Lou. Yes that would make sense. As the German air threat went to almost nothing - no spares and even less fuel, both American and British Anti Aircraft units were disbanded and the troops transferred to greater need - mostly infantry. This was especially critical after Op DRAGOON - the invasion of Southern France, robbed Italy of yet more troops after the fall of Rome. AAA/AWB units packed a real punch with 32 x 40mm Towed Bofors and 32 x .5 cal Towed Browning Quads. Regards Frank
Heydon. Great aerial photo and, being such a large file, the detail is superb. Thank you so much. May I post it on my website? www.cassinobattlefields.co.uk Regards Frank
Frank, Yes, you can post it on your site. I would like for you to post credit for it to my father. I was thinking: "Photo from the personal collection of Colonel Heydon Buchanan (U.S. Fifth Army & 15th Army Group), Intelligence Staff member for General Sir Harold Alexander, CO, 15th AG." If that's alright? I grew up on the lore of Cassino and Monte Cassino. While other adolescents were hearing of more mundane and benign issues, I was getting an eyewitness account of how the "Rapido ran red with blood." Or how the goumiers broke through the German defenses with "Knives...long knives...." This last part, Dad shared with me while grimacing in a hushed tone. That left a lasting impression on me. I looked briefly at your site, and it's great. I'll look in more detail later on. I have some further Cassino photos which I believe you'll truly appreciate. Dad watched the bombing of the monastery from beginning to end. He was at an observation post on top of Mt. Trocchio which had been captured by the Allies a month earlier. A few weeks after the monastery bombing, I believe General Kippenberger was walking up to that post on Trocchio when he stepped on a land mine, and his feet were blown off. I pay tribute to my father for serving through the whole campaign but also for having the forethought and resources to save as much of the records of the campaign as possible. Heydon
Minden (Frank), you seemed to hit the nail on the head. My father always said he was transferred to the infantry because there were no more planes to shoot down. Somewhere I have a photo of him and his gun crew. I'll post it when I find it.
Great photographs, thank you. I find it surprising that although some churches outside the Vatican were off-limits for bombing the Coliseum and the Roman Forum were fair game!
I imagine that in the briefing for the bombing mission the air crews were verbally warned not to hit the Coliseum or Roman Forum.
Heydon. Thank you and of course I will credit your father as you suggest. I will post it over the weekend. I am looking forward to seeing any photos of Cassino that you have. Cassino and Anzio have become a bit of an obsession. Regards Frank
I thought to add a p.s. on my bio info. As I mentioned at the end of my pdf, those 36 panels are an outline of the book I'm writing about my parents' journey through WWII. ("Buck and Bernice: Love in the Reign of War." Planned cover is attached.) Starting the project 6 or 7 years ago, I planned to use only the letters they shared over their 3+ years apart. (I have several hundred of their letters.) That book would have taken me 6 months or so to complete. But then I considered my father's photos and documents as well as all the historical situations he was in, and the project grew. Now, having read many historical accounts of the war and having seen so many documentaries and film series, I still continue to reach out and learn and share. A big part of the joy in this production has been sharing these records of history with like-minded people--people who are drawn into the overwhelming scope of that conflict, people who take these relics of history as pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle to be put in place, to fill in the blanks. My father spent as much or more time working with Commonwealth staff as he did with other Americans; so, the whole Allied structure is relevant to me. Beyond the personal records many of us have regarding WWII, there is also the increasing disclosure by governments. Some material has been declassified, and other information is put online as a public service or a pay-per-view service. An example of such a release follows. A year after I made those pdf panels and put them online for display, I was doing a general search online for our name. (Dad and I share the same full name.) And, up pops a link to the British National Archives which in turn provided the recommendation of Brigadier Airey (Alex's Chief of Intelligence) and seconded by Alex for my father's MBE. That filled in another piece of the puzzle for me. I've attached that curio from the Archives here as well. (Doesn't this whole pursuit feel like picking up pieces in the discovery of who we are?) Well, that's it for now. Best, Heydon
Heydon. Just to correct your terminology. Your father was not a made a Member of the British Empire but a Member of the Order of the British Empire. At the time of the award your father would have been a Capt or Maj which is why he was made an MBE. If he had been a Lt Col then he would have been made an OBE - an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Regards Frank
Thanks, Frank, for the clarification on rank and award. He was a Maj at the time. No, I didn't think he was made a Member of the British Empire. When I wrote "my father's MBE," I was referring to the medal itself. The print on the case holding the medal reads, "M.B.E. (MILY)" and lower is printed "H. W. BUCHANAN." Heydon P.S. I am getting ready to send you some Cassino photos. I couldn't scan the full page of four photos due to the page's size. So, I had to break it into 2 scans. You'll see the caption my father printed at the time in white ink on the dark page. These 4 Cassino prints are about 3-3/4" x 4-3/4". He must have had an excellent camera lens because they enlarge very nicely. You'll probably ID more of the detail than I could because of your familiarity with the area and the subject.
Frank, Here are 4 of the Cassino photos--3 of the city after the last battle and 1 overhead of the abbey after the abbey bombing. I imagine the machine gun emplacement was manned by the German First Paratroop Division. Didn't they anchor the final defense of Cassino? Heydon ------------------------------- Uh oh! Files too large. The page with mounted photos is beyond page size. I scanned the page in 2 half's. Each of those half's is 2.6mb or so. I'll try sending them to your site as half's and see if they make it. Otherwise, I'll break them down further. --HB
I'd like to see those - especially the aerial one. Perhaps Frank can upload them here via an image sharing site.
Thanks for the welcome, Jeff. I may have put the thread in the wrong place. I don't know if you've seen the two posts I put in the intro section, but I believe you'd find the pdf of interest. Heydon
Charley, I just checked my earthlink email, and the photos transferred okay to Frank's site. I believe he'll be loading them soon. I don't know how image sharing sites work, but I'll probably have to learn. When I look at the hundreds and hundreds of photos I have, and all the official documents, and newspapers of the period with headlines of Operation Torch and the D-Day landings and the end of the war in Italy and then in Europe--I look at it all and think of what a collection my father made. All that plus the war posters he picked up along the way and the hundreds and hundreds of letters my parents shared during their years apart--letters and notes which were handwritten, typewritten, and V-Mail form. And a few telegrams. All considered, it is quite a treasure trove. I have to consider what to do with it all when I'm gone. Best, Heydon
And they're very good - I've got a few ground-level pictures of Cassino from the aftermath of the battle and they're blurred and dull; these are relatively sharp and interesting - destruction in all its perverse glory. Did you father take any more of Cassino or the surrounding area? My grandfather was there with 4th Indian Division.