Abbey at Monte Casino

From what I've seen and heard, the historic Abbey at Monte Casino in Italy I believe was used as a German fortification but was heavily bombed and eventually captured by the allies at great cost of lives. What was the strategic value of the place that it had to be attacked, captured and held? It seemed that the Abbey was situated atop a remote mountain away from most areas of operation. Couldn't the Allies have simply isolated the place and left the German occupants isolated and left to starve?

 

See HistoryLearningSite.co.uk's The Battle of Monte Cassino (first phase)
Part of the the Gustav Line "Monte Cassino effectively blocked the Allies route north to Rome and had to be taken despite the difficulties of doing so from a military point of view"

The rubble (only) was used by the German forces defending the area after the Allies bombed the Abby.

There were two absolutely outstanding websites on Monte Cassino, one Italian, one Polish. Both have gone down within the last year. A real shame.
I keep my out for them in case they reappear. Will post links if they do.
(The Polish Soldier & Monte Cassino ,co,uk and the Battle of Monte Cassino .com )
In the meantime, this one , the best yet remaining, is well worth looking through. It also has an excellent collection of videos. Set aside time for it!

Battle of Monte Cassino Introduction
Phase One (January 17 - February 11, 1944)
Phase Two (February 12 - February 19, 1944)
Phase Three (February 20 - March 25, 1944)
Phase Four - Polish Army (A race against death) (March 26 - May 18, 1944)
Aftermath (May 23, 1944 - April 20, 1945)
The Battle of Monte Cassino: Message from Pope John Paul II on the 50th Anniversary of Battle of Monte Cassino

My best friends father fought at Monte Cassino. He had been released by Stalin along with the rest of the Polish forces, and walked from the Urals / Siberia all the way to Persia to join the allied forces.
We talk about tracing his route in memory of that remarkable man. His wife was a Polish intern at Dachau.

The Gustav Line Map:
View attachment 13725

Satellite Terrain view from MapQuest http://mapq.st/nc31sj

 

AFAIK the abbey itself was never used by the Germans. There have been countless attempts to prove they did to justify the bombing but none have come up with any acceptable evidence. The town below was heavily defended and nearly completely destroyed.

 

It is a beautiful Abbey and has been rebuilt entirely - lovely gardens and courtyards inside. The locals still hold a grudge against the Allies/Americans for the bombing, tour buses do not stop for lunch in the town of Cassino below. Many civilians who had sought refuge there were killed during the bombing.

Tour buses run up there all the time. The road is very narrow, sharp and steep. Many of the tourists were scared on the ride up but it is well worth it. There is a large Polish Cemetery to the north of the Abbey for some of the men who died during the final assault on the rubble.

The entire Monastery is surrounded by beautiful landscape. I visited in 2000 and had the privilege of talking to an Army Vet, who had been there. The artillery observers for the Germans had the floor of the Liri and Rapido Valleys covered from their mountain posts. It was extremely costly fighting for the 20 Allied Divisions tasked with pushing through the valleys. The Veteran did not get into many specifics and I did not press many detailed questions. I mainly thanked him for his service and for what must have been a tough operation. The difficulty of moving through those valleys was obvious, there were not many places to find cover. I could only imagine the horror that must have rained down on men and equipment navigating those valleys.

BBC - History - World Wars: World War Two: The Battle of Monte Cassino

View attachment 13726

Robert Mitchum and Burgess Meredith (two American greats) play stirring roles in The Story of G.I. Joe ('45). The film offers a look into the soldiers world in N. Africa and at Cassino. Rated 7.6 of 10 on imdb. Directed by William Wellman, filmed at Selznick International Studios. Many of the extras were G.I.'s in the process of shipping over to the PTO (Okinawa) from Italy in 1945.

 

only after the bombing did the Fallshirms move into the ruins and used makeshift caves right at the base of the huge structure, fotos prove this. a new book has been released from then and now publications on Monte Cassino it might be worth a look.

 

Correct Erich, my Grandpa was there with the Fallschirmjäger and he said,the Abbey wasn´t used as a fortification before the bombings.

 

Ulrich

refresh our memories please, what unit was he in again please ?

 

Medieval abbeys like Cassino were designed to double as fortresses, even without the hilltop position it compares favourably to many Maginot line ouvrages but in modern times it's more of a "shell magnet" than a good defensive choice. I know from pesonal experience that climbng from the valey to the abbey, and climbing not walking is the right word, is hard enough without enemy interference. AFAIK the abbey was not "captured" but abbandoned by the Germans when a French corps bypassed it to the East and threated to cut it off.

 

Erich, that is one of my problems. I can´t tell you exactly which unit it was for some reasons. First he was at the 1. Fallschirmjäger Divison til he came to North Africa with "Papa" Ramcke. There he was at the Fallschirmbrigade Ramcke. After they were evacuated to Sicilly he was transferred to a unknown unit til he was captured at Salerno. After he escaped he was back at the 1. Fallschirmjäger Division and presumably attached to the 1.FJ Art. Rgt.1 but thats not for sure because the WASt told me that the documents from that time space were lost. Later he was transferred to the 6. Batterie/II./Fallschirm-Artillerie-Regiment2 near Brest in France. So i don´t know which unit he was and he never told me where he was attached to. The fighting at there must´ve been so horrific that he won´t telling me much about that place, only a few details.

