Cassino, battles of (1944). Cassino lies south-east of Rome on Highway 6, the main road to Naples along the Liri valley. The ground rises abruptly to its north, and the abbey of Monte Cassino, founded by St Benedict in 524, dominates the town and the valleys of the Gari and Rapido. In late 1943 town and rivers were stitched into the Gustav Line, the last major obstacle between the Allies and Rome, and there were four battles there between 12 January and 5 June 1944.
In January Lt Gen Clark, commanding Fifth Army, planned to break the Gustav Line by attacking on both sides of Cassino and then breaking out down the Liri valley. The French Expeditionary Corps under Juin would attack into the mountains north of Cassino, then the British X Corps would attack across the Garigliano, nearer the coast, and finally the US 36th Division, in the centre, would cross the Gari (wrongly described as the Rapido in most sources) south of the town. The French attack, launched on the night of 11/12 January, gained ground in circumstances which left nobody in doubt as to the qualities of Juin's men, for whom the battle was an opportunity to redeem honour besmirched by 1940. The British seized a wide bridgehead across the Garigliano and beat off counter-attacks before running out of steam. This might have persuaded Clark that his central thrust was too weak, especially as 36th Division was already bruised. Although some Americans managed to cross the river they could not stay there, and over half the attacking riflemen and company officers were killed or wounded.
Area of the Cassino battles, 12 January to 18 May 1944.
(Click to enlarge)
It had been hoped that there would already have been good progress on the Cassino front when the Anzio landing began on 22 January. To distract German attention from the beachhead, Clark sent the US 34th Division into the mountains above Cassino, and launched Juin against the Colle Belvedere, further north. Although some ground was gained, the first battle ended with Lt Gen von Senger und Etterlin, the German corps commander responsible for the sector, in firm control.
The second battle was fought by Lt Gen Freyberg's II New Zealand Corps. The monastery was levelled by heavy bombers on 15 February, despite the misgivings of those who objected on cultural grounds and feared that the Germans would fortify the ruins. Results were disappointing, both for the New Zealand Division in Cassino itself and 4th Indian Division on the high ground above it: dreadful terrain prevented the attackers from committing more than a fraction of their total force.
The third battle began on 15 March after a massive bombing raid on Cassino. This failed to destroy the morale of the parachutists defending the town, and the New Zealanders barely picked their way into the rubble. The Indians clawed their way up the crags leading to Monastery Hill, taking and holding Castle Hill. Freyberg's men were relieved after ten days of gruelling combat which left all the vital ground in German hands.
Gen Alexander, Allied commander in Italy, now recognized that instead of isolated attacks at Cassino he must mount an army group operation against the Gustav Line, bringing divisions from the Eighth Army, on the other side of the Apennines, into the battle. DIADEM began on the night of 11/12 May with the crossing of the Gari south of Cassino. Where one tired division had failed in the first battle, two now attacked with another on hand to exploit success. Further south, the French Corps and II US Corps pushed out of the Garigliano bridgehead in such strength and determination that the defence could not hold. The attack on the high ground around the monastery, entrusted to Lt Gen Anders's II Polish Corps, driven, like Juin's men, by the powerful mainspring of national revenge, was making the slow progress dictated by this uncompromising terrain. But FM Kesselring, the German C-in-C, recognized that Allied penetration to its south made Cassino untenable and ordered a general withdrawal: on 17 May the Poles entered the ruins of the monastery.
Cassino cost the Allies some 45, 000 killed and wounded. Although the Germans also lost heavily, they succeeded in disengaging without being cut off either by the Allied southern hook or the breakout from Anzio. It is hard to disagree with John Ellis that Allied conduct of the battles was ‘marred by a lack of strategic vision and slipshod staff work’. Many observers were reminded of WW I, and some Germans thought conditions at Cassino even worse than at Stalingrad.
Bibliography
- Ellis, John, Cassino: The Hollow Victory (London, 1984)
— Richard Holmes
