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00:00We're the D-Day Dodgers, out in Italy, always drinking vino, always on the spree.
00:288th Army Skyvers and the Yanks, we live in Rome, we laugh at tanks, for we're the D-Day Dodgers, in sunny Italy.
00:51In the summer of 1944, British troops in Italy were accused of shirking the war effort.
00:57MP Nancy Astor claimed that they were having a paid holiday, while the real fighting was going on in Normandy.
01:05The men in Italy should have been bitter, but most were too tired to care.
01:13They'd just spent four months throwing themselves against an extraordinary German defensive position for a questionable victory.
01:20They'd toiled up mountainsides, baked by the sun, and buffeted by wind and snow.
01:28They'd forded freezing rivers, and marched through miles of mud.
01:33Italy was anything but a holiday.
01:35It was always a controversial campaign.
01:40After victory in North Africa, the Allies were split over where to attack fortress Europe.
01:47Churchill finally persuaded the Americans to keep up the pressure on the Germans in Italy.
01:52The Allies swept through Sicily and on to the mainland.
01:55The demoralised Italians surrendered soon after the first troops landed.
02:00It looked like being a short campaign.
02:04But Italy is a cruel country for invaders.
02:08Sheer mountains form its spiny backbone.
02:11Rivers block the line of advance.
02:14For the young men sent to fight here, it was a punishing place
02:17that would push them to the limits of their endurance.
02:20It was unbelievable.
02:26Always raining or snowing or sleeting.
02:29One was permanently sopping wet.
02:31German open fire.
02:33Everything they had put on us.
02:35Artillery, machine guns, everything.
02:38It was like being in the middle of lightning.
02:41And then the machine gun bullets sweeping over one's head.
02:45And sometimes, of course, not always over the head.
02:50We lost a lot of men.
02:52The Germans made the Allies struggle for every mile.
02:56The advance stopped at Cassino.
02:59On the 15th of January, 1944,
03:03weary soldiers of the 5th Army
03:05dislodged the Germans from the top of this mountain,
03:08Monte Trocchio.
03:11They'd fought all the way up from the south.
03:13And the last seven miles alone
03:16had cost them 16,000 casualties.
03:22As the men hauled themselves up to the crest,
03:26they must have been appalled
03:27by what they saw across the valley.
03:30The Germans were snug
03:31in an apparently impregnable defensive position.
03:36They had complete mastery of the road to Rome,
03:39which ran up the centre of this valley.
03:41To advance north,
03:44the Allies would either have to make a dash through the gap
03:47or storm the mountain strongholds.
03:51The worst of the Italian campaign
03:53was still to come.
03:57Surveying the whole scene
03:58was a great monastery
04:00which would become the haunting symbol
04:02of the war in Italy.
04:04Monte Cassino.
04:16It was such a vast building
04:19and it dominated everything.
04:23And it did have that slightly eerie feeling
04:26of looking at you the whole time.
04:29It seemed as though it was looking down on you
04:33because it was in such an overpowering position up there.
04:37The clouds broke suddenly
04:39and you could see the monastery
04:41five miles away,
04:42perched up on the top of this incredible cliff,
04:47dominating everything.
04:47It was here that Hitler's commander in Italy
04:56made a stand for the winter.
04:59Field Marshal Kesselring,
05:01nicknamed Smiling Albert,
05:03created a formidable blockade
05:05that stretched across Italy from coast to coast.
05:09He called it the Gustav Line.
05:11The Germans blasted bridges and roads
05:15to slow down the Allied advance.
05:18They felled hundreds of trees
05:20to improve their observation.
05:25And they mined the whole area.
05:35Particularly repellent
05:36was this vicious little shoe mine.
05:39It's made of wood
05:40with just the minimum of metal parts
05:43to make it hard to find with a mine detector.
05:46It contains just enough explosive
05:48to blow off a man's foot.
05:51The cruel logic of this
05:53was that a crippled soldier
05:54imposed far more of a burden on his own side
05:57than a dead one.
05:59There were thousands of these
06:01scattered all around Casino.
06:04They made the best use
06:05of every bit of rock,
06:08of cranny,
06:09of caves,
06:11and they knew
06:13the tracks which we had to use,
06:16and they covered all those tracks,
06:18both with machine gun fire
06:19and shelling as well.
06:21The Germans dug themselves
06:23deep into the hillside.
06:28Unless they got a direct hit,
06:31they were safe down in these tunnels.
06:35German ingenuity
06:36improved on nature
06:38on the slopes above Casino.
06:40This artificial cave
06:42is still littered
06:43with the fins of British mortar bombs.
06:46But the cave is so cunningly sighted,
06:48scooped into the very back of a ridge,
06:51that there was just no chance
06:52of these being fired into it.
06:54The Germans even had the weather on their side.
06:57January 1944
06:59brought one of the worst Italian winters
07:01that locals could remember.
07:03The advance foundered in the mud.
07:06At night it was dark,
07:09cold, wet,
07:10and miserable.
07:12We had no cover of any kind.
07:14Of course,
07:14there were no things like tents or anything.
07:17It was either snowing
07:19or blowing or raining.
07:21And it was a very, very cold time.
07:39The interminable misery
07:41of life on the front line
07:42was a world apart
07:44from the more measured pace
07:46of Allied headquarters.
