Download or read book Monte Cassino written by Matthew Parker and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2004-06-01 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Monte Cassino is the true story of one of the bitterest and bloodiest of the Allied struggles against the Nazi army. Long neglected by historians, the horrific conflict saw over 350,000 casualties, while the worst winter in Italian memory and official incompetence and backbiting only worsened the carnage and turmoil. Combining groundbreaking research in military archives with interviews with four hundred survivors from both sides, as well as soldier diaries and letters, Monte Cassino is both profoundly evocative and historically definitive. Clearly and precisely, Matthew Parker brilliantly reconstructs Europe’s largest land battle–which saw the destruction of the ancient monastery of Monte Cassino–and dramatically conveys the heroism and misery of the human face of war.
Download or read book Monte Cassino written by Peter Caddick-Adams and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-22 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Selected as a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2013 The most horrific battles of World War II ring in the popular memory: Stalingrad, the Bulge, Iwo Jima, to name a few. Monte Cassino should stand among them. Waged deep in the Italian mountains beneath a medieval monastery, it was an astonishingly brutal encounter, grinding up ten armies in conditions as bad as the Eastern Front at its worst. Now the battle has the chronicle it deserves. In Monte Cassino, military historian Peter Caddick-Adams provides a vivid account of how an array of men from across the globe fought the most lengthy and devastating engagement of the Italian campaign in an ancient monastery town. Not simply Americans, British, and Germans, but Russians, Indians, Georgians, Nepalese, Ukrainians, French, Slovaks, Armenians, New Zealanders, and Poles, among others, fought and died there. Caddick-Adams offers a panoramic view, surveying the strategic heights and peering over the shoulders of troops fruitlessly digging for cover in the stony soil. Here are incisive sketches of the theater commanders--Field Marshal "Smiling Albert" Kesselring, who outmaneuvered Rommel to command German troops in Italy, and the English aristocrat General Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, tall, upbeat, "and--crucially for Churchill--looked every inch a general." Caddick-Adams puts Cassino into the context of the Italian campaign and larger Allied war plans, and takes readers into the savage, often hand-to-hand combat in the bombed-out medieval town. He captures the brutal weather and unforgiving terrain--the rubble and rocky slopes that splintered dangerously under artillery barrages and caused shellfire to echo with such volume that men had trouble keeping their sanity due to acoustics alone. Over four months, the struggle would inflict some 200,000 casualties, and Allied planes would level the historic monastery-and eventually the entire town as well. With scholarly care, insightful analysis, and narrative verve, Caddick-Adams has crafted a monumental account of one of World War II's lesser-known but no less devastating battles.
Download or read book Monte Cassino in the Middle Ages written by Herbert Bloch and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1986 with total page 1584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The monastery of Monte Cassino, founded by St. Benedict in the sixth century, was the cradle of Western monasticism. It became one of the vital centers of culture and learning in Europe. At the height of its influence, in the eleventh and early twelfth centuries, two of its abbots (including Desiderius) and one of its monks became popes, and it controlled a vast network of dependencies--churches, monasteries, villages, and farms--especially in central and southern Italy. Herbert Bloch's study, the product of forty years of research, takes as its starting point the twelfth-century bronze doors of the basilica of the abbey, the most significant relic of the medieval structure. The panels of these doors are inscribed with a list of more than 180 of the abbey's possessions. Mr. Bloch has supplemented this roster with lists found in papal and imperial privileges and other documents. The heart of the book is a detailed investigation of the nearly 700 dependencies of Monte Cassino from the sixth to the twelfth century and beyond. No comparable study of this or any other great medieval institution has ever before been undertaken. Ironically, it was the bombing of 1944, which destroyed the monastery, that led to an unexpected revelation: the discovery, on the reverse side of some panels of the doors, of magnificent engraved figures of patriarchs and apostles. These proved to be remnants of the church portal ordered from Constantinople by Desiderius in the eleventh century, which marked the beginning of the grandiose reconstruction of the abbey and its church, the latter to become a model for many other churches. In order to solve the riddle of the doors of Monte Cassino, Bloch has investigated other bronze doors of Byzantine origin in Italy and the doors of the great Italian master Oderisius of Benevento, as well as those of S. Clemente a Casauria and of the cathedral of Benevento. Also included is a study of the political and cultural impact of Byzantium on Monte Cassino and a chapter on Constantinus Africanus, Saracen turned monk, one of the most interesting figures in the history of medieval medicine. The text is sumptuously illustrated with 193 plates; most of the more than 300 illustrations have never before been published. This three-volume work, with its nine detailed indexes, offers a wealth of information for scholars in many different fields.
