Thanks for this wonderful presentation Jeffrey. Your book sounds fantastic. We spent a couple nights in Cassino during our WW2 tour, but there is so much of WW2 and Italy to see, it was hard to absorb it all. I did learn about the enormous sacrifice of all the nationalities that took part in the battle of Cassino. Since my husband's 2nd cousin was killed on Snakehead Ridge during the first battle, we wanted to get to Snakehead Ridge but never had the time. We always wanted to go back, but not sure if I could do that hike! I enjoyed Gareth's film clips too. Thanks for keeping history alive Woody.
Really excited to watch this. Hopefully down the road Terry Copp or OTD can come on to talk about Canadian armour in the Monte Casino breakout, Liri Valley, and Melfa River. Incredible stories alongside attached Indian, Kiwi, and British units.
Watching this on a rerun today, brilliant presentation by Jeffrey and Paul. Went to my local barbers today and the owner said his father was wounded in the Cassino operation. He said the conditions were terrible, not sure what regiment he was from. I cannot believe had rugged the terrain was, it amazing how the human can overcome these conditions. Thanks to you both, more on the Italian campaign in the future Paul if possible.
Thanks both, I'll be in Cassino in a couple of weeks and was planning walking the Cavendish Road but with only a sketchy knowledge so good to get a better idea of its history and how it tied in with the wider battles
Thank you for providing the description and the wonderful photos . I read of this but did not realise that tanks from Indian,American, New Zealand units were all involved.
One has to admire the pluck of the New Zealand tankers, and the Americans as well for giving it a try. If only the German Paras were not so aggressive and full of initiative it might have succeeded. I shall now be able to play "Thunder at Cassino" by Avalon Hill with a much better appreciation for the terrain and the bravery of the combatants on both sides. Inspiring presentation.
Enjoyed Jeremy's presentation of slides and the then-and-now juxtaposition of the route the tanks took. Amazing work by the engineers to make those passes fit for tanks and incredible courage for the crews to press home the attack in spite of the obvious bottlenecks they're advancing through. 13:15 the narrowness of the track and rough terrain in the pic just emphasises the absolute horror Allied troops had to advance in the southern Apennines. In an overview book of the Italian campaign I read (can't remember the title or authors), one of the chapters on the Northern Apennines campaign (before the breakout into the Po River plains) published a translated French poem "but where are the passes fit for jeeps?!" written by a French private (fed up by the narrow mountain tracks) who had been assured by an officer in Southern Italy that "when we get up further north, you'll have passes fit for jeeps!". Needless to say, the poem recounts the Northern campaign with the same dangers as before but with every verse ending in his question. I've been unable to find it on the net unfortunately. As to the comment the Germans had it easy with the terrain regards making any advance of Allied tanks almost easy to destroy, I was reminded of a report in the great John Ellis book Cassino: The Hollow Victory (1984). A British patrol captured a surrendering Luftwaffe 88 gunner who had been destroying a column of tanks on a narrow pass one after the other. When asked why he surrendered, the gunner replied: I ran out of shells.
Was in Italy before all the COVID madness and stayed in Cassino. The Italians are disappointing with their lack of museums, markers of significant events, etc of WWII. It is nothing like Normandy. Their is a museum, run by a friend of a friend, in Eboli but it is really pictures with descriptions of events although their is a German MG-42 there. Sant'Angelo does have a nice little museum which shows the film General Mark Clark made. The picture at 24:14 of The Second Bottlene was full of the European version of American Boy Scouts- in fact, all of Mt. Cassino seems to be a hiking and camping destination.
Check out Marocchinate, basically the Germans pulled out of the monastery and the French walked in and took it at the end, as a reward for taking this "Symbol" as your guest pointed out, the French pulled a Berlin/Nanking/Hong Kong style episode on the women and little girls of the region for a number of days, murdering any of the men who tried to interfere. No Geneva convention for them. Maybe you should interview some of the survivors who are undoubtedly there still. Casino was an all round disgrace. Would make for a nice cold sticky episode of your excellent show though.
We went with a now out of business tour group, Beyond the Band of Brothers on their Italian Campaign Tour in 2017. We went to a LOT of museums, some big, some small. One of my best memories was going to see a memorial where the 82nd Airborne landed and many perished at Point Dirillo Sicily. There is a Sicilian man that takes care of the memorial. He invited us back to his house (about 26 of us) to use the restroom. We walk in and he has a big room of artifacts he found. Then he has scrapbooks, books, maps, that we could see and browse through. He was so happy he was in tears. So were we.
What resolution do you watch at? At 1080p it should be fine - depending on what size screen you are watching on of course. The map used in this show though was really for context. As you would have seen the numbered/lettered earial photos were the main means of indicating the areas
Fascinating presentation. The photos enhanced the presentation and showed the difficulty presented by the terrain. Many thanks
Thanks for this wonderful presentation Jeffrey. Your book sounds fantastic. We spent a couple nights in Cassino during our WW2 tour, but there is so much of WW2 and Italy to see, it was hard to absorb it all. I did learn about the enormous sacrifice of all the nationalities that took part in the battle of Cassino. Since my husband's 2nd cousin was killed on Snakehead Ridge during the first battle, we wanted to get to Snakehead Ridge but never had the time. We always wanted to go back, but not sure if I could do that hike! I enjoyed Gareth's film clips too. Thanks for keeping history alive Woody.