07:47The Allied Commander-in-Chief in Italy
07:54was a British officer,
07:56General Sir Harold Alexander.
07:58He had made his headquarters
08:00at the King of Naples Palace
08:01at Caserta,
08:04an hour's drive
08:04from the Gustav line.
08:06This elegant atmosphere
08:08was a reflection
08:09of the man himself.
08:11Harold Macmillan,
08:20British resident minister out here,
08:22commented that the conversation
08:24at Caserta
08:24was more likely
08:26to be about classical architecture
08:27or the best way
08:29of driving pheasants
08:30in low country
08:31than about the war.
08:34Charming and popular,
08:36Alexander was a good choice
08:37to command the troops
08:38of a dozen nations
08:39who served under him in Italy.
08:42Macmillan wrote admiringly
08:44that he didn't give orders
08:45but made suggestions.
08:48This relaxed, easy-going style
08:51was a great strength
08:52and a great weakness.
08:56Alexander couldn't control
08:57his American subordinate,
08:59General Mark Clark,
09:01commander of Fifth Army.
09:04Clark was aggressive and vain.
09:07His personal ambition
09:08was a flaw
09:09that would affect
09:10his military judgment.
09:12The distrust
09:14between these two men
09:15mirrored a wider
09:16Anglo-American divide
09:17over the whole worth
09:19of the Italian campaign.
09:21To the Americans,
09:23it was a sideshow,
09:24wasting men and ammunition.
09:27To the British,
09:28the struggle
09:29was occupying German troops
09:30who might otherwise be free
09:32to fortify Normandy.
09:33The Allies were pulling
09:35against each other
09:36and this discord
09:37was to have terrible consequences.
09:42Churchill knew it was imperative
09:44to break the deadlock.
09:46He revived an ambitious plan
09:48for an amphibious landing
09:49at the little ports
09:50of Anzio and Netuno.
09:53From there,
09:54the Allies could threaten
09:55the Gustav Line from behind.
09:58It will astonish the world
09:59and it will certainly
10:01frighten Kesselring,
10:02Churchill declared.
10:04For a soldier,
10:06an amphibious landing
10:07by night
10:08is a risky business.
10:11Time and tide
10:12are crucially important
10:12and bad weather
10:14can wreck things
10:15before the enemy
10:16even fires a shot.
10:19Troops are desperately
10:20vulnerable
10:20when they hit the beach
10:21and thereafter,
10:23they must depend
10:24upon the sea
10:25for resupply
10:26and reinforcement.
10:2926-year-old Edward Grace
10:31was in one of the leading craft
10:33approaching Anzio.
10:35We expected to get
10:36a right royal reception
10:38from the Germans.
10:40All the machine guns
10:41would open up at once
10:43as we approached the beach
10:44and no doubt
10:46there would be
10:46a heavy artillery fire
10:48coming right down
10:50onto the Navy,
10:51the ships,
10:51and also no doubt
10:53some of the shells
10:55landing right on top
10:56of us on the beach.
10:58Fresh in the minds
10:59of the men
10:59heading for Anzio
11:00was the memory
11:01of the near disaster
11:02at Salerno
11:03the previous September.
11:06There,
11:06the Germans
11:07had lunged back instantly
11:08and almost pushed
11:10the Allies
11:10into the sea.
11:12But this time,
11:13the Germans
11:14should have their hands
11:15full
11:15on the Gustav Line.
11:19Just before
11:20the Anzio landing,
11:20they were to be
11:22distracted
11:22by an attack
11:24miles away
11:24on the Gustav Line.
11:27General Clark
11:28ordered his
11:29battle-scarred
11:3036th Division,
11:32a Texas outfit,
11:33to cross the River Gary,
11:35two miles south
11:36of Casino,
11:37and break
11:38into the valley beyond.
11:43The men
11:44had to make
11:45the crossing
11:45in lightweight assault boats
11:47made of wood
11:48and canvas.
11:49They constructed
11:50them at a safe distance
11:51from the river.
11:59The night of the
12:0020th of January
12:01was wet
12:02and foggy.
12:04The Texans
12:04had to carry their boats
12:06almost two miles
12:07across a flooded
12:08minefield
12:09under shell and mortar farm.
12:12Then they had to
12:13paddle across the river,
12:14gain handholds
12:15down the far bank
12:16and hang on
12:18until the engineers
12:19built bridges.
12:21The Gary may not
12:21look much of an obstacle,
12:23but it's deep
12:24and fast-flowing,
12:25especially when swollen
12:27by winter rains.
12:28alarmingly,
12:31the Texan commander,
12:32Major General Fred Walker,
12:34privately thought
12:35that the mission
12:36was hopeless.
12:38He wrote in his diary,
12:39We might succeed,
12:41but I don't see
12:42how we can.
12:44The crossing
12:44is dominated
12:45by heights
12:46on both sides
12:46of the valley
12:47where German observers
12:48are ready.
12:50Clark sent me
12:51his best wishes.
12:52I think he is worried
12:53over the fact
12:54that he made
12:55an unwise decision.
13:04Clark was right
13:05to be worried.
13:06900 Americans
13:08never even made
13:09it to the water.
13:11Some boats
13:12were damaged
13:12and sank.
13:14Others capsized
13:15as the men climbed in.
13:17A few were swept
13:19helplessly away.