 

From those who knew about the campaign, I gather that the Abbey wouldn't have been used by the Germans had it not been bombed by the Allies. Much like a few campaigns in the Pacific, in retrospect it appears that it would not have made any significant difference had the enemy been left alone isolated and left to starve. After all what was the range of the most powerful artillery the enemy had to reach the closes friendly lines. During the period, the enemy had already lost air superiority.

 

donsor, Gen. Feldmarschall Albert Kesselring has the use of the Abbey for German troops absolutely forbidden. The closest troops had their foxholes in 300m distance to the Abbey. General Freyberg ordered the bombing for the heavy losses they had at Cassino. Kesselring sent a depeche to the allied headquarter to tell them that there were no troops in the Abbey.
There is no evidence ti today that the Wehrmacht has used the Abbey, but some more that it wasn´t like the allieds said. And to tell you the truth, the bombing of the Abbey and the town of Cassino was a strategical desaster for the New Zealanders, but that noticed Bernard Freyberg a bit to late. Sorry for the sarcasm, but sometimes are Generals really stupid persons no matter at which Army they served.

 

Ulrich then through your present notes he would of been involved at least with an Artilliere unit probably with the Division as a whole and in support at Cassino of the Fallshirm-Infantrie regiments on the hills and in the little town itself or as mentioned with the FAsschirm regiment 1. we have to realize upon the retreat and the devastation the regiments incurred at Cassino that yes truthfully KTB's were probably lost and ceased to exist except start anew in France

make sense ?

donsor I think at least from a German perspective albeit true or not that they did promise the Abbey personnel they would not use it for elevated reconnaissance as the caves at the base of the huge fortified walls gave excellent observance, so the question always arises did they needed the taller walls for better observability ?

 

So let us make up a scenario.

Let us believe the Wehrmacht used the higer places in the Abbey for their artillery observers, what sense would it make to destroy the Abbey for let me say 10 german soldiers? No Sense.
Had it helped the US or the NZ troops? No. It was a strategical desaster and a waste of bombs at its best. I can only imagine that after the US troops went back out of the town and the New Zealanders hasn´t any succsess, Genaral Freyberg ordered the bombing and the higher command approved it of sheer desperation.
From a strategical PoV it was nuts! It created more hideaways and obsticals to slow down the battle for the allied troops and caused a lot of losses than it had helped to brake through the german frontline.

 

All may enjoy reading this account, and keep going to the end when you find that the "records" have been changed over the years to reflect that the Germans really did NOT occupy the monastery per se. They were using the area around the building for the observation positions.

Goto:

Gustav Line

 

The reports I have read seem to verify that Kesselring's order to stay out of the monastery were followed until after the Allied bombing. The Allies commiserated over the decision to bomb for a long time before issuing the order to do so.

Pope Pius XII remained silent on this bombing, however:

There are a myriad of observation post areas along the mountain range bordering the Liri and Rapido Valleys. It is an errie feeling driving up the Valley, even today. You could imagine being spotted easily and passing crossroads and other strategic points have the distinct impression that these are the areas that would have been zeroed and dialed in for fire missions.

 

Hi Gents,

i know about this fact, but it is always good to discuss and get into the thinking of others at that.

Thanks for the links and quote´s!

 

as I said foto-evidence proves my findings over many eyars, the Fallshirms only accessed the Abbey in ruins making recon areas quite shakey actually of any of the higher stone edifices left standing. As Ulrich pointed out what a waste of bombers/bombs and it was evident when the town of Cassino was plastered off the face of theearth the Allies found it much tougher going trying to remove embedded Fallschirmjäger with now much easier natural positions. the armor - Shermans were sitting ducks trying to negotiate all the rock/stubble and bomb craters

 

In my interviews with survivors I was told that the Allies mistook German Soldiers attending church services in the Abby for entrenched positions.
One would have thought the Generals would have considered this eventuality. Sadly no. Instead the vast majority of allied bombs etc landed well clear of German positions.
Founded in 524 AD. To lose all that architecture and so much of its historical artifacts to such rampant stupidity defies comprehension.
The Monks had been removing what they could for some time, but if any was in storage in the town itself, its survivability was equally questionable. I would like to see an inventory of what all was lost some day.

"On February 15, at 9:30 a.m., the American bombers were approaching Monastery Hill. Colonel Glennie, the Commander of the Royal Sussex Division remarked sharply, "They told the monks, and they told the enemy but they didn't tell us!" A total of 576 tons of explosives and incendiary bombs were dropped on the Abbey of Monte Cassino. The Royal Sussex Division suffered heavy casualties as did hundreds of villagers who were in the town chapel for morning services when the bombs hit."

 

The official website of the Abbey of Monte Cassino is very nice. Lovely "Ecclesia Casinensis" background music.
FYI: check out the Virtual Tour at the link for the "The Library of Montecassino National Monument"
Enjoy: Abbazia di Montecassino-The Abbey of Montecassino - www.queid.it

 

Thank you Fred for the great link to the Abbey! What a tragedy that this happened to the venerable Abbey! Senseless and stupid!