Download or read book Fields of Battle written by P. Doyle and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-14 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Terrain has a profound effect upon the strategy and tactics of any military engagement and has consequently played an important role in determining history. In addition, the landscapes of battle, and the geology which underlies them, has helped shape the cultural iconography of battle certainly within the 20th century. In the last few years this has become a fertile topic of scientific and historical exploration and has given rise to a number of conferences and books. The current volume stems from the international Terrain in Military History conference held in association with the Imperial War Museum, London and the Royal Engineers Museum, Chatham, at the University of Greenwich in January 2000. This conference brought together historians, geologists, military enthusiasts and terrain analysts from military, academic and amateur backgrounds with the aim of exploring the application of modem tools of landscape visualisation to understanding historical battlefields. This theme was the subject of a Leverhulme Trust grant (F/345/E) awarded to the University of Greenwich and administered by us in 1998, which aimed to use the tools of modem landscape visualisation in understanding the influence of terrain in the First World War. This volume forms part of the output from this grant and is part of our wider exploration of the role of terrain in military history. Many individuals contributed to the organisation of the original conference and to the production of this volume.
Download or read book The Battles for Monte Cassino written by Jeffrey Plowman and published by After the Battle. This book was released on 2022-09-21 with total page 1187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Battles for Monte Cassino encompassed one of the few truly international conflicts of the Second World War. A strategic town on the road to Rome, the fighting lasted four months and cost the lives of more than 14,000 men from eight nations. Between January and May 1944, forces from Britain, Canada, France, India, New Zealand, Poland and the United States, fought a resolute German army in a series of battles in which the advantage swung back and forth, from one side to the other. From fire-fights in the mountains to tank attacks in the valley; from river crossings to street fighting, the four battles of Cassino encompass a series of individual operations unique in the history of the Second World War.
Download or read book Tank Attack at Monte Cassino written by Jeffrey Plowman and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2020-07-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Early morning, 19 March 1944. Tanks manned by New Zealanders, Indians and Americans launch a daring attack along a narrow mountain track on German positions north of Monte Cassino. So began one of the most audacious Allied attempts to break through the Gustav Line and advance on Rome - and it almost succeeded. Yet the extraordinary story has seldom been told, and it has never been told before in the vivid detail Jeffrey Plowman brings to this new account.Using operational orders, combat reports, unit diaries, post-battle photos from private and public archives and the graphic personal accounts of those who took part, he describes the construction of Cavendish Road and the course of the entire operation that followed. The planning for the attack and the men involved are described in a gripping and clear-sighted way, as is the attack itself - its initial rapid success and its ultimate failure.Eighty years later Jeffrey Plowman reveals exactly what happened and shows how and why this bold thrust against the German strongpoints at Monte Cassino, which could have turned the course of the battle, ended in retreat. His book also features a visitor's guide that covers the length of Cavendish Road from the village of Caira to Massa Albaneta, linking each spot with the events described in the narrative.