13:25I could hear
13:26the paddles
13:27slapping water
13:27and hitting together
13:29and then the men
13:29yelling
13:30when their boat
13:31turned over.
13:32They curdled your blood
13:33to hear those men drown.
13:36Amazingly,
13:44some of them
13:45made it across here
13:46in boats,
13:48swimming
13:48or on footbridges
13:50which were soon smashed.
13:52In the morning,
13:54the survivors sheltered
13:55in irrigation ditches
13:57or flooded foxholes.
13:59the Texans tried again
14:04that afternoon
14:05but it was the same
14:07dreadful story.
14:10Eventually,
14:10the Germans,
14:12horrified by the scene,
14:14stopped firing
14:14and stacked the bodies up
14:17like driftwood.
14:18The Texas Division
14:33lost nearly 1,700 men.
14:37It was a write-off.
14:40Many Texans
14:41never forgave
14:42General Clark.
14:43One company commander
14:45told the reporter,
14:45I had 184 men.
14:4948 hours later,
14:51I had 17.
14:52If that's not
14:53mass murder,
14:54I don't know what is.
14:56The diversion
14:58at Cassino
14:58had failed
14:59to pin down
15:00the Germans
15:01on the Gustav Line.
15:02Now the men
15:03approaching Anzio
15:04were at risk.
15:05At last,
15:16we could feel
15:17the crunch
15:17of the ship
15:18touching the sand
15:20underneath
15:20and the ramps
15:22came down
15:23and then I,
15:24as the officer
15:25of the platoon,
15:27jumped into the water.
15:29Edward Grace
15:30and his men
15:30waded to the beach,
15:32bracing themselves
15:33for the first burst
15:34of machine gun fire.
15:36There was nothing
15:37but darkness
15:38and there was
15:39no sound at all.
15:42The men pushed on
15:43into the scrub
15:44beyond the beach.
15:45Still there was nothing.
15:47And then at last,
15:49there was one single
15:50German soldier
15:53came running down
15:54without any weapons
15:56and, of course,
15:57we captured him
15:58and asked him.
15:59He was very polite.
16:00He spoke half English
16:03and half German
16:04and he explained
16:05to us
16:06that all his battalion
16:08had been moved
16:10and he was left behind
16:11because he was repairing
16:12a couple of
16:13broken down vehicles.
16:15The Germans
16:16had been completely
16:18outmanoeuvred.
16:19The landing
16:19was a spectacular success.
16:24Alexander telegraphed
16:25Churchill,
16:26promising that
16:27the American
16:27beachhead commander,
16:29General John Lucas,
16:30would push
16:31quickly inland.
16:33Churchill replied,
16:35I'm very glad
16:35you are pegging
16:36out claims
16:37rather than
16:38digging in
16:39beachheads.
16:41But General Lucas
16:42wasn't pegging
16:43out claims.
16:44He was confused
16:45by contradictory
16:46instructions.
16:48Alexander wanted
16:49him to push inland
16:50and threaten
16:51German communications
16:52with the Gustav Line.
16:54There'd even been
16:55talk of capturing Rome.
16:56But at the last
16:58moment,
16:59Clark warned him,
17:00don't stick
17:01your neck out,
17:02Johnny.
17:02I did it at Salerno
17:04and nearly got
17:05my head cut off.
17:10So Lucas decided
17:11to be cautious
17:12and built up
17:14men and vehicles.
17:15We thought,
17:16why couldn't
17:17we have marched
17:18on in those first
17:19two days straight
17:20to Rome?
17:21There seemed
17:21to have been
17:21no opposition
17:22whatsoever.
17:23We might just
17:24as well have sent
17:25the Germans
17:25a postcard.
17:28On the third
17:29day,
17:3030,000 Germans
17:31surrounded the
17:32beachhead.
17:33All the advantage
17:34of surprise
17:34had been lost
17:35and the sacrifices
17:37made in the
17:38attacks on the
17:39Gustav Line
17:39were wasted.
17:42Lucas kept
17:42unloading
17:43for a full week.
17:45He didn't
17:45attempt to advance
17:47until he'd
17:47assembled 70,000
17:49men.
17:50Only now,
17:52they face
17:5295,000
17:53Germans.
17:55The Allies
17:56were trapped
17:56and would remain
17:57so for months
17:58to come.
18:00Churchill was
18:00furious.
18:01I expected
18:02to see a wild
18:03cat roaring
18:04through the
18:04mountains and
18:05what do I find?
18:07A whale
18:07wallowing on
18:09the beaches.
18:10The Americans
18:10even threatened
18:11to pull out
18:12of Italy
18:12altogether.
18:14The crisis
18:15galvanised
18:15Alexander and
18:16Clark into
18:17action.
18:18Both their
18:18reputations
18:19were at stake.
18:21Clark knew
18:21he had to
18:22keep up the
18:23pressure at
18:23Casino to
18:24stop the
18:25Germans moving
18:26even more
18:26troops to
18:27Anzio.
18:28He dared not
18:29risk another
18:29attack in the
18:30valley.
18:31He had to
18:31take control
18:32of the high
18:33ground and
18:35the monastery
18:36itself.
18:37He ordered
18:38another American
18:39division, the
18:4034th, to
18:42fight its way
18:42onto the
18:43massif and
18:44capture
18:45the monastery
18:45hill.