Really excited to watch this. Hopefully down the road Terry Copp or OTD can come on to talk about Canadian armour in the Monte Casino breakout, Liri Valley, and Melfa River. Incredible stories alongside attached Indian, Kiwi, and British units.
Brad would be great for this topic
Great presentation of an aspect of the fight for Monte Cassino and the incredible things that armies do to get at the enemy. Brutal and futile war
Not futile as they stopped the Nazis and Japanese.
Watching this on a rerun today, brilliant presentation by Jeffrey and Paul. Went to my local barbers today and the owner said his father was wounded in the Cassino operation. He said the conditions were terrible, not sure what regiment he was from. I cannot believe had rugged the terrain was, it amazing how the human can overcome these conditions. Thanks to you both, more on the Italian campaign in the future Paul if possible.
Thanks both, I'll be in Cassino in a couple of weeks and was planning walking the Cavendish Road but with only a sketchy knowledge so good to get a better idea of its history and how it tied in with the wider battles
If you have time to get Jeffreys book before you go it would really help you
@@WW2TV Not enough time to get it and have a decent look at it, I've made a note to order it when I get back
Thank you for providing the description and the wonderful photos . I read of this but did not realise that tanks from Indian,American, New Zealand units were all involved.
Never heard of this until now. Great to learn new stuff.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Really interesting watch. Great research.
One has to admire the pluck of the New Zealand tankers, and the Americans as well for giving it a try. If only the German Paras were not so aggressive and full of initiative it might have succeeded. I shall now be able to play "Thunder at Cassino" by Avalon Hill with a much better appreciation for the terrain and the bravery of the combatants on both sides. Inspiring presentation.
Enjoyed Jeremy's presentation of slides and the then-and-now juxtaposition of the route the tanks took. Amazing work by the engineers to make those passes fit for tanks and incredible courage for the crews to press home the attack in spite of the obvious bottlenecks they're advancing through.
13:15 the narrowness of the track and rough terrain in the pic just emphasises the absolute horror Allied troops had to advance in the southern Apennines. In an overview book of the Italian campaign I read (can't remember the title or authors), one of the chapters on the Northern Apennines campaign (before the breakout into the Po River plains) published a translated French poem "but where are the passes fit for jeeps?!" written by a French private (fed up by the narrow mountain tracks) who had been assured by an officer in Southern Italy that "when we get up further north, you'll have passes fit for jeeps!".
Needless to say, the poem recounts the Northern campaign with the same dangers as before but with every verse ending in his question. I've been unable to find it on the net unfortunately.
As to the comment the Germans had it easy with the terrain regards making any advance of Allied tanks almost easy to destroy, I was reminded of a report in the great John Ellis book Cassino: The Hollow Victory (1984). A British patrol captured a surrendering Luftwaffe 88 gunner who had been destroying a column of tanks on a narrow pass one after the other. When asked why he surrendered, the gunner replied: I ran out of shells.
Great account at the end there Marksandsparks, thanks for sharing
Was in Italy before all the COVID madness and stayed in Cassino. The Italians are disappointing with their lack of museums, markers of significant events, etc of WWII. It is nothing like Normandy. Their is a museum, run by a friend of a friend, in Eboli but it is really pictures with descriptions of events although their is a German MG-42 there. Sant'Angelo does have a nice little museum which shows the film General Mark Clark made. The picture at 24:14 of The Second Bottlene was full of the European version of American Boy Scouts- in fact, all of Mt. Cassino seems to be a hiking and camping destination.
You think that the Italians there want a museum honoring the rape of Monte Casino?
What an odd comment. Museums are even more important when they record the history of events with a tragic element
Check out Marocchinate, basically the Germans pulled out of the monastery and the French walked in and took it at the end, as a reward for taking this "Symbol" as your guest pointed out, the French pulled a Berlin/Nanking/Hong Kong style episode on the women and little girls of the region for a number of days, murdering any of the men who tried to interfere. No Geneva convention for them. Maybe you should interview some of the survivors who are undoubtedly there still. Casino was an all round disgrace. Would make for a nice cold sticky episode of your excellent show though.
We went with a now out of business tour group, Beyond the Band of Brothers on their Italian Campaign Tour in 2017. We went to a LOT of museums, some big, some small. One of my best memories was going to see a memorial where the 82nd Airborne landed and many perished at Point Dirillo Sicily. There is a Sicilian man that takes care of the memorial. He invited us back to his house (about 26 of us) to use the restroom. We walk in and he has a big room of artifacts he found. Then he has scrapbooks, books, maps, that we could see and browse through. He was so happy he was in tears. So were we.
Please don't put up an unreadable map. It doesn't help.
What resolution do you watch at? At 1080p it should be fine - depending on what size screen you are watching on of course. The map used in this show though was really for context. As you would have seen the numbered/lettered earial photos were the main means of indicating the areas