Download or read book Anzio written by Lloyd Clark and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2007-12-01 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A harrowing and incisive “high-quality battle history” from one of the world’s finest military historians (Booklist). The Allied attack of Normandy beach and its resultant bloodbath have been immortalized in film and literature, but the US campaign on the beaches of Western Italy reigns as perhaps the deadliest battle of World War II’s western theater. In January 1944, about six months before D-Day, an Allied force of thirty-six thousand soldiers launched one of the first attacks on continental Europe at Anzio, a small coastal city thirty miles south of Rome. The assault was conceived as the first step toward an eventual siege of the Italian capital. But the advance stalled and Anzio beach became a death trap. After five months of brutal fighting and monumental casualties on both sides, the Allies finally cracked the German line and marched into Rome on June 5, the day before D-Day. Richly detailed and fueled by extensive archival research of newspapers, letters, and diaries—as well as scores of original interviews with surviving soldiers on both sides of the trenches—Anzio is a “relentlessly fascinating story with plenty of asides about individuals’ experiences” (Publishers Weekly). “Masterly . . . A heartbreaking, beautifully told story of wasted sacrifice.” —The Washington Post
Download or read book Domenic s War A Story of the Battle of Monte Cassino written by Curtis Parkinson and published by Turtleback Books. This book was released on 2006-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On a rugged mountain in the center of Italy stands an ancient Benedictine monastery. It is January 1944, and Monte Cassino, the mountain on which the monastery stands, becomes the staging ground for one of the most fiercely fought battles of World War II. Young Domenic and his family, who live on a farm north of Monte Cassino, are helplessly caught in the war. With battle lines approaching, they struggle against all odds. Will they be caught hiding two escaped prisoners-of-war? Will the innocent people sheltering in the monastery survive? This fascinating novel is based on the true story of the fateful events at Monte Cassino during that long cold winter. In the fast-paced style of Storm-Blast and Sea Chase, Domenic's War is Curtis Parkinson at the top of his form.
Download or read book The 756th Tank Battalion in The Battle of Cassino 1944 written by Roger Fazendin and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2003-07 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Roger Fazendin spent the last three years of his life collecting memories from his 756th Tank Battalion brothers who survived WWII and the Battle of Cassino. Fazendin's design was to give the comrades who fought in that battle, and their families, a full picture of "what the hell went on". Battle action is fast and disjointed; each soldier's grasp of the action is limited by the intense focus required by his specific orders, hardware, and survival imperatives. This book is a collection of material from over fifty survivors, with a half dozen primary contributors, into a coherent series of narratives. The results make for riveting reading. What is unique about this book is the fact that it is written by the men themselves-not by the commanders, not by historians, not by the military. It is a record written by mature men about the thoughts and memories recorded in their young minds while they were surviving the chaos and madness of unrelenting battle in terrible winter weather. Fazendin's additions of context and historical record make for a wise and compelling assembly of the experiences of one battle. Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.
Download or read book The Day of Battle written by Rick Atkinson and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2008-09-16 with total page 852 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the second volume of his epic trilogy about the liberation of Europe in World War II, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Atkinson tells the harrowing story of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy.
Download or read book The Rapido River Crossing written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Military Affairs and published by . This book was released on 1946 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Investigates causes of the large casualty rate from the WWII battle at Rapido River, Italy.
Download or read book The Third Reich at War written by Richard J. Evans and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009 with total page 964 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The final volume in Richard J. Evans's masterly trilogy on the history of Nazi Germany traces the rise and fall of German military might, the mobilization of a ?people's community? to serve a war of conquest, and Hitler's campaign of racial subjugation and genocide Already hailed as ?a masterpiece? (William Grimes in The New York Times) and ?the most comprehensive history? of the Third Reich? (Ian Kershaw), this epic trilogy reaches its terrifying climax in this volume. Evans interweaves a broad narrative of the war's progress with viscerally affecting personal testimony from a wide range of people'from generals to front-line soldiers, from Hitler Youth activists to middle-class housewives. The Third Reich at War lays bare the dynamics of a nation more deeply immersed in war than any society before or since. Fresh insights into the conflict's great events are here, from the invasion of Poland to the Battle of Stalingrad to Hitler's suicide in the bunker. But just as important is the re-creation of the daily experience of ordinary Germans in wartime, staggering under pressure from Allied bombing and their own government's mounting demands upon them. At the center of the book is the Nazi extermination of Europe's Jews, set in the context of Hitler's genocidal plans for the racial restructuring of Europe. Blending narrative, description and analysis, The Third Reich at War creates an engrossing picture'at once sweeping and precise'of a society rushing headlong to self-destruction and taking much of Europe with it. It is the culmination of a historical masterwork that will remain the most authoritative work on Nazi Germany for years to come.