18:46It was an
18:47order that
18:47must have
18:48struck dread
18:48into the
18:49hearts of
18:50the men.
18:52And from
18:52here we can
18:52see just how
18:53the monastery
18:54dominates
18:55everything around
18:55it.
18:56A single
18:57observer up
18:58there could
18:59bring artillery
18:59fire down on
19:00any possible
19:01allied approach.
19:03To the men
19:03overlooked by
19:04it, the
19:05monastery took
19:05on a
19:06sinister
19:06fascination.
19:09You had the
19:10feeling it
19:11looked at
19:13you, and
19:14you had no
19:14idea how
19:15many people
19:15were inside
19:16looking at
19:16you as
19:17well.
19:18So you
19:18did your
19:19best to
19:19keep it
19:20out of
19:21view.
19:24What
19:24appeared to
19:25the Allies
19:26as a
19:26malevolent
19:26fortress was
19:28in fact an
19:29internationally
19:29important
19:30religious
19:31site.
19:32St.
19:32Benedict
19:33had founded
19:34a monastery
19:34here in
19:35the 6th
19:35century,
19:36choosing a
19:37lofty site
19:38for protection.
19:38only he
19:40had chosen
19:40too well.
19:42Its
19:42commanding
19:43position had
19:44made it a
19:44target for
19:45every passing
19:46army for
19:46a thousand
19:47years.
19:49Now, it
19:51lay at the
19:51heart of the
19:52Gustav line,
19:53with guns
19:54pointing at
19:54it from
19:55all directions.
20:01The Germans
20:02were acutely
20:03sensitive about
20:04the monastery.
20:05They'd
20:06recently been
20:07accused of
20:07cultural
20:08vandalism,
20:09when they
20:09publicly burnt
20:10books from a
20:11great library
20:11at Naples,
20:13and now they
20:13had the
20:13perfect opportunity
20:14to restore
20:15their reputation.
20:17Though there
20:18was more to
20:19it than that.
20:20The local
20:21German commander
20:22was a devout
20:23Roman Catholic.
20:25The Germans
20:25declared a
20:26300-yard
20:27neutral area
20:28around the
20:28monastery,
20:29which the
20:29Allies agreed
20:30to respect.
20:32The Americans
20:33now had the
20:33thankless task
20:34of trying to
20:35capture the
20:36hill without
20:37damaging the
20:37monastery itself.
20:39By the 4th of
20:40February, they'd
20:41fought their way
20:42onto this ridge,
20:43known as
20:43Snakeshead.
20:44It curved
20:45round in a
20:46boomerang shape
20:47towards the
20:47monastery, but
20:48the route to
20:49it was
20:50formidable.
20:51It was a
20:52place that
20:5320-year-old
20:53John Buckridge
20:54would never
20:55forget.
20:57On one side
20:58of the ridge
20:58was this sheer
20:59drop down
20:59into the
21:00valley, and
21:01on the other
21:01side were
21:02these great
21:03clefts,
21:03these great
21:04cuts in
21:05the rock
21:05where you
21:06just couldn't
21:06go.
21:07You had to
21:07be on the
21:07top, and
21:08the flat
21:08bit was
21:09quite narrow,
21:10really.
21:16During the
21:16day, the
21:17Americans were
21:18pinned down
21:19by mortar
21:19and machine
21:20gun fire.
21:21Each night,
21:22half-frozen
21:23and reeling
21:24with fatigue,
21:26they were
21:26expected to
21:26attack blindly
21:27uphill towards
21:28the Germans.
21:30There are
21:30limits to what
21:31flesh and blood
21:32can stand,
21:33and the
21:34number of
21:34Americans up
21:35here dwindled
21:35day by day.
21:37There was no
21:38hope of
21:38reinforcement.
21:40All other
21:41Allied divisions
21:41were at full
21:42stretch, at
21:43Anzio or
21:45against the
21:45Gustaf Line.
21:47At a meeting
21:48on the 8th of
21:49February,
21:50Alexander told
21:51Clark to bring
21:52his men down.
21:54Clark reluctantly
21:55agreed, but
21:56delayed the order
21:57for three nights
21:58in the desperate
21:59hope of an
22:00American breakthrough.
22:02The survivors
22:02were traumatised
22:04and suffering
22:05from exposure.
22:07John Buckridge
22:08saw them come
22:09down.
22:11They were
22:12really exhausted.
22:14They had fought
22:14themselves to a
22:15standstill, and
22:17they had nothing
22:19left in them, in
22:20fact, to get on
22:21any more.
22:22And if they had
22:23been asked to get
22:24on an attack
22:25again, I don't
22:26think they had
22:27the energy to
22:28do it.
22:29Alexander
22:30couldn't afford
22:31to ease up the
22:32pressure on the
22:33Germans, so he
22:35brought in fresh
22:35troops from his
22:37other army in
22:37Italy, the
22:388th.
22:39His multinational
22:41force included
22:42New Zealanders and
22:43Indians, as well
22:44as French, North
22:46Africans and
22:47Canadians.
22:49The experienced
22:504th Indian
22:51Division would
22:52replace the
22:52Americans on the
22:53bridge.
22:55It's difficult to
22:55imagine the
22:56sufferings of men
22:58existing up here
22:59on the massif.
23:01They couldn't dig
23:02into the rock, so
23:03they built these
23:04stone shelters.
