent. It is given for your own good."
On 2 February 1944, a force of B-17 Flying Fortresses and 112 Mediums dropped 576 tons of explosives on the village [of Monte Cassino] and Monastery Hill.
Instead of surrendering, the Grermans kept fighting because they had the advantage of being camoflaged under the rubble. Now, it was a game of hide-and-seek.
The Allied Command again agreed on a bombing. There were twice as many B-17's and Mediums. They dropped 1400 tons of explosives.
The result was only a shaking of the already-knocked-down Monastery. After the bombing, the Allies tried again, and again were wiped out.
In May of 1944, a Polish brigade, under [the command of] General Anders, swept fearlessly through the town, charged forward under heavy fire, and captured Monte Cassino.
After they captured it, the Allies (what was left of them) went on, and ... met the soldiers who came from Anzio. [They] went on to liberate the Eternal City.
This, the battle of Monte Cassino, may be summed up in a paragraph Fred Majdalany: " Cassino, so costly in human life and suffering, and thus deprived at the last of full victory, that could have made it worthwhile, was in the end little more than a victory of the human spirit; elegy for the common soldier; a memorial to the definitive horror of war and the curiously perverse paradoxical nobility of battle."
Bibliography
- Battle of Cassino, The Fred Majdalany, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1957
- Men of Valor, Earl Schenck Miers, Rand McNally & Company, 1965
- Story of the Second World War, The, Katherine Savage, Henry Z. Walch, Inc., 1958
- Story of World War II, The, Robert Lechie, Random House, 1964
- Interview, Boleslaw A. Bobrowski, May 1967
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