Peter Caddick-Adams. Monte : Ten Armies in Hell. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. xvi + 396 pp. Illustrations $29.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-19-997464-1.

Reviewed by Tal Tovy

Published on H-War (January, 2015)

Commissioned by Margaret Sankey (Air University)

Monte Casino is a 516-meter-high rocky hill General Bernard Montgomery. The advance north located some 130 km south of . It was here was slow, often referred to in WWI terms. The that Benedictus of Nursia chose to erect his Germans took advantage of the harsh territory, in 529 CE, thereby establishing the constructing defense lines across Italy. Benedictine order. In this monastery Benedict Field Marshal , commander composed the Regula Benedicti (54 0CE), a series of the German forces in Italy, immediately or‐ of precepts that became the basis for Western dered the construction of several defense lines to . But monastic tranquility was dis‐ the south of Rome. Kesselring cleverly used the turbed by a series of bloody battles, a part of the natural blockades formed by the rapidly fowing campaign for Italy during World War II. 1,415 rivers to the south of Rome, forming a series of years after its construction, the monastery was defense lines known as the . Kessel‐ destroyed by heavy fre from American bombers ring planned to build further defense posts to the in an attempt to breach German defenses. Heav‐ south, blocking the Allied advances and providing enly serenity turned into hell on earth for the his troops ample time to construct the defense thousands of warriors who took part in the battles lines. for Monte Casino. The German defense system was based on a After landing in in southwestern Italy series of lines. At the front were the Volturno and on September 9, 1943, the Allies headed north in Barbara lines, made to hold of Allied advances two arrowheads against German forces. The Fifth and earn the Germans enough time to fortify the United States Army, led by General Mark Clark, main defense line, the Winter Line, and two addi‐ made its way along the western seashore, while tional lines west of the Apennines: the Bernhardt the British Eighth Army advanced to the east, and Adolf Hitler lines. The main line of defense along the Adriatic shores, under the command of H-Net Reviews was Gustav Line, located slightly north of where Some blame Clark’s lack of experience for that the River merged with the Tyrrhenian failure, while others propose that his command of Sea to the west, via the Apennines to the Adriatic the Anzio front left him unavailable to treat shores near the Sangro river in the east. The cen‐ with equal priority. ter of the line, which crossed the road to the north On , B-17 “Flying Fortresses” of Rome (Highway 6), was erected around the bombed Monte Cassino as a preventive measure, mountains behind the town of Casino and includ‐ fearing it would become an observation post for ed the Monte Casino monastery overlooking the the German artillery. Despite the heavy bombing entrance to the valley (where a main road to and the monastery’s complete demolition, no Ger‐ Rome passed), as well as , which pro‐ man casualties were reported, although many vided the Germans terrifc outlook against possi‐ Italian civilians who fed to the safety of the ble attack from the Liri valley. monastery walls were killed. In retrospect, bomb‐ Some ffteen German divisions manned the ing the monastery did more bad than good. The line, keeping the Allies occupied in battle for over Germans had an agreement in place with the fve months (November 1943-), includ‐ , a promise not to use the monastery for ing the famous Monte Casino and Anzio battles. military purposes. Its demolition canceled that The Winter Line became the main obstacle for Al‐ agreement, and the 1st Fallschirmjäger Division lied northern advances after the South Italy land‐ soldiers utilized its ruins as frontline observation ing, completely blocking the Fifth Army’s ad‐ posts. On the eve of the day following the bomb‐ vancement in the west. Although the Gustav Line ing, a company from the Fourth Indian Infantry was breached by the Eighth Army, snow storms Division attacked strategic point 593. The attack and limited visibility brought it to a halt as well failed, with half of the attackers lost in battle. De‐ by the end of December. spite this failure, Allied attacks continued, but Since the Eighth Army was held back, it be‐ shortage of tanks and anti-tank weaponry forced came clear that the push towards Rome would the infantry to retreat in the face of the German come from the west, at the hands of the Fifth tank ofensive of February 18. Army. Field conditions were slightly better than After the frst two battles, the Allied com‐ those in the east, and vehicle and artillery move‐ mand had decided not to advance along the Rapi‐ ment was feasible thanks to the two roads leading do towards Monte Cassino during the winter. Sug‐ to Rome: Highway 7 from through the gestions to reach the town by climbing the moun‐ coast, between the sea and the Aurunci Moun‐ tains were also dismissed, as previous attempts tains; and highway 6 from Naples through the Liri failed miserably. The tactic eventually chosen was valley, dominated by the Monte Cassino hill, on to advance northward via the Rapido channel in‐ top of which stood the Benedictine monastery, fantry in two heads: the frst towards Monte originally a fortress defending Rome. At the foot Cassino, the second towards Monastery Hill. By of the hill lay the town of Cassino, through which the end of February, the 78th British Infantry ar‐ ran the Rapido River. Monte Cassino was the most rived at the scene and was chosen to forge ahead strategic point in the Gustav Line, the Winter towards Monte Cassino under New Zealander Line’s main line of defense, and created a bottle‐ command. The attack began on March 17. Follow‐ neck for the Allied forces who had to frst go ing heavy artillery fre, the New Zealand soldiers through it in order to capture Rome. On February crawled their way along the channel. By the end 11, after three days of unsuccessfully storming of the day the Allies made camp a mere two hun‐ Monte Cassino, the American forces retreated. dred meters from Monastery Hill, with the force

