Help with Cassino photo

Charley, your photo in post 18, I've seen that before. I cant remember which book. Not helping you out at the moment. I may be wrong, Cassino is not in my mind. One of the British Divisions in Italy some-where.

Stu.

 

https://www.instagram.com/damiafix/

There is a selection of very beautiful shots of Monte Cassino, the Liri Valley and the surrounding countryside here. They're interspersed with other material, but keep scrolling downwards and you'll find plenty more here and there.

(Clearly this man likes his colour filters!)

 

Thanks for posting. Some lovely photos.
I met Damiano 2 years ago at one of his exhibitions in Cassino Town with the Leger tour. A lovely chap.


Lesley

 

Thank you Charlie.

 

I found a few nice photogravure prints of Cassino from 1922.

Could anybody please tell me whether there are any photographs in existence from inside the Castle/Rocca Janula - either at the time of the battle or before?

 

And these two give a good idea of the battlefield -- well the eastern side at least:

 

Charley, the attachment below may be of use to your-self. Its from Fred Majdalany book, CASSINO PORTRAIT OF A BATTLE.
Will have a look later, to see if i can find anymore.

Stu. PS. Cracking prints by the way. Thanks..

 

Thanks I don't have that book (despite it being probably the most famous publication on the battle) and don't recall seeing the 'After' photo, but what I'm really looking for is a photo showing the inside of the castle. I've read a lot about the combat there, but it's hard to picture the scene and nobody much describes the interior beyond naming parts. I saw one modern image, but it looked very modern.

Edit: I rewatched Monte Cassino: The Soldier's Story the other day and that has aome fleeting shots of the castle interior, but as we know it was hit by tanks and artillery and had pretty much collapsed after the fighting there's nothing that leads me to believe that the reconstruction is authentic. It does show a large courtyard, but little else.

 

Here's an awful scan of a photograph I'd like to identify/source:



I found it online in an old photo album in a folder labeled 1/4th Essex but with no further detail. Does anybody know where it comes from? I can't find it on the IWM site and I think I have identified all the (named) 1/4th Essex images held by them.

Moving around that location by daylight at the time that the Essex were in the town was... brave to but it mildly, which makes me doubtful about the attribution.

 

James.

This is just a couple of soldiers wandering around Cassino town after the battle. The photo is probably a posed one.

Probably a rehearsal for a subsequent motion or still picture.

Regards

Frank

 

I think you're right, which would probably discount the uploader's suggestion that the men are 4th Essex although a number of men did return to the battlefield later in 1944 to locate and identify dead comrades.

Just the folder label that made me think it a possibility.

 

it's an IWM shot - NA15009. 3rd Coldstream Guards apparently. See our book, p333,

 

I haven't reached page 333 yet!

(Thank you for the identification)

Given that this is rather your subject, have you an opinion about the existence of contemporary or pre-war photos of the castle interior?

 

I've no idea how authentic the reconstruction is, but this is the best contemporary shot of the interior that I can find:

 

I never managed to find any contemporary interior shots before or after publishing. The reconstruction has a number of non-original features such as the stage in the middle! And what period of the castle's evolution were they aiming at anyway?

 

I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that - as you say - the pictures may not exist. Assuming that, given that it's a historical building, I'm on the lookout for a plan of the layout or a sketch.

Edit:
http://edu.let.unicas.it/didalab/cassino/storia_i/storia2.htm#rocca1
http://edu.let.unicas.it/didalab/cassino/storia_i/rocca1.htm
http://edu.let.unicas.it/didalab/cassino/foto_sto/rocca5.jpg

Anybody read Italian to identify the source of these images?

Edit2: Fantastic aerial images from 1944 here:
http://www.archeologia-aerea.it/downloads/2010CERAUDOSHEPHERDItalianAerial.pdf

 

Still no photograph, but I found this:



This was the layout between the third and fourth battles.

Found here:
Ensign in Italy

Does anybody have a copy of Welsh Guards at War by Ellis, Major L. F. ?

It supposedly contains a plan of 'The Castle Position at Cassino' - and i'd like to know whether it differs from this one.

 

Owen, that's a shame, but I appreciate your looking for me.

 

There`s a copy of the first image on Pintrest quality isnt 100% but no watermark?
Kyle


https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/86/87/7f/86877fe2692b5cca62ebde6d01e6aa0f.jpg