battle of rome ww2

Excellent observation from the peaks of several hills allowed the German defenders to detect Allied movement and direct highly accurate artillery fire, preventing any northward advance. Whilst this would have been consistent with the German tactics of the previous three months, Allied intelligence had not understood that the strategy of fighting retreat had been for the sole purpose of providing time to prepare the Gustav line where the Germans intended to stand firm. [68] In the early hours of 18 May the British 78th Division and Polish II Corps linked up in the Liri valley 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Cassino town. ...[However] he was not on the beachhead and could not be reached even by radio. After artillery barrages, renewed bombing and attacks on the ridge by 4th Indian Division, the monks decided to leave their ruined home with the others who could move at 07:30 on 17 February. The last one was Monte Cassino, The Hardest Battle of World War II by Matthew Parker. Clark's Fifth Army made slow progress in the face of difficult terrain, wet weather and skillful German defences. This view is supported by the inability of Major General Lucian Truscott, commanding the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, as related below, to get hold of him for discussions at a vital juncture of the Anzio breakout at the time of the fourth Cassino battle. In the mountains above Cassino, the aptly named Mount Calvary (Monte Calvario, or Point 593 on Snakeshead Ridge) was taken by the Poles only to be recaptured by German paratroops. [14] There were no fatalities. This battle cost Rome three entire legions and came to be known in Rome as the Varian disaster. The dark rain clouds also blotted out the moonlight, hindering the task of clearing routes through the ruins. Freyberg's plan was a continuation of the first battle: an attack from the north along the mountain ridges and an attack from the southeast along the railway line and to capture the railway station across the Rapido less than 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Cassino town. However, Vatican City was bombed on at least two occasions, once by the British and once by the Germans. ... Undamaged it was a perfect shelter but with its narrow windows and level profiles an unsatisfactory fighting position. In truth, Clark did not believe there was much chance of an early breakthrough,[12] but he felt that the attacks would draw German reserves away from the Rome area in time for the attack on Anzio (codenamed Operation Shingle) where the U.S. VI Corps (British 1st and U.S. 3rd Infantry Divisions, the 504th Parachute Regimental Combat Team, U.S. Army Rangers and British Commandos, Combat Command 'B' of the U.S. 1st Armored Division, along with supporting units), under Major General John P. Lucas, was due to make an amphibious landing on 22 January. In the event it should be found necessary for Allied planes to operate over Rome, our aviators are thoroughly informed as to the location of the Vatican and have been specifically instructed to prevent bombs from falling within Vatican City. (ed.) (1983) "Bombing Policy in the Rome and Pre-Normandy Invasion Aerial Campaigns of World War II: Bridge-Bombing Strategy Vindicated – and Railyard-Bombing Strategy Invalidated". The first assault (11–12 May) on Cassino opened at 23:00 with a massive artillery bombardment with 1,060 guns on the Eighth Army front and 600 guns on the Fifth Army front, manned by British, Americans, Poles, New Zealanders, South Africans and French. Battle of Monte Cassino Conclusions. [40] There is no evidence that the bombs dropped on the Monte Cassino monastery that day killed any German troops. With its heavily fortified mountain defences, difficult river crossings, and valley head flooded by the Germans, Cassino formed a linchpin of the Gustav Line, the most formidable line of the defensive positions making up the Winter Line. On the right Polish II Corps (3rd and 5th Divisions) commanded by Lieutenant General Władysław Anders, had relieved the British 78th Division in the mountains behind Cassino on 24 April and would attempt the task which had defeated 4th Indian Division in February: isolate the monastery and push round behind it into the Liri valley to link with XIII Corps' thrust and pinch out the Cassino position. After reorganising, the attack went in at midnight. The bombing of Rome in World War II took place on several occasions in 1943 and 1944, primarily by Allied and to a smaller degree by Axis aircraft, before the city was invaded by the Allies on June 4, 1944. : The Argentinean Connection, https://web.archive.org/web/20140202213215/http://rcslibri.corriere.it/bombardatelitalia/bombardate1943.pdf, https://web.archive.org/web/20151222113900/http://www.rcslibri.it/bombardate1944.pdf, "ORBIS CATHOLICVS: WWII: when the Vatican was bombed...", Bombing of Rome documents at FDR presidential library, Collection of documents related to Australian bishops and the bombing of Rome, Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bombing_of_Rome_in_World_War_II&oldid=995155982, Military history of Italy during World War II, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. On the day after the bombing at first light, most of the civilians still alive fled the ruins. [78], In the course of the battles, the ancient abbey of Monte Cassino, where St. Benedict first established the Rule that ordered