2 H-Net Reviews of a battalion, while the battles in Monte Cassino This chain of events is meticulously described raged on. The initial success of the attack was in Caddick-Adams’s fascinating book, presenting overshadowed by the German reinforcement ca‐ one of the harshest battles for the western Allies pabilities, due to their control of the nearby town. on the European front during WWII. The book is The 1st Fallschirmjäger Division held strong, their based on a variety of frsthand sources, including counterattack preventing Allied attacks from German documents, as well as diaries and jour‐ pressing on. On March 20 the 78th Division began nals written by participating soldiers. Despite the asserting more dominance in the battle, but the main focus on the battles surrounding Monte British still failed in blocking German reinforce‐ Cassino, the book begins with a general analysis ment. British success amounted to little more than of the battles leading up to the Allied standstill in several occupied territories throughout town. the face of the Winter Line. Thus the author pro‐ Three days later the attack was called of, and the vides the foundation to understanding the battles Allied forces turned their attention to stabilizing and events leading up to breaching the German the front after both sides sufered great losses. lines of defense in central Italy in general, and Allied attention then turned towards western specifcally the battles around Monte Cassino. The Italy. The Liri valley seemed to be the ideal route fnal two chapters describe the military processes to Rome. The plan was to land in Anzio, north of following the breach, the occupation of Rome, and Gustav Line, in an efort to force the Germans to the advance north. Thus the author combines mi‐ retreat. However, the swift bridge-top breach was cro and macro analysis, providing the reader an never realized. The forces that landed in Anzio inclusive, encompassing discussion describing all were held back at the bridge, barely deterring the stages of the harsh Italian campaign. Caddick- German attacks. Only after four attacks (or three, Adams provides a comprehensive military analy‐ according to some accounts) taking place between sis, and together with the decision-making January and May of 1944 did the Allies fnally process carried by the commanding forces on breach Gustav Line thanks to a joint attack by the both ends, the reader gains a full perspective of Fifth and Eighth armies, aided by French, Polish, the complexity of the Italian campaign. Present‐ and Canadian forces. The line was breached at a ing a combination of military analysis with the thirty-two-kilometer front between Monte Cassino authentic experiences of the soldiers--the burden and the sea to the west. of war, the harsh climate, the wretched land‐ scape--makes the book complete. This work is an The battles were accompanied by horrendous important addition to the Italian campaign litera‐ acts toward the Italian population who opposed ture, a campaign sometimes deemed insignifcant German occupation and the Salo regime with par‐ when compared to the other battles in Europe, the tisan activities. At the same time, the Anzio forces eastern front and the Pacifc theater. Surely, the managed to break through from atop the bridge, hundreds of thousands of soldiers who lost their but failed to surround the 10th German Army re‐ lives in Italy would have thought diferently. treating from Gustav Line, in part due to the Fifth Army commander General Mark Clark, who fa‐ Here is a well-written book which meticulous‐ vored a hasty occupation of Rome instead, and ly details the Italian campaign. Despite the book the city was captured by Allied forces on June 4, being a military history study, Caddick-Adams 1944. News of the successful recapture was lost in does not neglect the human factor, enabling the the general excitement over the successful Nor‐ reader to appreciate this oft-overlooked aspect. mandy landing. The book joins a rapidly growing group of studies which incorporate military analysis and the hu‐ man experience. In the historiographical sense, it

3 H-Net Reviews is not merely a study of the Italian theater, but also a study of the diferent aspects of the soldier who carried the physical and emotional weight of the battle on his shoulder.

If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-war

Citation: Tal Tovy. Review of Caddick-Adams, Peter. Monte Cassino: Ten Armies in Hell. H-War, H-Net Reviews. January, 2015.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=38894

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

4