23:05The British
23:06called them
23:06sangas.
23:08It was freezing
23:09cold, often
23:10snowing or
23:11raining.
23:12And although these
23:13gave some
23:14protection from
23:14German weapons,
23:16they gave little
23:16against the
23:17weather.
23:19During the
23:19hours of
23:19daylight, men
23:21were prisoners
23:21up here, unable
23:23to put their
23:23head over the
23:24top without
23:25being shot.
23:26The sangas that
23:26we took over from
23:27the Americans were
23:28probably not more
23:29than 12 inches or
23:3118 inches high,
23:33barely high enough for
23:34a person to sit up
23:35without their heads
23:36protruding over the
23:36top, as we were
23:38soon to discover,
23:39because soon after
23:39first light, one of my
23:41corporals was shot in
23:43the head by a sniper
23:44from a ridge about
23:46400 yards away across a
23:48valley.
23:48And within the
23:50morning, my own
23:51batman sitting with
23:52me in my own
23:53sanger was shot and
23:55killed.
23:56John Buckridge's
23:57divisional commander
23:58was Major General
23:59Francis Tuka, an
24:01outspoken man with a
24:02genuine concern for
24:04his men.
24:05Tuka looked closely at
24:07what his men were
24:08being asked to do.
24:09They had to attack
24:10uphill astride this
24:12razorback ridge.
24:13On one side, it drops
24:15away sharply over a
24:16precipice, on the
24:17other, it's deeply
24:18etched with ravines.
24:20It's barbarous country
24:21and Tuka knew his men
24:23would be massacred.
24:25Tuka believed
24:26attacking the monastery
24:27head-on was a
24:29desperate mistake.
24:30He badgered his
24:31senior commanders to
24:33cut through the
24:34mountains north of
24:35Casino to sever the
24:36German supply route.
24:39Although the terrain
24:40was even more
24:41difficult, it suited the
24:42mountain skills of his
24:44Indian troops and the
24:46Moroccan goumier of the
24:47French army.
24:49But Tuka was ignored.
24:51His men would still have
24:52to attack the monastery.
24:55To improve their odds, he
24:57decided to do a little
24:58private research.
25:00He wanted to find out
25:01more about the layout of
25:03the building, which he
25:04believed the Germans were
25:05occupying.
25:06One afternoon, Tuka drove
25:14down to Naples and spent a
25:16few hours browsing in the
25:17bookshops.
25:18Eventually, he found what he
25:20was looking for, a book on
25:22the construction of the
25:23monastery, published in
25:251879.
25:26What he read convinced him
25:28that there was only one way
25:30of dealing with that mighty
25:31fortress with its ten-foot-thick
25:33walls.
25:36That evening, he fired off a
25:39memo to his superior,
25:41demanding that the monastery
25:42should be bombed off the face
25:44of the earth.
25:45It was a highly controversial
25:47request, and it brought
25:49Alexander and Clark head to
25:51head.
25:52Clark, whose decision it was,
25:54opposed the bombing, because he
25:56wasn't convinced that there
25:57were Germans inside.
25:59But Alexander made it clear
26:01that Clark's first duty was
26:02to support his men.
26:04Clark was forced to back down
26:05or be humiliatingly overruled.
26:09The all-seeing eye would be
26:12put out.
26:15The bombing was set for the
26:1716th of February, when a break
26:19in the bad weather was
26:20predicted.
26:22Beforehand, the Allies dropped
26:23leaflets over and around the
26:25monastery, warning the monks
26:27to leave.
26:34It was the news most dreaded
26:36by the monastery's frail,
26:3880-year-old abbot, Gregorio
26:40Diamari.
26:42Nothing in his 35 peaceful
26:44years of prayer and study in his
26:46mountaineery had prepared him
26:48for the horror of being in the
26:50middle of a war zone.
26:52The Germans had forced all but
26:54five of his monks to leave.
26:57But in recent weeks, the
26:58monastery had been overrun by
27:00hundreds of terrified civilians
27:01in search of sanctuary.
27:05They were starving and dying by
27:07scores from some virulent disease.
27:11And now their sanctuary was about
27:13to become a tomb.
27:14Abbott Diamari asked the Germans for
27:18help and was told his flock would be
27:21guided to safety on the night of the
27:2315th.
27:24But it was the morning of the 15th
27:26that an ominous sound was heard.
27:31We could hear a droning in the sky
27:33and we looked up and we saw a great
27:36horde of American flying fortresses
27:39coming our way.
27:41The American Air Force, taking
27:44advantage of the good weather, had
27:46gone a day early.
27:47But they hadn't told anybody.
27:50The consequences were disastrous for
27:52the refugees.
27:54We saw the bond doors open and the
27:57bonds coming down.
27:58The whole ground shuddered under the
28:09great weight of these bombs coming
28:12down.
28:13Great clouds of dust and smoke came
28:18up from the monastery building and
28:21went now and again saw great bits of
28:23them kind of going into the air as a
28:25result of an explosion.
28:26And it really was very frightening.
28:32In the ruins of the monastery lay 200
28:34dead, many of them women and
28:36children.
28:38The abbot carrying a cross led the
28:40shell-shocked survivors into German
28:43lives.