monasticism in the west, was entirely destroyed by Allied bombing and artillery barrages in February 1944. The following night the Royal Sussex Regiment was ordered to attack in battalion strength. Battle of Anzio, (22 January–5 June 1944), World War II event on the coast of Italy, south of Rome. On 15 May, the British 78th Division came into the British XIII Corps line from reserve passing through the bridgehead divisions to execute the turning move to isolate Cassino from the Liri valley. & Director Maurizio Carta, Producer Claudia Pompjli, CTV Centro Televisivo Vaticano. By the next day they would have been astride the line of retreat and 10th Army, with all Kesselring's reserves committed to them, would have been trapped. On 18 February, the abbot met the commander of XIV Panzer Corps, Lieutenant-General Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin. Torrents of rain flooded bomb craters, turned rubble into a morass and blotted out communications, the radio sets being incapable of surviving the constant immersion. The balance of Clark's forces participated i… [65], By the afternoon of 12 May, the Gari bridgeheads were increasing despite furious counter-attacks whilst the attrition on the coast and in the mountains continued. [61] Within an hour and a half the attack was in motion in all four sectors. 19 March was planned for the decisive blow in the town and on the monastery, including a surprise attack by tanks of 20th Armoured Regiment working their way along an old logging road ("Cavendish Road") from Caira to Albaneta Farm (which had been prepared by engineer units under the cover of darkness) and from there towards the abbey. With their line of supply threatened by the Allied advance in the Liri valley, the Germans decided to withdraw from the Cassino heights to the new defensive positions on the Hitler Line. Rome was eventually declared an open city on August 14, 1943 (a day after the last Allied bombing) by the defending forces. World War II in Rome is a complicated subject, with complex personalities including the dictator Benito Mussolini, Pope Pius XII, and King Victor Emmanuel III. It was very tough going: the mountains were rocky, strewn with boulders and cut by ravines and gullies. "In three weeks, in the middle of a losing war, in another country, it was quite a feat. In the 1950s, a subsidiary of the Pontificia Commissione di Assistenza distributed Lamps of Brotherhood, cast from the bronze doors of the destroyed Abbey, to representatives of nations that had served on both sides of the war to promote reconciliation.[91]. [47] In the meantime, the 1/2nd Gurkha Rifles were to sweep across the slopes and ravines in a direct assault on the monastery. After meeting with a German officer, the monks were driven to the monastery of Sant'Anselmo all'Aventino. The three divisions of Lieutenant General McCreery's X Corps sustained some 4,000 casualties during the period of the first battle.[15]. The two divisions from Rome arrived by 21 January and stabilized the German position in the south. [35] Many Allied soldiers and war correspondents cheered as they observed the spectacle. In fact there were thirteen. On November 5, 1943, a single plane dropped four bombs on the Vatican, destroying a mosaic studio near the Vatican railway station and breaking the windows of the high cupola of St. Peter's, and nearly destroying Vatican Radio. In the other half of the main assault the two companies from 28th (Māori) Battalion from the New Zealand Division forced a crossing of the Rapido and attempted to gain the railway station in Cassino town. The next assault on the line commenced on 23 May with Polish II Corps attacking Piedimonte San Germano (defended by the redoubtable German 1st Parachute Division) on the right and 1st Canadian Infantry Division (fresh from Eighth Army reserve) in the centre. In addition, subsidiary battle honours were given to some units which participated in specific engagements during the first part. At the height of the battle in the first days of February von Senger und Etterlin had moved the 90th Division from the Garigliano front to north of Cassino and had been so alarmed at the rate of attrition, he had "...mustered all the weight of my authority to request that the Battle of Cassino should be broken off and that we should occupy a quite new line. [8], 55 USAAF bombers attacked the Ciampino Airport. On 17 May, Polish II Corps launched their second attack on Monte Cassino. [92], First assault: X Corps on the left, 17 January, Main attack: II Corps in the centre, 20 January, II Corps try north of Cassino: 24 January, II Corps in the mountains north of Cassino, Clark captures Rome but fails to trap German Tenth Army, There is an inconsistency between the description of this event by historian Albert Simpson in the Official History of the Army Air Force published in 1951. As well, Corps HQ did not fully appreciate the difficulty in getting 4th Indian Infantry Division into place in the mountains and supplying them on the ridges and valleys north of Cassino (using mules across 7 miles (11 km) of goat tracks over terrain in full view of the monastery, exposed to accurate artillery fire – hence the naming of Death Valley). Clark also paid tribute to the Goumiers and the Moroccan regulars of the Tirailleur units: In spite of the stiffening enemy resistance, the 2nd Moroccan Division penetrated the Gustave [sic] Line in less than two-day's fighting. [1947] (2005), This