[68skylark]

The abbey is a famous location in Italy. The battle was ferocious.

[Solamente]

http://www.officine.it/montecassino/main_e.htm

[FlingWingFlyer]

You faked me out. I Googled Monte Cassino and it is in Italy. Just where I thought. Whew! I thought I was losing my mind.

[Nancee]

Can't help other than to give this a BUMP!!!

:-)

[Michael.SF.]

There was also a WW II movie on Monte Casino, intended as a promotional, (directed by John Huston ??). It was never released as it was deemed 'unacceptably realistic'.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Here's more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino

[68skylark]

The 34th ID is a National Guard division from Iowa and Minnesota. They are credited with taking more fortified hills in WWII than any other unit in Europe, including "Hill 609" which broke the back of axis resistance in N. Africa.

A lot of their early history in WWII is told in this magnificent book:

http://www.amazon.com/Army-Dawn-1942-1943-Liberation-Trilogy/dp/0805074481/sr=1-1/qid=1166664443/ref=pd_bbs_1/105-2037129-5678053?ie=UTF8&s=books

[ArtyFO]

A polish brigade captured the hill and took many casualties.

[Michael.SF.]

[RaceBannon]

Monte Casino is in Italy, part of the Gustav line

We thought it was being held by the Germans, but it was not, we leveled it.

[brazzaville]

Good evening.

Monte Cassino was a mountain in Italy which dominated the the German Gustav Line from January until early summer of '44.

There was a very old abbey on top that was destroyed by Allied bombers to deny it's use as a observation post and stronghold.

German paratroopers occupied the ruins and held the Allies at bay through spring. When the Gustav line was finally pierced, southwest of Monte Cassino, I believe, the surviving paratroopers simply melted away and pulled back to a new defensive line.

Allied forces drove north, linked with troops from the Anzio bridgehead and drove into Rome.

There were still intact German units fighting in the north of Italy when Berlin fell in 1945.

It's a pretty amazing story no matter whose story is being told.

Michael Frazier

[Cicero]

I won't get into who was to blame for the destruction of Monte Casino, but it was a terrible tragedy. It was one of the oldest monuments of Christian European Civilization.

The Abbey at Montecasino was founded by Saint Benedict himself, the founder of the Benedictine order and the savior of European civilization.

It was destroyed four times: By the Langoberds, by the Saracens, by an earthquake, and by allied bombing.

According to most accounts, the first time it was bombed there were no German troops in it. Only lated, after the first bombing, did they move in. So, I suppose you can blame both the American and British commanders and the Germans for this destruction of an ancient and venerable monastery.

Here's a brief extract of a generally good history of the several battles of Montecasino at Wikepedia, concerning the bombing that did most of the damage:

---

Pope Pius XII was silent after the bombing; however, his secretary of state, Cardinal Maglione, bluntly stated to the senior U.S. diplomat to the Vatican, Harold Tittmann, that the bombing was “a colossal blunder . . . a piece of gross stupidity.”

What is certain from every investigation that followed since the event, is the fact that the only people killed in the monastery by the bombing were Italian civilians seeking refuge in the abbey. There was never any evidence, then or now, that the bombs dropped on the Monte Cassino monastery that day killed a single German. However, given the imprecision of bombing in those days (it was estimated that only 10% of the bombs from the heavy bombers, bombing from high altitude, hit the monastery) bombs did fall elsewhere and killed German and Allied troops alike.

The American government's position on the bombing changed over a quarter century in installments, in small corrections, in evasive and subtle rewording from “irrefutable evidence” of German use of the abbey to the final correction in 1969 of the U.S. Army’s official history, that “the abbey was actually unoccupied by German troops.”

[SandRat]

Have fun!

go here http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/brochures/romar/72-20.htm

and here http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/vhp-stories/loc.natlib.afc2001001.05844/enlarge?ID=pm0042001&page=1

Air photos graphically depict the destruction of the abbey of Monte Cassino in southwestern Italy. Monte Cassino was the target of several concentrated Allied air strikes and assaults in the early months of 1944.
From the National Archives here http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/lae/images/LE282L9.jpg and http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/lae/images/LE282L10.jpg

and here http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/brochures/naples/72-17.htm

and here http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/wwii/11-9/6-3.htm

34th Signal Initially South Dakota NG http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/STB/STB1BrigadeCombatTeam34InfantryDivision.htm

European Theater of Operations

On February 10, 1941, the 109th Engineer Regiment, 109th Quartermaster Regiment, and the 34th Signal Company, were called into active service, and assembled with the 34th Division at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. The 34th Division which contained the South Dakota units set sail for Ireland on January 14, 1942. The 1st Battalion, 109th Quartermaster and Company A, 109th Engineers were part of this movement, and the first soldier to disembark in Ireland, was a soldier from Pierre named Baer Schliussmann. The 34th Division landed in Oran, North Africa in January, 1943. They participated in the North Africa Campaign, the Italian Campaign and the occupation of Northern Italy after May of 1945.