28:50When all the smoke had cleared and all
28:54the dust had cleared, this very
28:56regular sort of building had been reduced
29:00to ruins with jagged walls, with gaping
29:03holes.
29:03But the foundations at the very bottom
29:05still appeared to be absolutely intact.
29:11The bombing hadn't been heavy enough to
29:14completely obliterate the monastery.
29:15Instead, it had turned it into a labyrinth of ruins, ideal for the
29:22German defenders.
29:25The Germans occupied it immediately, making the
29:28monastery an armed fortress.
29:31There could be no more heavy bombing, because it would endanger the men of the
29:35Royal Sussex Regiment, who had to follow up with a ground attack.
29:39But because the air raid had gone early, they weren't ready.
29:47That night, John Buckridge and a company of just 66 men launched themselves at this rocky
29:53crest, point 593.
29:56The height, now crowned with a memorial, barred the way to the monastery.
30:01And once you got on to point 593, you were being shot at from probably three different directions,
30:07and you didn't actually know where they were coming from.
30:11Just beyond it, there is a sheer drop, and some soldiers just fell over the top.
30:18Two officers, 32 men, were written off, either wounded or killed or captured that first night.
30:25The next night, they attacked again, this time with 300 men.
30:37They tried all night, by various means.
30:40Sometimes we got on to point 593, only for the Germans to open up with all their machine guns,
30:46firing and then counter-attacking.
30:48And by about two or three in the morning, it was quite clear we just couldn't stay there.
30:53We hadn't done it, we couldn't do it, we just couldn't get on.
30:59After the second night, the Royal Sussex was cut to half its strength.
31:05All General Chukka's fears about the folly of attacking along the ridge had been justified.
31:12But the commanders wouldn't give up.
31:15It was the turn of the Gurkhas.
31:17Gordon Shakespeare, a 23-year-old officer, had no time to study the terrain.
31:22It was a complete ring of fire that came at us as we moved down to the start line.
31:30Apart from that, grenades and mines, anti-personnel mines, S-mines, tripwires.
31:38The whole area was festooned with them.
31:41As the Germans opened fire, one Gurkha company made for the only cover, a patch of scrub.
31:47It was booby-trapped, and the first men tripped a string of grenades.
31:52Half the leading platoon was blown up, others were caught in withering machine gun fire.
31:56There was no question of surprise or anything, the Germans knew they were coming.
31:59Some just got through, but the majority of them were stopped.
32:06And casualties were so heavy that it wasn't worth going on.
32:11Alexander called off the ridge attack, saying that he didn't want another Passchendaele.
32:17But Casino had become a haunting reminder of the Western Front of 1917.
32:22Relentless attacks, blasted landscape, and human misery.
32:35Monte Casino now dominated the mines, not only of the men who lived beneath its shadow,
32:41but also of their commanders.
32:44It seemed to blind them to the reality of what they were asking men to do.
32:49The next attack would go straight up the mountain.
32:58First, the attackers would have to take Castle Hill, just behind me.
33:03Then they'd work their way across the front of the mountain to Hangman's Hill,
33:08that rocky outcrop on the left.
33:11Only when they'd got that could they attack the monastery itself.
33:15Sergeant Bill Hawkins, who'd spent three years in North Africa,
33:20now had to make the climb of his life.
33:24Making our way up the Castle Hill,
33:28you can understand with the hill streamed with boulders and thickets,
33:34and in the dark, it was raining,
33:37the shell fire was terrific,
33:39and the sniper fire was continuous.
33:43It was a difficult climb,
33:45but we were all sort of pleased that once we'd got up there,
33:48we was inside the castle.
33:53The castle itself was a vital link in the chain leading up the massif.
33:58It was viciously counter-attacked by German paras.
34:01The paratroops, one of Hitler's elite forces,
34:06had just been sent to strengthen the casino defences.
34:10They had instructions to hold the line, whatever the cost.
34:13They had the grenades with the long wooden handles,
34:22and they could throw them quite some distance,
34:25but they were throwing them up to drop in the castle.
34:29If we wanted to shoot at those,
34:31you'd got to put your head up and look over the top of the wall,
34:34and you look down,
34:35and that was when you put yourself in the position
34:37of somebody shooting you anyway.
34:40It was a difficult place to defend, really.
34:42The battle took on the fury of a medieval siege.
34:46The Essex fired so many mortar bombs
34:48that the red-hot barrels began to melt.
34:51Then the paras got right up to the castle wall and laid explosives.
34:56They blew down part of the wall,
34:58burying more than 20 men of the Essex regiment.
35:01Then they burst into the courtyard and fought hand-to-hand.
35:06The battle for Castle Hill reached a new level of ferocity.
35:09There was casualties lying all over the ground outside.
35:14There was New Zealand,
35:16German,
35:17Gurkha,
35:18British.
35:19But it was also the scene of a curious, old-fashioned gallantry.
35:23In the middle of the battle,
35:25the Germans asked for an armistice to collect casualties.
35:28The stretcher-bearers from both sides,
35:30German and our own,
35:33went out and collected in the wounded from outside the castle walls.
35:38We had approximately 14 or 15 German prisoners in the castle,
35:44and some of these volunteered to go out with our stretcher-bearers
35:48and bring in the wounded.
35:49The Essex regiment had held the castle,
35:52but they could get no further.
35:54We thought we were up high,
35:56but the monastery was much, much higher.
