Stalingrad in Italian
On the morning of May 18, 1944, the reconnaissance group of the Carpathian division of the 2 Polish Corps captured the ruins of the monastery of Monte Cassino and hoisted its flag there. Thus ended a five-month battle, which would later be called the Stalingrad of the Italian campaign 1944 of the year. During the long five months of bloody battles, tens of thousands of soldiers of the United States, Algeria, Britain, Germany, India, Italy, Canada, Morocco, New Zealand, Poland, Tunisia, France were killed here ...
The Allied offensive ran into an impregnable wall of defense of the German troops. Its backbone was made up of units of the elite 1 th parachute and 5 th mountain rifle divisions. The defense of Monte Cassino was one of the most famous battles of German paratroopers, once again demonstrating the superiority of tactics and morale. It was after this battle that the German paratroopers began to call the “green devils” in the camp of the allied forces ...
From Salerno to Monte Cassino
For many, the Wehrmacht’s Italian campaign has certainly become one of the best examples of effective and long-lasting defense at a strategic, operational and tactical level. Being in a numerical minority and possessing a limited number of military equipment, the Wehrmacht managed to forge major Allied forces, prevented them from making a decisive breakthrough and imposed grueling defensive battles.
Having withdrawn Italy from the 8 war of September 1943 of the year, landed in Salerno and seized Naples on October 9, the Allies decided to concentrate their efforts on seizing Rome before starting preparations for Operation Overlord in anticipation of the landing in Normandy. But by the end of December 1, the attack on Rome was crawling at the speed of a snail. In fact, the Italian campaign of the Allies was stumped.
The local landscape favored the defenders. The spine of Italy - the Apennine ridge at the highest point reaches 2900 m. From it, the mountain ranges and valleys diverge to the narrow coastal stripes - 40 km in the west and 15 km in the east. Even with good weather, the roads in these areas were unsuitable for advancing mechanized supply columns. German troops of Army Group C, commanded by Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, made the most of the relief features when creating defenses. To stop the Allied forces, German military engineers led by General Hans Bessel erected the so-called “Gustav Line”, which stretched across the entire width of Central Italy, from the mouth of the Sangro River in the east, through the Abruzzi Mountains to the mouths of the Rapido and Garigliano in the west. Fortifications controlled defile, on which stood the city of Cassino. In 900 m west of Cassino, there was Mount Monte Cassino (altitude 527 m), on top of which was an old Benedictine monastery. It was the dominant height of the Liri River valley, which stretched through the mountains to the north and hung over the road "number 6" - the main highway connecting the southern regions with Rome.
The Allies faced a difficult task, as the German sappers literally bit into the rocks throughout the entire front, strengthening their positions. Roads and trails were mined. Minefields were located in ravines and approaches hidden in the folds of the terrain. Bridges and plumbing destroyed. Machine-gun and mortar firing positions, often drowned on 1 – 1,5 meters in solid rocks, blocked every path. Only massive fire could destroy these positions. On the slopes of the mountains behind the beds of streams and in narrow valleys dozens of mutually supportive firing points were placed. Using these fortifications, small forces could defend ravines, ravines and impassable paths that led to the mountains, even from superior enemy forces.
To further impede the advancement of the enemy, the lands in front of Rapido east of Cassino were flooded. The supply of the Allied troops was carried out in the conditions of impassable mountains and, of course, off-road, which forced them to act in a complex and unfamiliar environment ...
For the defense of the Gustav Line and Monte Cassino, the 10-I German Army, Colonel-General Heinrich von Fitingof, had 15 divisions. In the area of Cassino were part of the 5-th Mountain Division, Lieutenant-General Julius Ringel and 1-th parachute division, Lieutenant-General Richard Heydrich. The defense of Cassino again brought down parachutists and mountain riflemen who had fought together in Crete two years before ...
First Parachute Division
The first parachute division was rightfully considered one of the best in the German army. Renamed in May 1943 of the 7th aviation divisions, it had three parachute regiments, an artillery regiment, and separate battalions: communications, engineer, anti-aircraft, transport, reserve, sanitary, anti-tank, machine-gun. Its full staffing was to be about 12 people, the number of parachute regiment was 000 people.
The main advantage of the division was its well-trained, personal, especially officer and junior command, personnel. The German paratroopers who survived the landings in the Netherlands and on Crete went through a good school of defensive battles on the Eastern Front on the Volkhov River in 1941 and near Rzhev in 1942. As a mobile high command reserve, the first parachute division that was part of the 11 Air Corps, from July 12, took part in the Italian campaign in July 1943. Combat groups of German paratroopers participated in the battles in Sicily, in the areas of Taranto and Salerno, near Ortona and Orsonya.
