Videos and Photos of Army Special Ops, Navy SEALs, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard in Action - Shock and Awe - Military.com
Videos and Photos of Army Special Ops, Navy SEALs, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard in Action - Shock and Awe - Military.com I'm in shock and Awe that they actually filmed that! As ever, I'm pretty cautious when viewing WW2 films in regard to what/when it was filmed, but I hadn't realized that there may be actual footage of it being blown. What a mistake that was...
Drew / Phaethon..... Perhaps the link to an article of the Monastery would help as can be seen - the rubble was cleared - basically by hand prior to the rebuilding which was financed mainly by the Italian people..... Cheers BBC - WW2 People's War - The Abbey at Montecassino
What a mistake that was... The bombing of the monastery wasn't the only mistake as the USAF also bombed the Allied Division's that were entrenched on slopes around the monastery. I watched a program the other day on the Military History channel but can't remember now the name of the divisions that got hit but they quoted one British soldier who said 'They told the Germans they were going to bomb the monastery, they told the civilians they were going to bomb the monastery, but they didn't bother telling us'. Dare I mention everyone's favourite Allied General, Mark Clark.
Mullet 94 That was a quote from a soldier of the 4th Indian Division who were assembling at Cassino to relieve the 1st Sussex who were exhausted - the hand over was supposed to have been on the night of 16/17th Feb - but the airforce carried out the bombing on the 15th Feb much to the surprise of many - General Leese's caravan was also upended in that bombing - and he was miles away... the USAAF were not the only ones guilty of "friendly fire'" - they all did it RAF - DAF - Canadian Windsor squadron - in fairness it's very difficault to see anything when you are travelling at 300 mph - so now they are sending 900 mph planes to Afghanistan - their bombs will probably end up in Canada ! There was an old story made the rounds in the war " when the RAF go over - the Germans duck - when the Luftwaffe comes over - the British duck - but when the USAAF comes over - EVERYBODY ducks" - of course that was meant in jest !!! Cheers
I knew the 1st Sussex was involved somewhere, I wouldn't mind but I only watched the program two days ago and couldn't remember it and I'm only 33, the minds failing already. Cheers for the clarifcation Tom.
Mullet 94 - there are some things which are extremey unforgettable - TV shows don't come into that category I find.... Cheers
Andy Many thanks for the links & the pics. I have to pinch myself sometimes to remember that I actually "lived there" between March & May 1943 and am glad that I was able to record some of my memories before they just drifted away. Memories of Cassino & Larry: BBC - WW2 People's War - Monte Cassino, March to May 1944 Dear old Jeff Burnard: BBC - WW2 People's War - Gunner Burnard and the Brigadier Return to Cassino: BBC - WW2 People's War - Return to Cassino Cheers Ron
Ron, Looking at some shots it could easily pass as a lunar landscape. The area certainly got pummled.
Andy Still on the life at Monte Cassino theme, whilst there, I found myself shipped off to Naples for a run of the mill illness: BBC - WW2 People's War - Two Weeks in Dock in Naples and Not a Wound to Show for it! It has since occured to me that this might have in fact been a life saver, as far as I was concerned anyway, because, while I was hospital bound in Naples, I was certainly not exposed to the risks that caused poor Jeff Burnard's death What do they say about life being a gamble ? Ron
My dad was born in Cassino, and watched all the battles from his home approximately 7km NE of the town. He always wondered why the allies didn't just leave the Germans up in the monastery to starve whilst we bypassed the hill and moved North. Guess it was a simplistic view, but I can see why the locals thought the Allied approach to the defeating the Germans was a little flawed/mad
Mullet94: I think your quote was ascribed to Lt-Col Glennie, 1 Royal Sussex Ref. J Ellis; "Cassino, The Hollow Victory".
Cervaro; there was probably a feeling that lines of supply/communication would be compromised but I agree with the locals. Leaving 'outposts' of the enemy behind your advance with a 'holding' force was a tactic in use way before the Middle Ages. The 2nd Battle of Cassino, at least, involved allied forces attacking back Southwards!
