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The battle for Rome, also known as the battle for Monte Cassino, was one of the toughest battles the allies took part in. while casualties weren’t significantly high, it did prove not only to be controversial, but it gave the allies a run for their money. With an original prediction of Rome falling sometime around the end of 1943, the allied plan did not seem to go in their favor. Beginning in January of 1944 this battle was part of a strategic offensive to break through German defenses along the Italian city of Rome. The Germans had, under construction, a line of defenses which would prove difficult to overcome given the mountainous terrain which provided an optimal advantage for artillery as well as providing a view which proved excellent for detecting enemy advances. The set up to this battle was the allied landings on the southern islands of Italy. The allied plans to move up through Italy were already made difficult by the treacherous terrain and the Italian wet season. To make matters worse the Germans, in a genius display of defensive tactics, diverted the Rapido River (now known as the River Garigliano *1) in order to flood the only 2 paths up into Rome. In the middle of this formidable line of defense was the town of Cassino. Overlooking this town stood an ancient monastery atop built in the early centuries known as Monte Cassino. Monte Cassino’s strategic value was enormous due to the fact that it overlooked the entire town! Given the historical value of the monastery Axis Powers and Allied Forces negotiated that no soldier was to enter the ancient grounds. Unfortunately the threat that Monte Cassino posed to the allies seemed too great for them to handle. On February 15th Allied forces, in an extremely controversial turn of events, “mistranslated” a German intercepted radio communication. According to British News Paper The Guardian published 4/3/2000, “—Translating an intercepted radio message—mistook the German word for abbot for a similar abbreviation for battalion--- Colonel David Hunt, rechecked the full radio intercept” to find that “—What it actually said was: “The Abbot is with the Monks in the Monastery”. The allies then assumed if the Germans had broken the agreement then they were inclined to do the same. American Bombers under British instruction then proceeded to drop 1400 tons of bombs onto the ancient monastery (*1). The result proved catastrophic and embarrassing and was responsible for the deaths of innocent women and children as well as the monks taking shelter in the monastery. It wasn’t until after the allies destroyed the monastery that any German forces came near the monastery. According to a book written by David Hapgood Monte Cassino: The Story of The Most Controversial Battle of World War II, “The Abbot, Who Survived the Bombing, said: “I swear there were never any German soldiers in the area of the monastery”. According to the Guardian Online Records of the Panzer Corps Messages taken by German historians spoke of a 300 meter de militarized zone. The destruction of the Monastery, built around the year 500, caused great controversy with the Pope Pius XII but possibly worse than that it created even better defenses for the Germans since they NOW occupied the ruins of the monastery. The allies came at the Germans Hard on 4 different fronts in a series of strategically timed assaults. The first came on the German left flank with allied forces unaware of a serious flaw in that side of the German Line They Moved Too Slowly to take advantage. The Germans reinforced the left flank and were able to stop the allied assault. However with the reinforcements drawn in the direction of the first attack the allies attacked the middle of the defense line (*1) being forced to cross a River the allies chose to improvise and without any support from allied armor they were sent running back across the river by the Germans. The other 2 fronts had received heavy casualties and eventually sent allied forces back. That is when the Monastery was bombed and destroyed. Multiple assaults following the February 15th bombing proved ineffective with entire battalions of British troops being wiped out. German troops Tried Counter Attacking but failed as well against the well Grounded American troops in the east. It wasn’t until the middle of March and 3 days of straight bombing raids that the allies, after 4 harsh battles and 3 failed attempts were finally in the heart of the town. This however proved costly as the Germans were still holding their defenses and it wasn’t until the end of may that the Germans had retreated due to poor cover after allied troops artillery destroyed almost everything in the town that would provide the Germans a safe haven. The 4th and final battle has been reported to have included hand to hand combat as well as multiple friendly fire incidents reported on both sides. At the end of the battle both sides sustained about 190,000 casualties with 55,000 allied and 20,000 axis casualties only during the 4 battles of Cassino. Another 105,000 reported deaths occurred during the aftermath of the overtaking of the town. It is important to understand the reasons why the battle was so difficult as well as necessary. The harsh terrain and winter weather leading up to the battles of February through March proved most difficult to deal with. The mountainous region combined with rainy weather ruled out the possibility of air support. And the battle was necessary in order for allies to make their way up to Rome and eventually they would try to Enter Germany through France although by the time allies had reached northern Italy the Assassination of Benito Mussolini and Multiple Crucial Victories on the eastern front had weakened the Axis Powers to the Point Of defeat. It was only a matter of time now before Germany Fell. The battle of Monte Cassino may not have had an overwhelming amount of deaths but the loss of Monte Cassino as the most beautiful monastery in the world along with the Historical value it carried with it was equally as significant as the 1.2-1.6 million Casualties of the Battle of Stalingrad.

·       www.britannica.com/ ·       http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/education/snapshot-lessons/stalingrad.html ·       http://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww2/index.html ·       Encyclopedia.com ·       http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_stalingrad.htm ·       http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSstalingrad.htm ·       http://www.archives.gov/publications/ref-info-papers/79/index.pdf ·       http://guides.lib.washington.edu/content.php?pid=90255&sid=687755 ·       http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/episode-2/ep2_battle_stalingrad.html ·       David Hapgood Monte Cassino: The Story Of The Most Controversial Battle Of World War II