page was last edited on 19 December 2020, at 15:15. Even though Romans had a clear edge over Hannibal in terms of heavy infantry, the double … There is no clear evidence it was, but he went on to write that from a military point of view it was immaterial: If not occupied today, it might be tomorrow and it did not appear it would be difficult for the enemy to bring reserves into it during an attack or for troops to take shelter there if driven from positions outside. However, with the coming of daylight, they too were cut down and by the evening of 22 January, the 141st Infantry Regiment had virtually ceased to exist; only 40 men made it back to the Allied lines. [8], Ciampino and Guidonia were bombed by the 12th USAAF. This was planned to keep German reserves held back from the Gustav Line. Under constant artillery and mortar fire from the strongly fortified German positions and with little natural cover for protection, the fighting was fierce and at times hand-to-hand. [13] Both Allied and Axis bombers made some effort not to attack the Vatican when bombing Rome. [31] Clark and his chief of staff Major General Alfred Gruenther remained unconvinced of the "military necessity". The U.S. II Corps, with 34th Infantry Division under Major General Charles W. Ryder spearheading the attack and French colonial troops on its right flank, launched an assault across the flooded Rapido valley north of Cassino and into the mountains behind with the intention of then wheeling to the left and attacking Monte Cassino from high ground. On 20 March Freyberg committed elements of 78th Infantry Division to the battle; firstly to provide a greater troop presence in the town so that cleared areas would not be reinfiltrated by the Germans and secondly to reinforce Castle Hill to allow troops to be released to close off the two routes between Castle Hill and Points 175 and 165 being used by the Germans to reinforce the defenders in the town. Monte Cassino, The Hardest Fought Battle of World War II by Matthew Parker First Anchor Edition, May 2005 414 pages with maps and pictures My son loaded me up with books from my wish list for Christmas 2011 and I finally got around to reading the last one around Christmas time 2012. That same afternoon and the next day an aggressive follow-up of artillery and a raid by 59 fighter bombers wreaked further destruction. [39], It is certain from every investigation that followed since the event that the only people killed in the monastery by the bombing were 230 Italian civilians seeking refuge in the abbey. The corps did not have the extra men, but there would certainly have been time to alter the overall battle plan and cancel or modify the central attack by the U.S. II Corps to make men available to force the issue in the south before the German reinforcements were able to get into position. as to what might have been if X Corps had had the reserves available to exploit their success and make a decisive breakthrough. [20] In return they sustained losses of about 80 per cent in the Infantry battalions, some 2,200 casualties.[19]. This latter was across appalling terrain, but it was hoped that the Gurkhas, so expert in mountain terrain, would succeed. It became the task of the U.S. 34th Division (joined temporarily by the 142nd Infantry Regiment of the 36th Division, which had been held in reserve and unused during the Rapido crossing) to fight southward along the linked hilltops towards the intersecting ridge on the south end of which was Monastery Hill. 258 BC – Battle of Sulci – Minor Roman victory against the Carthaginian fleet near Sardinia. The next three days were spent stabilizing the front, extracting the isolated Gurkhas from Hangman's Hill and the detachment from New Zealand 24th Battalion which had held Point 202 in similar isolation. After the breakout from the Anzio beachhead in late May of 1943, Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, commander of the U.S. Fifth Army, split his forces in order to ensure that American units would be the liberators of Rome, a decision that remains controversial. [48][49] They were ordered to pull back to the river when it became clear to headquarters that both the attempts to break through (in the mountains and along the causeway) would not succeed. They could then break through down into the Liri valley behind the Gustav Line defences. [68] The only remnants of the defenders were a group of thirty[68] German wounded who had been unable to move. Keyes pressed Walker to renew the attack immediately. Döge, F.U. The final change to the U.S. Army’s official record was made in 1969 and concluded that "the abbey was actually unoccupied by German troops."