Monte Cassino

[Ken The Kanuck]

An interesting battle, one must ask why though.

KTK

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz4qxrQN7AJ

[clintonhater]

Like Dresden, Hamburg, Nuremburg, the bombing of the Abbey was a war crime swept under the rug by the winning side.

[Sunray]

The monastery occupied the highest ground on the road to Rome. The bombing did nothing but increase the defenses. The rubble became excellent fortifications.

[dave]

I do not think the bombing of the abbey, and German towns mentioned were war crimes no more then the bombing of London and other Brit. cities. Which, by the way, came first! It was a nasty war as was the Pacific theater. Many prisoners on both sides were shot out of hand! War crimes? yes, but lets mention the other side, swept under the rug? every one who paid attention knows about it!

[blackhawknj]

More like the Huertgen Forest, it was a battle that shouldn't have been fought. The terrain favored the defense, our advantages in artillery and airpower were largely negated. Our generals in the ETO never grasped-as MacArthur did-that a good strategy often involves bypassing strongpoints.

[clintonhater]

I do not think the bombing of the abbey, and German towns mentioned were war crimes no more then the bombing of London and other Brit. cities. Which, by the way, came first!

Incorrect if you check the facts. Brits first bombed a German city (Mönchengladbach) on May 11, 1940, weeks before any German raids on British cities; in fact, Hitler was hoping desperately to keep Britain out of the war by holding off air attacks.

[Sako]

A late friend of mine was the FO that directed artillery fire on Monte Cassino before the bombers took over and leveled it. George was German descent and when he became POW in Italy he was allowed to work on a farm as he spoke fluent German.

[leftyo]

More like the Huertgen Forest, it was a battle that shouldn't have been fought. The terrain favored the defense, our advantages in artillery and airpower were largely negated. Our generals in the ETO never grasped-as MacArthur did-that a good strategy often involves bypassing strongpoints.

well good ol bugout doug didnt grasp the bypass uneccessary targets very well either.

[Vern Humphrey]

An interesting battle, one must ask why though.

KTK

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz4qxrQN7AJ

You could ask that about the whole bloody Italian Campaign. Why would ANYONE want to land in Italy?

[sid]

Vern, you are absolutely right about this. This was Churchill's idea. He said something about "slitting the soft underbelly of the beast." My quote might not be exact, but you get the idea. The mountains in Italy are excellent for defense. A relatively small force can tie up many divisions for a long time and inflict horrendous casualties. Which is just what the Germans did.

[Dan Shapiro]

You could ask that about the whole bloody Italian Campaign. Why would ANYONE want to land in Italy?

As Sid noted, Churchill was obsessed with 'the soft under-belly of Europe'. And not for the first time. He committed political suicide when he ordered the invasion of Gallipoli during WWI.

[Vern Humphrey]

Vern, you are absolutely right about this. This was Churchill's idea. He said something about "slitting the soft underbelly of the beast." My quote might not be exact, but you get the idea. The mountains in Italy are excellent for defense. A relatively small force can tie up many divisions for a long time and inflict horrendous casualties. Which is just what the Germans did.

Exactly right. What a goat rope.

We could just as easily landed in the south of France, made it to the Swiss border and trapped the German forces inside Italy.

[Ken The Kanuck]

My wife's father was captured in Italy, I am sure that he would agree with you.

KTK

[blackhawknj]

They thought that by knocking Italy out of the war they would fatally undermine the Axis, not understanding that it was not an alliance as we thought but that by 1943 Italy was merely a German satellite. Also FDR and Churchill were under pressure from Stalin to open a Second Front.

[Vern Humphrey]

The south of France would have made a better second front -- with a good chance of cutting off all the German forces in Italy at the outset, and then drawing German forces to the south and trapping them by landing behind them in Normandy.