Allied losses of 40,000 and German fatal casualties of 25,000. As the train approaches Cassino from the north, the Rapido Valley narrows into a thin strip of land with the whole landscape dominated by the Benedictine Abbey, high up above the town. Looking at the local topography it is immediately apparent why this strategically important bottleneck was to become the key point in Kesselring's Gustav Defence Line. Tank outside Station Outside the railway station an American M10 tank destroyer sits under the shade of a tree in the centre of a roundabout. It is a quite spot and the tank seems strangely incongrous in this small provincial Italian town.
Negotiations start with a local taxi driver.
It is a Sunday, there is no public transport and the streets are empty. But before we start, a walk into town. During the first stage of the battle the U.S. 34th Division had lost in excess of 2,200 men forcing the first bridgehead over the River Rapido. The 34th and 36th U.S. Divisions were decimated during the early days and this had left Clarke's Fifth Army in a bad way. Cassino Town is all modern blocks.