Eyewitness to World War II by Stephen G. Hyslop

Author:Stephen G. Hyslop [Hyslop, Stephen G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: National Geographic Society
Published: 2018-05-08T00:00:00+00:00

The Anzio beachhead is portrayed as a death trap in this German propaganda leaflet, air-dropped to Allied troops to break their morale . Credit 57

Allied commanders miscalculated again in March when they launched another assault at Cassino, preceded by bombing raids that shattered the historic mountaintop monastery, killing scores of monks and civilians sheltered there. Contrary to Allied suspicions, the Germans were not using Monte Cassino as an observation or command post, but they occupied the ruins soon after the bombing ceased and found them better suited for defensive purposes than intact buildings. Troops from New Zealand and India launched determined attacks on the defenders but were unable to oust them from the rubble of the ruined monastery or the battered town of Cassino. “Almost every building or stump of a building contained a sniper’s or a machine gunner’s post,” stated the New Zealanders’ battle report. When the fighting ended in late March, the Allies were no closer to their goal, and Cassino had earned the title “Little Stalingrad.”

The costly struggles of international forces who battered the Winter Line without breaking it were not entirely in vain. German casualties were steep, and defenders who escaped injury were worn down by persistent air and ground assaults. Allied commanders learned from their mistakes and stopped fixating on Cassino. In May, they attacked on a broad front, seeking out the enemy’s weak spots, one of which proved to be well south of Cassino where North African troops threaded steep mountain passes and outflanked the Germans. Other breakthroughs followed as the line buckled. The final blow was delivered by Polish troops who took Cassino at a cost of 4,000 casualties and buried their dead on a hill overlooking the ruined town. In an inscription addressed to the people of Italy, they honored their fallen Polish comrades, who died “for our freedom and yours.”

In late May, Truscott’s troops broke out of the Anzio beachhead and linked up with others in Clark’s Fifth Army who had breached the Winter Line. Truscott had a chance to cut off large numbers of German troops before they escaped northward to take up new defensive positions, but Clark was intent on taking Rome before the British got there and circumvented orders from his British superior, Alexander, by diverting most of Truscott’s forces to that city. As Clark put it, he wanted people back home to know that it was his American-led Fifth Army that “did the job,” when in fact the British-led Eighth Army had contributed significantly to this hard-won victory.

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