Download or read book The Necessity For The Destruction Of The Abbey Of Monte Cassino written by Major John G. Clement and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Abbey of Monte Cassino, founded by Saint Benedict in A.D. 529, at the beginning of the Italian campaign was one of only two sites requiring special consideration in the interest of historical preservation. The monastery overlooked the only north-south road from Naples to Rome. The promontory, studied by the Italian War College as an example of a position made impregnable by nature, was the focal point of the German Gustav Line. The German defensive scheme did not include the monastery but did establish positions within 300 meters of its outer walls. After the lackluster landing at Anzio, the Fifth Army was obligated to conduct a winter campaign to break through the Gustav Line and relieve Anzio. In a sinister scape of bush and rock, soldiers endured immeasurable hardships while the monastery stood immune to the scars of war. On 15 February 1944, 253 tons of explosives were dropped on the Abbey of Monte Cassino as hundreds of refugees and wounded assembled in the chapel for morning services. The German paratroopers survived the onslaught of Allied airpower without a casualty and occupied the ruins that would serve as a strongpoint for the next four months. The perceived necessity for the bombing was nested in leadership interpretation of military necessity, psychological impact, and political considerations. Because the bombing was not coordinated with the ground assault, it was tactically irrelevant and failed to meet the requirements of military necessity. Decisions made to bolster friendly morale and to avoid political conflict are not intended for the defeat of the enemy and also fail to meet the requirements of necessity. The bombing was a careless act resulting in the needless death of civilians, destruction of a sacred building, and a waste of valuable military resources.
Download or read book Cassino 1944 written by Ken Ford and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2004-04-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Osprey's study of Italy's Cassino campaign during World War II (1939-1945). The battle for Cassino was probably the most bitter struggle of the entire Italian campaign. The dominating peak of Montecassino crowned by its magnificent but doomed medieval monastery was the key to the entire Gustav Line, a formidable system of defences that stretched right across the Italian peninsula. This position completely dominated the Liri valley and Route 6, the strategically vital road to Rome. Between January and May 1944 the Allies struggled amid inhospitable terrain and dreadful weather to dislodge the German paratroops that tenaciously defended the vital mountaintop. Ken Ford's book details the dramatic events of the battle to break the Gustav Line.
Download or read book From Texas to Rome written by Fred L. Walker and published by Savas Publishing. This book was released on 2014-06-20 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This remarkable and very rare memoir discusses the bloody combat history of the Texas National Guard 36th Infantry Division in World War II, from pre-embarkation training through the capture of Rome. The perspective, as seen through the eyes of its author, General Fred Walker, is refreshing for its refusal to rely upon hindsight and revisionist history. Walker led a division longer than any other American officer during World War II. The 36th earned a formidable reputation—and paid a high price for that distinction. Only five divisions in the entire U.S. Army suffered more casualties than the 36th during the course of the war. Some of the division’s fighting included the hard battles of Salerno and Monte Cassino. The 36th was assigned an assault river crossing at the Rapido to outflank the Cassino position and although several companies made it to the far bank, their tank support failed to cross the river. A German panzer grenadier counterattack pushed the infantry of the 36th back across the river with heavy losses. General Mark Clark, the 5th Army Commander, in what appeared to be an effort to scapegoat, relieved several key 36th division officers, although General Walker was retained as its commanding general. After the allies captured Rome, Walker was reassigned to command the Infantry School at Fort Benning. Includes a special guest Preface by Jeffrey W. Hunt, Director of the Texas Military Forces Museum, illustrations, photographs, maps. 504 pages.
Download or read book Fighting the People s War written by Jonathan Fennell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-24 with total page 967 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jonathan Fennell captures for the first time the true wartime experience of the ordinary soldiers from across the empire who made up the British and Commonwealth armies. He analyses why the great battles were won and lost and how the men that fought went on to change the world.
Download or read book Italy s Sorrow written by James Holland and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2008 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James Holland's ground-breaking account expertly documents the German advance to the stalemate of the Gothic line and a segment of Italian history that has been largely neglected. The war in Italy was the most destructive campaign in the west as the Allies and Germans fought a long, bitter and highly attritional conflict up the mountainous leg of Italy during the last twelve months of the Second World War. While the Allies and Germans were slogging it out through the mountains, the Italians were fighting their own battles, one where Partisans and Fascists were pitted against each other in a bloody civil war. Around them, civilians tried to live through the carnage, terror and anarchy while, in the wake of the Allied advance, beleaguered and impoverished Italians were forced to pick their way through the ruins of their homes and country and often forced into making terrible and heart-rending decisions in order to survive.