36:00I think anybody who managed to get up to the monastery
36:03had got to be almost superhuman.
36:05The monastery remained out of reach.
36:10All conventional attacks had failed.
36:13But there would be one last startling attempt
36:15to outsmart the Germans
36:17using a forgotten path round the back.
36:21Indian engineers had spent weeks
36:23turning a goat track into a road.
36:26They'd laid it stone by stone,
36:29concealing their activities
36:30behind camouflage screens.
36:32At dawn on the 19th of March,
36:38German sentries in a valley behind the monastery
36:40were puzzled to hear the sound of a tank.
36:44Suddenly, it appeared out of the gloom,
36:46followed by nearly 40 more,
36:48heading straight for the heart of the German position.
36:52Robert Fretlaw, a 20-year-old German,
36:54rushed to repel the attack.
36:57A tank?
36:58It's a very scary thing.
37:01I can assure you,
37:02very, very scary when you hear them.
37:05And they seem to be louder at night times
37:09than what they are doing in the day.
37:10The Germans were caught completely off guard.
37:14Lesser defenders might have been shaken,
37:17but not the paras.
37:18You have to have special equipment,
37:20which were antique tank mines,
37:25which were like a dinner plate upside down.
37:28And if the tank rolls over it,
37:31tips the plate,
37:32and then there's 70 pounds of dynamite under there,
37:35blows the tracks off.
37:36The leading tank hit a mine and blew up.
37:39And it blocked the road
37:41because there was only another track.
37:43And that's how they all got stuck behind one another.
37:46And then they were trying to get round it,
37:48and then eventually they were trying to get out.
37:50Then they were just picked off.
37:51As they were trying to escape downhill again.
37:54And that was the whole episode
37:56with the New Zealand tanks
37:59trying to get up to the monastery.
38:01The Allies had little to show
38:04for the thousands of lost lives.
38:07The survivors were weary and sick at heart,
38:11desperate for deliverance from their living hell.
38:21Alexander's call was shaken
38:22by a terse message from Churchill,
38:25demanding to know
38:26why he kept throwing men against the monastery.
38:29Alexander was only too aware
38:31that another failure would not be tolerated.
38:37Things started to go his way
38:39with the arrival of spring.
38:41The flooded valleys began to dry out,
38:43and the river torrents subsided.
38:47At last,
38:49Alexander had time and weather on his side.
38:51And this time,
38:53he had a proper plan,
38:55drawn up here at Cassata
38:56by his chief of staff,
38:58John Harding.
39:00Alexander was persuaded
39:01that the secret of success
39:03lay in launching a mass offensive
39:05instead of mounting piecemeal attacks.
39:09Operation Diadem
39:10used for the first time
39:12the full strength
39:14of Alexander's two armies in Italy,
39:16the 5th and the 8th,
39:19concentrated on a front
39:20of just 20 miles.
39:24Alexander cloaked everything in secrecy
39:26and ordered the preparation
39:28of a real smoke screen at Cassino.
39:32Smoke generators like this
39:33were manhandled down to the river
39:34to mask the construction of 18 bridges.
39:38You light the fuse
39:39and it belches out foul smoke
39:41for about 15 minutes.
39:43Hundreds of these
39:44would create a dense smoke screen
39:46that veiled the sun
39:47and blinded German observers.
39:49The whole valley
39:51were covered in smoke
39:52so that the Allied
39:54could bring their troops
39:55and refreshment
39:56and whatever they had
39:57to the front line.
39:59And it was terrible stuff.
40:00It used to make you sick
40:02when you had to breathe it in.
40:04Hundreds of tanks
40:09were smuggled up to the front line.
40:12In their place
40:12were left dummy tanks
40:14made of wood and canvas
40:16so that the Germans
40:17would not detect any movement.
40:19The Allies even managed to smuggle in
40:26the 50,000-strong Polish corps
40:28that the Germans thought
40:30was miles away.
40:32Only one commander
40:34was unhappy with Alexander's plan.
40:36Mark Clark.
40:38He felt angry
40:39because Alexander had shifted
40:40his Fifth Army
40:41to the coastal sector
40:42leaving Cassino
40:44under British control.
40:45He would never be
40:47master of Monte Cassino,
40:48a snub he wouldn't forget.
40:51But the monastery,
40:53which had cost so many lives,
40:55was still a target.
40:57There was one nation
40:58willing to accept
40:59the terrible challenge.
41:01The Poles.
41:02They'd lost their homeland
41:04in 1939,
41:05carved up between
41:06the Germans and the Russians.
41:08Now they wanted to remind
41:09the world of their existence.
41:13Richard Kirikovsky
41:15of the Carpathian Regiment
41:16was 22 at Cassino.
41:18We were preparing ourselves
41:20a long time
41:21for that encounter
41:22with Germans.
41:23We suffered enough
41:24during their occupation
41:26and there was a time
41:28to pay back,
41:30at least for the thing.
41:31It was time
41:32we were fighting
41:33for our freedom.
41:34The Poles,
41:35like the Americans
41:36and British before them,
41:38would attack
41:39along Snake's Head Ridge.
41:40We knew something
41:41was going to happen
41:42because they used to
41:46cover the whole valley
41:47in fog every night,
41:49after night,
41:50after night,
41:51after night.
