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Following up on my statement on the "The Allied assault on Monte Cassino" thread, I would like to say.
My friend George Dobrovolny was a good man whom served in the army during WWII as an artilleryman and was at the battle of Monte Cassino where he acted as a forward observer and was later captured around Anzio and then spent the rest of the war as a POW.
George told me the history books had it wrong about the Bombers being the first to damage Monte Cassino as US artillery hit it before the bombers and he was the FO that directed the artillery bombardment. I believe what George told me and I also believe nobody wanted the blame for the damage done. George stated that he directed artillery on MC and he was talking about the abbey and not the city of Cassino.
Paragraph 9 of the following article sheds some light on what he told me, keep in mind George didn't claim to have flattened MC but had directed fire on MC.
Political pressure about the historical value of MC was running high and hearings were held years later arguing the decision to damage the abbey, nobody in their right mind would accept blame for such an act if it could be swept under the rug as the fogs of war.
The Vatican authorities claimed damage by artillery, not bombers and it is reasonable for them to know the difference.
My friend George Dobrovolny was a good man whom served in the army during WWII as an artilleryman and was at the battle of Monte Cassino where he acted as a forward observer and was later captured around Anzio and then spent the rest of the war as a POW.
George told me the history books had it wrong about the Bombers being the first to damage Monte Cassino as US artillery hit it before the bombers and he was the FO that directed the artillery bombardment. I believe what George told me and I also believe nobody wanted the blame for the damage done. George stated that he directed artillery on MC and he was talking about the abbey and not the city of Cassino.
Paragraph 9 of the following article sheds some light on what he told me, keep in mind George didn't claim to have flattened MC but had directed fire on MC.
Political pressure about the historical value of MC was running high and hearings were held years later arguing the decision to damage the abbey, nobody in their right mind would accept blame for such an act if it could be swept under the rug as the fogs of war.
The Vatican authorities claimed damage by artillery, not bombers and it is reasonable for them to know the difference.
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