The division was headed by 47-year-old Lieutenant-General Richard Heydrich, a veteran of the First World War, a knight of the Knight's Cross for Crete and the German Cross in gold for battles near Leningrad. The first parachute units arrived at Monte Cassino were headed by the commander of the 1 parachute regiment, Colonel Karl Lothar Schulz, Knight's Cross holder for the battles in Holland. The 1 and 2 battalions of the 1 parachute regiment, the 3 battalion of the 3 regiment and the parachute machine-gun battalion entered his battle group. They took positions stretching from Monte Cassino to Monte Calvario along the front for over a kilometer. Supported by a significant amount of artillery, the German paratroopers defending the “Gustav Line” were confident that they would be able to fight off any attempt to break through ...
American attack on January 44
The command of the Allies, trying to circumvent the "line of Gustav," landed 22 in January in the rear of the German troops in the Anzio area a large landing force. Almost simultaneously, on January 17, diversionary attacks began in the area of the Garigliano river. As you know, these operations were not successful. This forced the commander of 5, the American army of General Mark Clark, to inflict a frontal strike on 24 in January of 1944 in the Cassino area with the forces of the 34 of the American infantry division and the French Expeditionary Force. After a week of fighting, 34-division of General Charles Ryder eventually forced the flooded bed of the Rapido River. The units advanced almost 3 km to the mountains around Cassino and stopped at 400 meters from the monastery.
The steep slopes did not allow tanks Maintain infantry by slowing the advance. The slopes were cut by deep gorges that sheltered the Germans during firing raids, served them as advanced positions and provided safe escape routes. Having excellent visibility, German artillery observers were aware of all Allied movements, making it difficult for them to supply and evacuate troops.
Allied soldiers were at a thousand meters from the 6 highway, but the Germans stubbornly defended every rock, every turn of a mountain road, every cave. Only by February 11 (!!!) parts of the 133 American Infantry Regiment and five tanks made their way into the city of Cassino, but were immediately dislodged from there.
At this point, the 2 troops of the US Corps of General Keyes lost in the January battles of 12000 people killed, wounded and missing. The 142 American Infantry Regiment was actually destroyed. From the subsidiary companies of the 2 Corps: drivers, clerks and cooks had to form temporary combat units. On February 11 the offensive was stopped, and the 2 American Corps was withdrawn from the front for rest and replenishment. Against the background of this defeat, the success of the 3 Algerian division, which managed to gain a foothold on the top of Monte Belvedere and even capture a 500 man in captivity, looked bright ...
Abbey tragedy
The threatening situation on the bridgehead in Anzio forced the Allied command to continue the offensive. The New Zealand Corps of General Bernard Freiberg took over the 2 American Corps. His Francis Tucker 4 Indian Division was to advance from the north, along the mountain ranges to the monastic mountain, and General Howard Kippenberger's 2 New Zealand Division to attack the Cassino railway station. The allies were convinced that the abbey (in the perimeter of 230 m), with walls 3 m thick and 45 m high, was an excellent German stronghold prepared for defense, from which artillery fire was adjusted. The commander of the Allied air forces in the Mediterranean, General Ira Iker, flying over the monastery by plane, claimed that he had seen a radio tower, a German uniform hung up to dry and machine-gun trenches under the fortress wall.
On February 14, leaflets were dropped over Cassino, warning the local population and soldiers that February 16 would bomb the monastery and its surroundings. But in fact, not a single German soldier crossed the territory of the abbey. By order of Field Marshal Kesselring back in October 1943, all valuables were transferred from the monastery to Rome and the entire population was evacuated. Only the abbot Grigorio Diamare, ten monks and several hundred refugee peasants remained in the abbey. The Germans guarded only the entrance and did not approach directly to the abbey, drawing a circle at a distance of two hundred meters from it. Was the destruction of the ancient monastery justified by military necessity for the allies? Alas, there was no need for this - there were many other heights around the valley, on which German observers were ...
On the morning of February 15, 229 bombers (of which 142 Boeing B-17 were X) brought down the monastery mountain and the positions of the first parachute division to more than 600 tons of bombs. In the abbey turned into ruins, more than three hundred civilians were killed. But the air strike was struck by the Air Force command a day earlier than planned due to weather conditions. This did not allow ground units to prepare for an assault in time. Only on the night of 15 on the 16 of February, the Sussex Royal Regiment attacked the height of 593, but was forced to retreat.
