Battle of Monte Cassino
In the early months of 1944, German forces anchored the western half of the Winter Line along the Rapido-Gari, Liri, and Garigliano valleys. These features formed the Gustav Line, a formidable defensive barrier south of Rome. Monte Cassino, a historic hilltop abbey founded in 529 by Benedict of Nursia, dominated the town below and the valley entrances. Although the Germans initially left the abbey unoccupied, they manned positions on the slopes beneath its walls. Repeated artillery attacks on Allied troops led commanders to incorrectly conclude that the abbey served as an observation post for the enemy. Fears escalated alongside rising casualties, and despite evidence to the contrary, the site was marked for destruction.
The first assault began on the 17th of January 1944 when British X Corps crossed the Garigliano River near the coast. The main central thrust by U.S. II Corps commenced three hours after sunset on the 20th of January with the 36th Infantry Division attempting to cross the swollen Gari river downstream of Cassino. A battalion of the 143rd Infantry Regiment managed to get across the Gari on the south side of San Angelo, but they were isolated and lacked armored support. By mid-morning of the 21st of January, the southern group was forced back across the river. Keyes pressed Walker to renew the attack immediately, but once again, the two regiments attacked with no more success against the well-dug-in 15th Panzergrenadier Division. The 141st Infantry Regiment also crossed in two battalion strength, yet by the evening of the 22nd of January, it had virtually ceased to exist with only 40 men making it back to Allied lines. Rick Atkinson described the intense German resistance as a costly failure where the 36th Division lost 2,100 men killed, wounded, and missing in just 48 hours.
On the 15th of February 1944, Allied bombers dropped 1,400 tonnes of high explosives on the abbey, reducing the entire summit of Monte Cassino to a smoking mass of rubble. Major General Francis Tuker concluded that bombing with blockbuster bombs would be the only solution since 1,000-pound bombs were next to useless. From every investigation that followed, it is certain that the only people killed in the monastery by the bombing were 230 Italian civilians seeking refuge there. There is no evidence that the bombs dropped on the Monte Cassino monastery that day killed any German troops. After artillery barrages and renewed bombing, the monks decided to leave their ruined home at 07:30 on the 17th of February. One monk, Carlomanno Pellagalli, returned to the abbey; when he was later seen wandering the ruins, the German paratroopers thought he was a ghost. Following its destruction, paratroopers of the German 1st Parachute Division occupied the ruins and turned them into a fortress and observation post.
The third battle began the 15th of March after a bombardment of 750 tonnes of 1,000-pound bombs with delayed action fuses lasting three and a half hours. The New Zealanders advanced behind a creeping artillery barrage of 746 artillery pieces. Success depended on taking advantage of the paralysing effect of the bombing, but the defences rallied more quickly than expected. Torrents of rain flooded bomb craters, turning rubble into a morass and blotting out communications. On the 19th of March, a surprise attack by tanks of the 20th Armoured Regiment working along an old logging road was completely disrupted by a fiercely pressed counter-attack from the monastery. By the end of the 17th of March, the Gurkhas held Hangman's Hill in battalion strength, yet their lines of supply were compromised by German positions at point 236. The Allied offensive was again called off on the 22nd of March after repeated unsuccessful assaults left both sides exhausted.
On the 18th of May, soldiers from the Polish II Corps launched one of the final assaults on the German defensive position as part of a twenty-division assault along a thirty-two-kilometre front. In the early hours of the 18th of May, the British 78th Division and Polish II Corps linked up in the Liri valley west of Cassino town. A patrol of the Polish 12th Podolian Cavalry Regiment finally made it to the heights and raised a Polish flag over the ruins. The only remnants of the defenders were a group of thirty German wounded who had been unable to move. Following this Allied victory, the German Senger Line collapsed on the 25th of May, and the German defenders were driven from their positions. The capture of Monte Cassino resulted in 55,000 Allied casualties, with German losses estimated at around 20,000 killed and wounded.
The town of Cassino was completely razed by air and artillery bombardments, especially during the air raid of the 15th of March 1944 when 1,250 tonnes of bombs were dropped on the town. Of its prewar population of 20,000, 2,026 civilians were killed during the raids and the battle. Total Allied casualties spanning the period of the four Cassino battles and the Anzio campaign were over 105,000. Reports indicate that some French Moroccan troops attached to the French Expeditionary Forces committed acts of rape and murder in the surrounding hills after the battle. In Italy, the victims of these acts were described as Marocchinate meaning literally Moroccaned or people who have been subjected to acts committed by Moroccans. A fictional instance of rape by Moroccan troops forms the basis of Alberto Moravia's 1957 novel Two Women.
In the course of the battles, the ancient abbey of Monte Cassino was entirely destroyed by Allied bombing and artillery barrages in February 1944. Some months earlier, two officers in the Hermann Göring Panzer Division proposed the removal of Monte Cassino's treasures to the Vatican ahead of the approaching front. The task was completed in the first days of November 1943, saving the abbey's monastic community and thousands of volumes from destruction. The American writer Walter M. Miller Jr., a Catholic, served as part of a bomber crew that participated in the destruction of the ancient Monte Cassino monastery. As Miller stated, this experience deeply influenced him and directly resulted in his writing a decade later the book A Canticle for Leibowitz. The U.S. government's official position on the German occupation of Monte Cassino changed over a quarter-century, concluding in 1969 that the abbey was actually unoccupied by German troops before the bombing.
Common questions
When did the Battle of Monte Cassino begin and end?
The first assault began on the 17th of January 1944, and the final Allied victory occurred on the 18th of May 1944. The German Senger Line collapsed on the 25th of May 1944 following the capture of the town.
Who destroyed the historic abbey at Monte Cassino in February 1944?
Allied bombers dropped 1,400 tonnes of high explosives on the abbey on the 15th of February 1944 to reduce it to rubble. Major General Francis Tuker ordered the bombing because he concluded that smaller bombs were useless against the fortified position.
What happened to the monks living inside the Monte Cassino monastery during the war?
Monks decided to leave their ruined home at 07:30 on the 17th of February after the bombing destroyed the site. Two officers from the Hermann Göring Panzer Division had removed treasures to the Vatican ahead of the front in November 1943 to save the monastic community.
How many civilians died during the Battle of Monte Cassino air raids?
A total of 2,026 civilians were killed during the raids and the battle out of a prewar population of 20,000. The only people confirmed killed by the bombing of the monastery itself were 230 Italian civilians seeking refuge there.
Why did the U.S. government change its stance on German occupation of Monte Cassino?
The official position changed over a quarter-century to conclude in 1969 that the abbey was actually unoccupied by German troops before the bombing. This conclusion contradicted earlier Allied claims that the enemy used the abbey as an observation post.