Cervaro- How your father could see what was happening at Cassino when he was 7km's away to the NE is beyond me - the main point was that the Germans were NOT at the Monastery - they were all around it - the biggest mistake made by the Allies was allowing Clark to pull back the French North Africans from near Altina when they had a good chance of descending to cut 6th Highway which would have put the Germans in a poor position - he pulled back the French to assist his US 34th Division which was in trouble behind the Monastery thus prolonging the horror of those next four months..... Cheers
Newbie. The old lady has passed on and I am going through Pops' things. Service record shows 22523641 ( formally 861333 ), joined up in 1936 TA, RA and posted to 249 Brigade. and then a gunner with 105 Anti Tank Regiment at Monte Cassino. Your post supports his negative attitude towards the USAF after his unit was pulled back from the front line for a rest at Cassino. Decimated by US bombers and he lost a lot of mates. Never really recovered even though he ended up a WO 11 in REME after 32 years service. He never spoke about the war until I became an MNO in '64 and he opened up about his Regiment being posted to India. Monty wanted an ATR in North Africa so the unit had to cross a plank from the Queen Mary off the coast of South Africa to another ship ( or vice versa ) that took them to Suez. The equipment was on another ship that went on to India/Burma so they waited three months in Egypt for their gear to arrive. Detailed to take the rubbish out into the desert and spray the heaps with fuel oil and burn them to reduce the fly nuisance. From that time the odd anecdote came across, - BEF in Belgium and then Dunkirk - his regiment spent 5 days spiking guns and removing rotors from engines etc. He never got on the beach per se apart from racing up and down in an ambulance dealing to abandoned vehicles. The unit was resigned to becoming POW's. On the last day a signal came through from Major 'Mad' Mitch that a destroyer was coming in one last time and get to the wharf ASAP. So he got to ride on the last boat out, an old destroyer HMS Shakiri. ( There was an RN MTB came in a little later but turned around and left again when it looked like it was going to be swamped by French troops pounding down the pier to get on board ). He was always impressed by his RSM who conducted the removal of weapons from the Unit at Canterbury after de- training from Dover. They were lined up and told to surrender their rifles to a heap on the parade ground before being sent home on leave.. This apparently caused great concern as a soldier was drilled never to let go of his rifle. It had his number stamped on it and it was a court martial offence to ever lose sight of it. It took an hour of jokes and cajollng before the the first rifle was surrendered. He modelled his career in the Army on the attitude that SM. Unfortunately for his family, we were also under the same discipline wherever we were in the world. Barrack brats. So it was 8th Army in North Africa, Benghazi and Tobruk etc. He had a 'Honey' tank ( Stuart ) in the desert and would regale me with navigating by starlight, 15 degrees every hour etc. ( I was a navigating officer BP Tanker Co Ltd ) so he thought he should let me know he knew a thing or two about navigation. There are Pennants in amongst the mix of memorabilia.. He had explained before that they changed every day for recognition - not the colour so much as the shape which could be seen at a distance. Idendification was paramount in the ( at times ) chaos.There is also a leather wallet with "88" carved on it. Apparently he won the high jump at an inter services sports meeting in Egypt. Not bad for a 5' 7'' runt. On to the landings at Augusta, Sicily and in and around Lentini and Carlentini. Cheeky bugger took the family through Italy for a holiday years later when he was stationed with the BAOR at Sennelager to see his old girlfriends. Mum was not amused when he introduced them to her.! We had to replay the Italian Campaign all over again from Augusta up through Italy to the Jugoslav border where he ended up keeping the Soviets out of Italy. Apparently they passed the time stopping every pretty girl in the street and asking to see their papers and trying to make a date. His unit finally got repatriated in 1946 and spent 3 days crossing Europe in open cattle trucks in the middle of summer. He arrived home in Ringwood sunburnt and blisterd, and scared the living daylights out of the kids. Always was anti - Yank. The unit liberated many towns in the early hours of the morning only to see on News Reels later how the US Army were depicted as the "Liberators" later in the day. Such is publicity. Interesting anecdotes like the time the fifth tank was shelled and caught fire in Italy and he could hear the screams of his mates burning to death inside. After that, all the escape hatch levers at the base inside of the hull were accidentally kicked off and the plate dropped to the ground to be dragged by the retention chain until it snapped off. Another court martial offence but everybody did it anyway. Only caused problems when fording rivers and the inside got flooded. His only fear was the German 88's. They were treated with respect and great caution because of the damage they could inflict if handled properly. There are two rows of medals in the chest. His one regret after 32 years service was that he never got the LS and GC gong to add to the bunch. Not surprising really after being court martialled and serving in the glass house for a month. I never got to ask him how he had a Honey in an anti tank regiment. He did say that he was the unit 'fitter', so suppose he needed to get around. Anybody know the armament of the Regiment please? I have spent a day and a half going through posts on this site without finding an answer. Cheers, Arthur R812046
Arthur. Great info. Thank you. If you would like to go back to Cassino, I am guiding a group there on 17-20 May 18. Regards Frank
Hello Frank, Thank you for the response and the invitation to Cassino. I did the grand tour with the old man back in the early 60's when we had to retrace his war as a family. Put some ghosts to rest for him and made us appreciate the hell of his war. Cassino was still being restructured at the time and it was easier to envision events. I retired 20 years ago and not able to move around so well from New Zealand. All his Maori Battalion mates have now passed on as well. Thank you for the invitation but I must decline. cheers, Arthur
