The Battle For Monte Cassino - A Trip to the Battlefield - July 2000

Today you can reach Rome from Cassino in about 1 hour and 30 minutes on the Eurostar. In the spring and early summer of 1944 it took the allied forces almost six months to travel the same journey. The price that both sides paid was high. Allied losses of 40,000 and German fatal casualties of 25,000.

As the train approaches Cassino from the north, the Rapido Valley narrows into a thin strip of land with the whole landscape dominated by the Benedictine Abbey, high up above the town. Looking at the local topography it is immediately apparent why this strategically important bottleneck was to become the key point in Kesselring's Gustav Defence Line. It was here that kesselring had placed one of his most able commanders, Major-General Richard Heidrich, and the 1st Parachute Division (albeit initially in reserve).

Outside the railway station an American M10 tank destroyer sits under the shade of a tree in the centre of a roundabout. It is a quite spot and the tank seems strangely incongrous in this small provincial Italian town. Negotiations start with a local taxi driver. It is a Sunday, there is no public transport and the streets are empty. We agree an itinery, a price and we are on our way. But before we start, a walk into town.

During the first stage of the battle the U.S. 34th Division had lost in excess of 2,200 men forcing the first bridgehead over the River Rapido. The 34th and 36th U.S. Divisions were decimated during the early days and this had left Clarke's Fifth Army in a bad way. Cassino Town is all modern blocks. The town having been obliterated by Allied bombing. Tucked away in the centre of a "down at heel" shopping centre there are a number of U.S. military artifacts in a small memorial park.

The Allied Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery at Cassino lies in the valley, about two miles from the town. The lines of headstones are dominated by the hills behind, and in particular, the monastery above. Prior to the monastery being bombed by the Allies, Gunner Dougas Lyne, aged 20, of the 57th Field Regiment, described it thus. "It was rather like seeing Buckingham Palace in the middle of Passchendaele. We saw this monastery all the time, and it got on our nerves, to be quite frank. it became, from being a thing of beauty, a thing of monstrosity - an excrescence - and somehow it was the thing which was holding up all our lives and keeping us away from home. It became identified with all the things we detested."

The Allied CWGC has an Eastern feel to it. Pagodas and water reminiscent of the Far East or India. Very fitting given the number of Indian, Gurkha and Kiwi troops buried there. The German cemetery lies about eight miles North East of Cassino. A small hill has been turned into a Memorial Park. The graves are arranged in circles and one reaches them by passing through an ante chamber which houses a haunting sculpture of grieving parents. On top of the hill is a huge metal crucifix and four fluttering flags. Including that of the European Community.

The road winds up and up and up. And then, high above the town and in the shadow of the monastery, one comes across the breathtaking Polish Cemetery. High on the hillside, scored into the earth. The Poes had fought a last, desperate battle with the German Paratroopers on the 16th and 17th May 1944. At 10:30 am on the 18th May the Polish flag was fluttering above the ruins of the monastery. Thus the Poles answered Stalin's accusation that they would not fight. The photograph below shows a Polish headstone covered by a Polish flag with the reconstructed monastery behind.

The Monastery itself has been reconstructed brick by brick, stone by stone. It is a quiet and tranquil place. The only clue to it's destruction and rebirth being the odd yellowing postcard and a roon full of relics retrieved from the battlefield. The view from the top - Stunning, an artillery spotter's dream. For those in the valley below, in 1944, a nightmare and a final resting place.

The Battle of the Bulge - A Trip to the Ardennes - June 2005

 We started our exploration of this battlefield by looking at the defense of the Northern Shoulder - an area known as 'Little Switzerland'. I used the personal diary of Major Glenn W. Zarger, 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division as our guide. This unit had just returned from the Hurtgen Forest for rehabilitation. Understrength with each platoon responsible for a mile of wooded, rugged terrain, the Battalion was attacked on the 16th December 1944 by the German 212st Volks Grenadier Division. The unit fought a successful defensive action around villages like Consdorf and Echternach. Many other units fared less well.

Up on the Schnee Eifel it is easy to see the remains of fox holes and trenches amongst the shattered remains of the much vaunted West Wall.

The evidence of Wacht Am Rhein (known to the Allies as the Battle of the bulge) can be seen everywhere. Of the three Panther's still on the battlefoeld, the example at Houffalize is the most impressive. The Sherman sitting in the castle grounds at the picturesque town of Clervaix was disabled very close to the spot where it is now preserved. The furthest point reached by German tanks was Celles and the panther shown below (extreme right) is close to the spot where the spearhead of the 2nd Panzer Division was shattered by Allied air attacks by P-51s on Christmas Eve 1944.

The furthest point reached by German reconnaissance units was the Rocher Bayard when three men from Skorzeny's 150th Panzer Brigade, driving a captured American jeep were stopped dead by men of the British 29th Armoured Brigade.

The action fought by the 101st Airbourne and other units in Bastogne was, of course, critical to the eventual outcome. The perimeter around Bastogne is marked out by tank turrets. The little village Foy with it's quiet German cemetery and American Memorial forces an appreciation of the human cost of this battle. The huge American Memorial in Bastogne gives a terrific view of the whole Bastogne area (if you have the stamina to climb the steps!).

For a German perspective we  followed the route taken by Kampgruppe Peiper (a component of Mohnke's 1st SS Liebstandarte Panzer Division). This group consisted of 117 tanks, 149 half tracks, 18 105mm guns, 6 150mm guns, 40 anti aircraft systems and 4,800 men. Starting at Losheim on the frontier we followed the winding roads through towns like Bullingen, Malmedy and Stavelot (hearing some very sad stories on the way). The half track shown stands next to the bridge at Stavelot which Peiper passed over on the 18th December 1944. The following evening the bridge was blown by American engineers after the Kampgruppe had passed through.

The journey continued through places like Trois Point but eventually ended at Cheneux and Stoumont where Peiper's men had fought themselves to a standstill incumbered by a lack of fuel. The marker stone shown below is at the furthest point of Peiper's advance. A spot where three Panthers were destroyed by an American Tank Destroyer on the 22nd December 1944.

On the 23rd December 1944 Peiper and 800 of his men walked out of their last billets at La Gleize, returning to their Divisional Command Post in Wanne just South of Stavelot. They left 300 wounded comrades and a large number of American prisoners. They also left there vehicles including SS Obersturmfuhrer Dollinger's Tiger 213 of the Heavy SS Panzer Battalion. This impressive relic is shown above in it's current location - La Gleize.

A note from my father (a retired meteorologist): It has long been considered that the meteorological support for the German attack was a triumph. The met people were asked by the High Command if they could predict a 4four day window when the fog and low cloud would prevent the allied air forces from activity. Most weather patterns come from the West and the Germans had nothing from that area at all and they made a very successful forecast (as Group Captain Stagg did for DDay). When the German retreat started all the staff papers and weather charts were bundled into a truck to be taken back to the national archives in Berlin. As the Berlin situation was worsening they were diverted to Munich - all were seemingly lost when the convoy was strafed by the RAF. Some weeks later two off duty airmen were wandering through the ruins of Munich and stopped at a fast food take away. As they were eating they were amazed to find that the paper used to wrap the food were some old weather maps. They immediately called the authorities and the pile of maps and other papers were safely saved for posterity. These were the very maps which were used to find the 4 day window! They can now be viewed in Berlin, with the original gravy stains.