The next night, the Rajputan infantry regiment was thrown into battle, and only after the fourth attack did he manage to get close to 1000 meters from the monastic mountain. The fact is that the battle group of the German paratroopers of Oberst Lothar Schulz led forty of the last civilians and monks out of the abbey, and then occupied the monastery. Numerous catacombs and underground tunnels have become an excellent defensive position. The paratroopers-machine-gunners caused serious damage to the Indian infantry. Their losses reached half of the personnel.
Only by the end of February 2, the New Zealand division seized Cassino station and, having crossed the Rapido river, pressed the 17 th Grenadier regiment of the 211 th infantry division. But the mountain river overturned and carried off the pontoons, prevented sappers from building bridges and crossings.
At the front of Cassino, the Germans tried to counterattack with superior forces of no less than a regiment in order to sweep the enemy bridgeheads. Once without the support of tanks and artillery, the New Zealanders of February 18 were forced to retreat. Due to bad weather conditions, the new 24 offensive in February was canceled ...
"Italian Stalingrad"
Twenty-one days of bad weather were used by the opponents to train and regroup the troops. Under the new plan, the New Zealand Corps concentrated both its divisions to strike at the monastery and the city of Cassino from the north. After that, a breakthrough, opening the way to Rome, was to be thrown fresh 78-I British infantry division. Given the previous experience, the Allies relied on superiority in technology, especially in aircraft, tanks and artillery, and on the effect of bombardment. The Allies again resorted to the tactic of ramming, completely forgetting about the possibility of a bypass maneuver.
This time the German command completely defended the first parachute division with the defense of the 13-kilometer area of Cassino. The fighting group of Schulz was replaced by the 3 th Parachute Regiment of Oberst Ludwig Heilman, Knight's Cross Knight for Crete, a veteran of the Eastern Front. The 1 and 4 parachute regiments are located in the city and suburb.
On the morning of March 15, 1944, the 445 bombers and the 150 attack aircraft bombed the city and its environs with more than 1150 tons of bombs. Following the bombing - a squall of 196 thousand projectiles fired from more than 750 guns. Then the New Zealand and Indian infantry went on the attack with the support of more than 400 armored vehicles. But the tanks fell behind the infantry, stuck in numerous funnels, which after the start of the rain began to turn into a continuous swamp mess. And although the Germans suffered significant losses, the ruins of the city and the abbeys provided them with even more shelters and convenient firing positions.
Now the Allied infantry was forced to clean up each destroyed building from German machine gunners and snipers. March 16 Gurkham from the 4 Indian Division unexpectedly managed to seize the Executioner Hill, located just 250 m from the abbey, and the New Zealanders - to capture the Castle Hill. This height at the foot of the monastery mountain the Germans tried to repel throughout the night. As a result, fierce fighting ensued, sometimes they turned into melee.
March 17 ram attack on a narrow section of the New Zealanders seized the railway station. After that, all the necessary equipment and weapons for the defense had to be delivered in the only way - by air. During the fighting in the area of Cassino, the German commanders distributed their tanks, assault guns and self-propelled guns between the fortified points and counterattacking troops. Only a few assault guns that operated with paratroopers, did not allow the allies to use their tanks to support the infantry.
On March 19, the Allied High Command issued an order to re-assault the city in order to seize all the strongholds with the forces of the New Zealand Maori and the frontal attack of the Gurkha on the abbey. In the morning, the monastery and the city were again bombed, but the parachutists in their underground bunkers almost did not suffer. For two weeks, the sappers of the 4 Indian Division, covering their work with camouflage screens, cleared one of the goat trails north of the abbey, turning it into a road for the 40 tanks of the Sherman 20 tank brigade. But the parachutists violated the plans of the attackers by attacking Zamkova Mountain. Once without the support of the infantry, the tank attack choked.
In the city itself, fighting continued as the attackers of New Zealanders cleaned the house behind the house, approaching the 6 highway. Hiding from the shelling in the bunkers and caves, they again and again arose among the ruins, penetrated into the rear of the attackers, and struck delicate blows with aimed fire. Only superiority in manpower and artillery allowed the allies to move forward.
For the final sweep of the city, the 78-i British division was even deployed. These battles increasingly resembled the German veterans of Stalingrad 1942 of the year: fruitless attacks, mutilated terrain, heavy losses. The paratroopers in Cassino even had their own "Pavlov's House" - the Continental Hotel, where the Germans barricaded themselves were fighting off the attacks of the Maori battalion. There was also his “Pavlov” - sergeant-major Walter Werner, who was awarded the Knight's Cross 9 on June 1944.