[TET1968]

See:
The History of the Fallschirmpanzerkorps "HermannGöring" (FranzKurowski). Hard cover, small format (6"x9"), 504 pages, 157 photographs, 37 maps and 27 documents/orders of battle.

This book covers the entire history of the HG unit from its inception as Polizei-Regiment "Wecke" to its formation as a Parachute Panzerkorps. This elite unit fought in France (1940), Russia (1941/42), Tunisia, Sicily, Italy (Anzio and Monte Cassino), Poland (1944) and East Prussia. This is the first combat history of this formation. Price $50 USD / $62 CDN.

[LibFreeOrDie]

My father was in the Army Signal Corps, and at Monte Cassino. Luckily, he survived, and made it to Naples. Got a photo of him in his Army uniform, with Mt. Vesuvius in the background belching black smoke.

I'd recommend "Monte Cassino: The Hardest-Fought Battle of World War II" by Matthew Parker. The section about General Clark and the Rapido River is horrifying.

[managusta]

From the National Guard Association.

"34th Signal Company, Oregon Boost Museum Inventory"

"With the members of the World War II-era 34th Signal Company dwindling, the company's association recently donated their entire collection of historic artifacts to the National Guard Memorial Museum.

They are leaving to the National Guard Educational Foundation (NGEF) an "invaluable gift to future generations," says Jason Hall, NGEF director.

The 34th Signal Company was part of the Guard's 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division, which spent more time in combat than other U.S. infantry division in World War II.

During the Allied advance into Africa and Italy, the 34th Signal Company's wiremen and radio operators maintained contact between the division headquarters in the rear and those at the front.

They laid 2,019 miles of wire from January to July 1944, and installed 40 switchboards, (one of which they donated to the museum). This work alone brought the total teletype traffic to 453,707 groups at the time.

Wiremen of the 34th Signal Company overcame especially adverse conditions on the march to Monte Cassino, Italy, connecting units by laying 160 miles of wire over rugged terrain, dodging friendly vehicle traffic movement and enemy fire.

On Dec. 9, 1944, the company received a meritorious service plaque, now also part of the museum collection for its exploits from January to July 1944

Don Smith of Watertown, S.D., coordinated the donation for the museum, working with the remaining veterans of the 34th Signal Company to collect and pack the items for transport.

Items include uniforms, documents, a photo album from the Italian campaign, field phones, a field switch-board and other items related to the company.

The museum also recently received several artifacts from the Oregon Military Museum.

Of note is an M1898 Mills cartridge belt used during the Philippine Insurrection, which began in the late 19th century.

The 2nd Oregon was heavily engaged in the Philippines. In the conflict's first year, three 2nd Oregon members earned the Medal of Honor.

Also included in the donation is a haversack used by a member of Company F, 3rd Oregon Infantry Regiment in either the Mexican Border Mobilization or World War I."

The "34th Signal Company Chronicle: Cassino and Its Abbey"
most probably, historically details the unit's activities and casualties during the 34th. Infantry Division's valiant but unsuccessful attempts at storming the Abbey on the crest of Monte Cassino and the village of Cassino below
the Abbey.

Some further information on the unit and the Italian campaign can be found at:-

http://custermen.com/ItalyWW2/Units/Division34.html

Your book may have historical significance,check with the Signal Corps Museum.

http://www.gordon.army.mil/ocos/Museum/

and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library.

http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/museum.htm

Where the papers of Major General Charles Wolcott Ryder, Commanding Officer of the 34th Infantry
Division and IX Corps during World War II are on display.

Interestingly, Eisenhower was the 34th. POTUS.

[mware]

My father was in the artillary and watched as they bombed Monte Casino.

The Church and Abby was atop the highest mountain in the area giving them full view of the terrain around them. My dad said that they thought that the Germans were using it to recon.

The Pole eventually took Casino I believe.