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Week 234 - The Destruction of Monte Cassino - February 18, 1944

The Allies bomb the monastery atop Monte Cassino in Italy, but just to the Northwest it's the Germans attacking them at Anzio this week. In the Soviet Union, the Axis break out of the Korsun Pocket, but at great cost, and in the Pacific comes a major Allied raid on the Japanese base at Truk and landings on Eniwetok Atoll. Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory Or join the TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv/signup/ Check out our TimeGhost History YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/timeghost Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrG5J-K5AYAU1R-HeWSfY2D1jy_sEssNG Follow WW2 Day by Day on Instagram: @ww2_day_by_day Follow TimeGhost History on Instagram: @timeghosthistory Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TimeGhostHistory/ Hosted by: Indy Neidell Director: Astrid Deinhard Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson Creative Producer: Marek Kamiński Community Management: Ian Sowden Written by: Indy Neidell Research by: Indy Neidell Map animations by: Daniel Weiss Map research by: Sietse Kenter Edited by: Iryna Dulka Artwork and color grading by: Mikołaj Uchman Sound design by: Marek Kamiński Colorizations by: Mikołaj Uchman Dememorabilia - https://www.instagram.com/dememorabilia/ Election1960 from wiki commons Source literature list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources Archive footage: Screenocean/Reuters - https://www.screenocean.com Image sources: IWM S15 42, NA 10630, NA 12816, EA 17892, D26065, NA 13276, NA 13800, NA 15141, HU 59574 Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound: Easy Target - Rannar Sillard Leave It All Here - Fabien Tell Dragon King - Jo Wandrini Trapped in a Maze - Philip Ayers One Way North - Jon Sumner Secret Cargo - Craft Case Last Point of Safe Return - Fabien Tell Out the Window - Wendel Scherer Easy Target - Rannar Sillard The Beast - Dream Cave Split Decision - Rannar Sillard The Twelve Spies - Silver Maple Icicles - Jon Bjork A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

Comments

Anonymous

I’m surprised there is no mention of the Poles at Monte Cassino.

Anonymous

When I was teaching high school history, I always made sure to spend a few minutes on Wojtek. The kids absolutely loved it, and it was an opportunity to show them how much more there is to history than just numbers and dates and "great people".

Anonymous

"It was just before dawn One miserable morning in black 'forty four When the forward commander Was told to sit tight When he asked that his men be withdrawn And the Generals gave thanks As the other ranks held back The enemy tanks for a while And the Anzio bridgehead Was held for the price Of a few hundred ordinary lives" Pink Floyd, When The Tigers Broke Free

Anonymous

That's correct; the Poles won't come in until the 4th and final battle for the monastery in May... although since we're only in February of 1944 at the moment, we don't know about that yet. Nor do we know what it will be like to stand in the rebuilt monastery in 2016 as I will go on to do in the distant future, look down on the Polish memorial, look at the size of it, realise what it meant and mutter "Oh. My. God" under my breath.

Anonymous

IIRC they got to do the final attack that took the Abbey ruins.

Anonymous

FWIW, the Allied deception pros in the Western desert learned the hard way not to make the enemy "think" anything because they may think exactly what you want them to "think" - but react to it far differently than you wanted them to "do". They asked their higher commanders after that experience "what do you want the enemy to do".

Alex Amerling

The Lehr Infantry sure showed its inexperience despite its elite apperance.

Ted Jones

How did this not go to War Against Humanity? I was wondering if both of you might share this one.

Anonymous

The destruction of the monastery is certainly one of the tragic things that happen in wars. Could it have been avoided? The answer is yes, did it really change things? The answer is no. But at the time, were these answers known? Who can say without the benefit of hindsight, which is always 20/20?

Anonymous

What has happened to War Against Humanity? We have gone a few weeks without an episode.

Anonymous

Really nice to see someone remembers the series of war against humanity. I am sure Indy and company will not dare to cover the fiasco created by Allies by ruining the Abbey, that too when the result of the destruction created right spot for ambush. The Germans now got suitable position for ambush in the damaged ruins for snipers and for ambush as they had experienced in Stalingrad. Really I feel that British and American generals were too brash or overconfident or plain stupid. AND INDY AND COMPANY DON'T HAVE THE COURAGE TO SPELL OUT THIS TRAITS OF ALLIES

Anonymous

Why is this so hostile? The most important humanitarian disaster of February 1944 was not the destruction of an abbey in Italy. Several older and more important monuments have already been destroyed and more will be destroyed as the war goes on. Generally, these haven't been destroyed as matters of policy. Usually, the destruction has been collateral damage as part of a bombing raid or the shelling of a city. What makes Monte Cassino stand out, was that it was alone and isolated. This means that it wasn't likely to be damaged incidentally as so many other monuments had. And it wasn't. It was destroyed intentionally. This is why it stands out. The destruction of a monument and the deaths of a few hundred civilians is an average Tuesday in WW2.

Anonymous

I would point out Mr Sharma that Indy, Sparty and the rest of these wonderful historian's rightly question the allied area bombing of Germany and the Bengal famine which my own nation Britain perpetrated, no one comes out clean from war. A little perspective please.

Anonymous

My uncle was part of the landing at Anzio. One night I watched a History channel documentary regarding destruction of the monastery. The phone rang, my uncle was livid with the documentary. He screamed "It didn't happen that way! I was there! I am sure the historical portrayal is accurate, and the Nazi's did not occupy the monastery. However, I also believe Indy is correct regarding the effect of the ancient building on Allied troop morale. (Don't recall who the quote was from.) Uncle Mike served through North Africa, participated in the invasion of Sicily, the entire Italian campaign. When he drank too much (which was often) the stories were always about Montecasino and Anzio.

Anonymous

Problem is the acknowledgement of guilt and asking for forgiveness. The POMs have never done so for the slaughter the idiot M.F. Churchill deliberately caused in India