41:51But that particular night,
41:53on the 11th of May,
41:54there were nothing.
41:55It was just clear
41:57and it was awfully quiet.
42:03As soon as 11 o'clock came,
42:04suddenly sky became white.
42:071,600 guns open fire.
42:10It was a kind of
42:11something spectacular,
42:13you know.
42:14All of a sudden,
42:15the whole sky lit up.
42:16It was just like
42:17somebody throwing switches
42:18at the firing
42:19and lighting up.
42:20and that's where the artillery.
42:26It sounded absolutely terrible.
42:29It was just like
42:30an earthquake,
42:31I should say,
42:32because the whole ground shakes
42:33when these grenades explode,
42:35because the whole mountain
42:36were rock.
42:41And you look at that
42:42and you think,
42:43well,
42:44after that bombardment,
42:45there couldn't be anybody
42:46left on German's side.
42:48But of course,
42:49it wasn't true.
42:50And you just
42:51laid in your little foxhole
42:53and hoped for the best.
42:57After the bombardment,
42:58the attacks began.
43:00For the first time
43:01in the campaign,
43:02the Allies outnumbered
43:03the Germans 3 to 1.
43:05The battle would last
43:06for seven days.
43:08It's difficult to describe.
43:10Nobody wants to remember
43:11shouts and shooting
43:13and killing.
43:14That's something dreadful
43:15which you do
43:16and you do
43:17because you have to do.
43:18If you don't do,
43:19they will do that to you.
43:21But it's not pleasant
43:22when you're killing somebody.
43:25I remember
43:26and I always lived with that
43:27when German was throwing
43:28handgranate on me
43:29and I shot him before.
43:31He fell over his grenade
43:33and the ground exploded
43:34over him
43:35and I was all covered
43:36in his blood.
43:37You see,
43:37still I have,
43:39I'm dreaming about it,
43:40but it was necessary.
43:43On the sixth day,
43:44the German commanders
43:45gave the order to retreat.
43:47The Gustaf Line
43:48had been broken
43:49some miles away
43:50from Casino.
43:52German paratrooper
43:53Robert Fretlaw's
43:55escape route
43:55was back
43:56over Monastery Hill.
43:58There was a big flush
43:59and that's when
44:00I got wounded
44:01and when I woke up
44:02my left leg
44:02were damaged.
44:05They were like a balloon
44:06and so on
44:06and I crawled
44:07into the first aid post
44:09in the monastery.
44:11He was taken prisoner
44:12the following morning
44:13as the Poles
44:14walked unopposed
44:16into the monastery.
44:17They raised
44:18a homemade flag.
44:24The Poles
44:25were victors
44:26of the monastery
44:26but at a terrible price.
44:30On the slopes around
44:31lay more than
44:32a thousand
44:33dead
44:33and dying men.
44:35of the monastery
44:36and getting
44:37to know
44:48they used love
44:50to be there and
44:52to meet
44:54the gallery
44:55of the temple
44:56and to make
44:57the bridge
44:57of the ethic
44:58The Poles had given everything for victory, but it was bittersweet.
45:12It was ultimately success in the valley that sealed the fate of the high ground.
45:17Once the Allies were across the rivers in strength,
45:21the German supply route up here was threatened,
45:23and Kesselring had no option but to pull back.
45:26That was always the real tragedy of Cassino.
45:30The monastery was a kind of mirage, an obsession that swallowed logic.
45:36As the Allies came close enough to touch it, it faded away.
45:45The muddy, bloody Gustaf Line was soon left far behind.
45:51It had cost the Allies some 100,000 casualties.
45:55The Germans suffered a similar loss.
46:02A few days later, Clark's troops broke out of the Anzio beachhead,
46:08ready to crush the retreating Germans like a nut in a cracker.
46:11But the antagonism between Alexander and Clark had one final, heart-breaking consequence.
46:19Clark, deprived of victory at Cassino, disobeyed Alexander's express wish to encircle the retreating Germans.
46:28He didn't close the net.
46:30Instead, he led his troops direct to Rome, letting Kesselring's men slip away.
46:37On the 4th of June, Clark made his triumphal entries.
46:44While the citizens of Rome celebrated liberation,
46:48news came through of the Normandy landings two days later.
46:51Operation Diadem was overshadowed by Overlord.
46:57And suddenly Italy was backpage news.
47:01America pulled out its troops for another front.
47:03The Italian campaign should have ended here in Rome.
47:11But Clark's action allowed tens of thousands of Germans
47:14to escape to a new defence line north of the city,
47:18ensuring that the struggle over river and mountain would continue.
47:21But no account of weakness or ambition
47:25can diminish the contribution made
47:27by the men who earned their Italy stars the hard way.
47:32They endured appalling conditions,
47:34and they saw terrible sights.
47:37But by their courage and perseverance,
47:40they pinned down Germans who might have thwarted D-Day.
47:44The men here in Italy didn't win the war,
47:47but they helped make victory possible.
47:51Looking round the mountains in the mud and rain,
48:08there's lots of little crosses,
48:11some which bear no name.
48:15Blood, sweat and tears and toil are gone.
48:19The boys beneath them slumber on.
48:24They're your D-Day dodgers
48:28who'll stay in Italy.
48:49The Wood, Designed P Ill Lemper,
48:55andiver.
48:55The Wood, Designed P
49:17You
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