Monte Cassino

When someone titles a thread "casino" which in Italian stands for "big mess" it's no surprise keyboards start acting strangely, other possible translations would be brothel and gambling house neither of which I believe the monks would appreciate, benedictines and not known for their sense of humour.
The town is Cassino (two s) ant the abbey Montecassino (one word).

 

Thank you Ron for you service and thank you Sheldrake for the history lesson.
I too would love to see photos taken from the German view looking down.

 

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This is the view towards Montecassino from in front of the the "Doctors House" about 500m short of point 593 along Snakeshead Ridge. Point 593 is outside shot to the right. Any advance along Snakeshead ridge towards point 593 - sort of diagonally bottom left to top right would expose the advancing troops to view and fire from the abbey area and the ridge line stretching to the right.

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This is the view from point 593 over the Southern end of the Liri valley. Cassino is in dead ground left foreground.

Both photos are from a British Army Satff Ride to the area.

It is quite tricky to see the terrain as the area is now overgrown with shrubs and trees.

 

Wow that's service

Awesome photos, thanks Sheldrake!

 

I am visiting Monte Cassino next week. My grandfather was wounded in that area on May 31, 1944. His US Army records show he was in the Naples-Foggia and Rome-Arno campaigns. Is there a way to more closely pinpoint where he was? Thank you all for your service and for all of this incredible information.

 

He was a 1st Lt in the 15th Infantry - Martin M. Grossman

 

Thank you so much!

 

Thank you again for this information. I read the sections that covered the months between his arrival in Europe to the time he was injured. It appears the 15th was not in Montecasino at all, but fighting along the Artena-Valmontone road at the time of his injury. I have created another post to see if I can gather more information. My Grandmother specifically remembers going to Montecasino many years later with my Grandfather with the intent of re-visiting his time there. Other information I found states Montecasino was taken by the Polish Army on May 17, 1944, almost 2 weeks before my Grandfather was injured. I am hoping to find more information on his location before I visit the area later this month. I truly appreciate you sharing the History of the Third with me. It was incredibly helpful and an insight that I would not have otherwise found.

 

The US 34th & 36th Divisions were involved in the early stages of the fighting in the shadow of Monte Cassino, could he have been with them before transferring to the 3rd Div ? Do you know all the units he served with ?
3rd Div were at Anzio , not at Cassino.

 

The 3rd were in the approaches to the Gustav line in

The 3rd US Infantry Division too k part in the advance from Naples towards Cassino in November 1943.By then they had sustained significant casualties and their soldiers were exhausted were relieved before the allies reached the Gustav line itself. Here is an extract from a 5th Army situation map.Cassino is on nthe edge of the map above where it says 15th PG Division


.

 

3rd Division were one of the assault formations for the Anzio operation. They led the breakout in May and captured the fortified town of Cisternaafter a tough fight. This is the area where in late January three battalions of US Rangers were destroyed. There is a plaque on a preserved battle damaged gate post in Isola Bella (?) which was where the 3rd Div reached in January to try to relieve the Rangers.

This shows the advance to Valmontone and the controversial turn towards Rome.

 

Thanks for that, I looked into it a bit more & commented on the other thread too.
I was thinking more of the fighting in the area Cassino & didn't even consider the approach. Doh!

 

Wow this is amazing information. I cannot thank you enough. Unfortunately the only information I have are his enlistment and discharge papers, including his list of medals. I do not know if he stayed in the 15th or if he was reassigned. My trip to Italy starts tomorrow and we are booked for a tour of the battlefields at Montecasino. I believe our train travelling south from Florence to Cassino will stop in some of the other places you have mentioned and I hope to hop out a few times to visit. Thank you again!

 

Who have you booked as your guide there ?

 

We are booked with Anna Priora.

 

Thank you! We just found a transfer to the 391st before he went to Europe. That starts my search all over again!