[89]. While this remains unconfirmed, it is clear that once the monastery was destroyed it was occupied by the Germans and proved better cover for their emplacements and troops than an intact structure would have offered. ww2 rome monte cassino anzio day trip Our Flagship Tour is the popular 12 hour Rome – Monte Cassino – Anzio – Rome day trip. Rome was captured on 4 June 1944, just two days before the Normandy invasion. [86], 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. : The Argentinean Connection, Correspondences between Pius XII and Roosevelt, Vatican TV-documentary "Bombing of Rome", Road Television srl, Executive Prod. [3], Following the first Allied bombing of Rome on May 16, 1943 (three months before the German Army occupied the city), Pius XII wrote Roosevelt asking that Rome "be spared as far as possible further pain and devastation, and their many treasured shrines… from irreparable ruin. The Battle of Monte Cassino (also known as the Battle for Rome and the Battle for Cassino) was a costly series of four assaults by the Allies against the Winter Line in Italy held by Axis forces during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The entire working class district of San Lorenzo was destroyed, and 3,000 Italian civilians were killed in the raids over five residential/railway districts. As it happened, Fifth Army HQ failed to appreciate the frailty of the German position and the plan was unchanged. [6] British public opinion, however, was more aligned towards the bombing of the city, due to the participation of Italian planes in The Blitz over London. He sent a weak force toward Valmontone where they were unable to prevent the escape of the German Tenth Army to new positions north of Rome. Damningly, the air raid had not been coordinated with ground commands and an immediate infantry follow-up failed to materialize. Lytton, H.D. Speel ★ Cradle Of Rome ★ helemaal gratis! Cerasola, San Giorgio, Mt. The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). At this point, astonishingly, Clark ordered Truscott to change his line of attack from a northeasterly one to Valmontone on Route 6 to a northwesterly one directly towards Rome. Crucially, the engineers of Dudley Russell's 8th Indian Division had by the morning succeeded in bridging the river enabling the armour of 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade to cross and provide the vital element (so missed by the Americans in the first battle and New Zealanders in the second battle) to beat off the inevitable counter-attacks from German tanks that would come. The army of the Roman Republic was being led by consuls Lucius Aemilius and Gaius Terentius Varro. [90] 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). The assault failed, with the company sustaining 50 per cent casualties. However, the British War Cabinet refused to see bombing Rome as a crime against humanity. In the spring of 1942, the Japanese controlled most of the South Pacific. 16.7.43." Whilst General Alexander, C-in-C of the AAI, chose (for perfectly logical co-ordination arguments) to have Cassino and Anzio under a single army commander and splitting the Gustav Line front between the U.S. Fifth Army and the British Eighth Army, now commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Oliver Leese, Kesselring chose to create a separate 14th Army under General Eberhard von Mackensen to fight at Anzio whilst leaving the Gustav Line in the sole hands of General Heinrich von Vietinghoff's 10th Army. Once again the two regiments attacked but with no more success against the well dug-in 15th Panzergrenadier Division: the 143rd Infantry Regiment got the equivalent of two battalions across, but, once again, there was no armoured support and they were devastated when daylight came the next day. The German 14th Army, facing this thrust, was without any armoured divisions because Kesselring had sent his armour south to assist the German 10th Army in the Cassino action. [6] The raid failed to achieve its objective, as German paratroopers then occupied the rubble and established excellent defensive positions amid the ruins. The Allied line was reorganised with the exhausted 4th Indian Division and 2nd New Zealand Division withdrawn and replaced respectively in the mountains by the British 78th Division and in the town by British 1st Guards Brigade. [70], There has never been any doubt in my mind that had General Clark held loyally to General Alexander's instructions, had he not changed the direction of my attack to the northwest on 26 May, the strategic objectives of Anzio would have been accomplished in full. During Word War II in 1943, a combined American, British and Canadian invasion began. Increasingly, the opinions of certain Allied officers were fixed on the great abbey of Monte Cassino: in their view it was the abbey—and its presumed use as a German artillery observation point—that prevented the breach of the 'Gustav Line'. [62] For three days Polish attacks and German counter-attacks brought heavy losses to both sides. By early February, American infantry had captured a strategic point near the hamlet of San Onofrio, less than 1 mile (1.6 km) from the abbey and by 7 February a battalion had reached Point 445, a round-topped hill immediately below the monastery and no more than 400 yards (370 m) away. With the arrival of the spring weather, ground conditions were improved and it would be possible to deploy large formations and armour effectively. The neutral Vatican City sat within Rome, and the Vatican also owned many churches and other buildings outside its territory but within Rome city limits. [58], The German defenders too had paid a heavy price. This was no time to drive to the northwest where the enemy was still strong; we should pour our maximum power into the Valmontone Gap to insure the destruction of the retreating German Army. The French and Italians are on Route 6 in the Liri Valley; the Americans are at the Sicily–Rome American Cemetery and Memorial in Nettuno. The topography of the land meant that shells fired at 575 had to pass very low over Snakeshead Ridge and in the event some fell among the gathering assault companies. 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