At this point in Italy 28 allied divisions were opposed by German 23. The situation became stalemate, and on March 26 the offensive was again stopped ...
"Meat grinder" in May 44
After that, Monte Cassino became an even more serious problem for the Allies. The Gustav Line should have been taken before the landing in Normandy. A new assault was scheduled for May to prevent the Germans from transferring reserves to France. Now British Field Marshal Harold Alexander has decided to act for sure - to realize his numerical superiority, concentrating two armies on the 30 kilometer front: the American 5 and the British 8. The American corps struck along the coast, the French - through the mountains of Aurunchi, the British attacked in the center across the Rapido river, and the storm of Monte Cassino fell to the Polish corps of Vladislav Anders. His 50-thousandth connection was formed in the USSR, in the 1942 year it was withdrawn to the Middle East and has not yet participated in the battles.
The corps was to bypass the abbey from the north, cut off the lines of communication and block the German paratroopers in the monastery. This time the Allies paid special attention to the camouflage and misinformation of the enemy. On the Mediterranean coast, mock-ups of equipment were built, imitating the preparation of a landing force. During the entire month and a half of preparation for the operation, the Rapido valley was camouflaged every evening by a smoke screen for the transfer of troops. All this allowed secretly to concentrate thirteen divisions, and not six, as the enemy believed ...
The German command regrouped the troops again. In the city of Cassino, the 4 th Parachute Regiment of Oberst Erich Walter, Knight's Cross holder for Holland, veteran of Crete, Sicily, defended. The 1 th parachute regiment along with the 71 th regiment of rocket artillery was in reserve of the division commander. The division was weakened by the transfer of its third battalions to form the 5 th parachute division. In reality, the regiments were skeletons opposed by the Allied army corps ...
Unexpectedly for the Germans, late in the evening 11 May 1944, over 2000 guns opened fire on their defensive positions and fired at it continuously for two hours. After a difficult night march along the rocky slopes, two Polish divisions captured the Ridge Ghost ridge, located 1800 meters from the abbey, and Snake's head ridge only in 1000 meters. Poles who had no combat experience suffered heavy losses from artillery, mortar and machine gun fire parachutists. But this was more than offset by their fighting spirit and courage. The German paratroopers lacked strength, their battalions numbered two hundred men, and the defense was held by separate strongholds overlapping each other with firing sectors. At dawn, the Germans counterattacked the Poles, who at night were forced to withdraw to their original positions, losing more than half of the personnel. But, alas, the Allies were obliged by the success of their fourth offensive to the Gumiera soldiers of 2 of the Moroccan division of the French corps of General Alfons Juan. They, natives of the Atlas Mountains, acting at night, captured the mountain of Monte Mayo, overcoming the mountains of Aurunchi, which the Germans considered impassable for infantry.
By May 16, the Hummers had broken through the “Gustav Line” to a depth of ten miles. This, in turn, allowed the British to cut the 6 highway number the next day. 1-I parachute division was under threat of encirclement in the abbey. The Poles continued the 17 attack in May. German paratroopers left the abbey at night. When on the morning of May 18 the reconnaissance patrol of the 12 regiment of the Podolsk Ulan entered the abbey, there remained 30 of wounded German soldiers. Poles hoisted the Polish flag over the ruins of the monastery as a symbol of victory. The five-month battle for Monte Cassino ended in Pyrrhic, but still a victory. The breakthrough of the Gustav line finally opened the road to Rome, which fell 4 June 1944 of the year ...
Red poppies at Monte Cassino
After the end of the battle, the landscape around Monte Cassino resembled paintings from the First World War on the Western Front. All the land was plowed over by bomb craters and shells, instead of houses - solid ruins. Among the destroyed urban buildings, thousands of soldiers laid down their heads on the mountain slopes and in the caves. The Allies lost more than 120 thousand people killed, wounded and missing, the Germans lost more than 20 thousand soldiers.
The battle for Monte Cassino was a classic example of defensive battles, which were attended by German paratroopers. They literally bite into the ground, turning the Gustav Line into an impregnable fortress. Neither aerial bombardment, nor many hours of artillery shelling, nor massive infantry and tank attacks could not break the paratroopers' will to resist. Their defensive tactics were competent and very effective, which turned the German tactical defensive success, first in operational, and then in strategic.
With very limited resources, the paratroopers managed to thwart the enemy’s offensive plans and hold him at the front at Monte Cassino until mid-May 1944. They opposed the numerical superiority of the allies to tactical skill and high morale. It was under Cassino that the combat motto of the division, “Fellowship, skill, honor!” Was born.
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