On February 11, after a 3-day attack on Monastery Hill and Cassino town, the Americans pulled back. U.S. II Corps was tired after two and a half weeks of fighting. They lost 80% in the Infantry battalions, about 2,200 casualties.
This was called Operation Avenger. With U.S. VI Corps under threat at Anzio, Freyberg asked to help at Cassini. Freyberg thought there was only a 50% chance of success for the attack.
Allied officers started to think the Germans were using the abbey of Monte Cassino as an artillery observation point. The Allies thought of bombing with "blockbuster" bombs.
The bombing in the morning of February 15, 1944 involved 142 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses heavy bombers followed by 47 North American B-25 Mitchell and 40 Martin B-26 Marauder medium bombers. They dropped 1,150 tons of bombs on the abbey. This turned it into rubble. II Corps artillery shelled the mountain. The German positions above and behind the monastery were untouched.
Pope Pius XII said nothing after the bombing. Cardinal Secretary of State called the bombing “stupidity.”
It is now known that the Germans had agreed not to use the Abbey for military purposes.
Following its destruction, paratroopers of the German 1st Parachute Division occupied the ruins of the abbey. They turned it into a fortress and observation post.
On the night following the bombing, a company of the 1st Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment attacked on Snakeshead Ridge. The attack failed, with the company getting 50% casualties.
The following night the Sussex Regiment was ordered to attack with a whole battalion at midnight. The Sussex battalion was fought off, once again sustaining over 50% casualties.
On the night of February 17 the main attack was done. The 4/6th Rajputana Rifles failed in their attack and had heavy losses.
In the other half of the main attack the two companies from 28th (Māori) Battalion from the New Zealand Division attempted to capture the railroad station in Cassino.
They were eventually pulled back.
For the third battle, it was decided to launch two attacks from the north. Before the attack, there was bombing by heavy bombers.
The third battle began March 15. After a bombing of 750 tons of bombs w for three and a half hours, the New Zealanders advanced. There was also an artillery attack from 746 artillery pieces. By the end of March 17 the Gurkhas held a point near the Abbey. New Zealand units and armour had captured the station.
March 19 was planned for the attack on the town and on the Abbey. An attack by the German 1st Parachute Division stopped the Allied attack and destroyed the tanks. In the town the attackers made little progress. Allied troops had to fight house by house.
Freyberg thought the attack could not continue and he ended it. The German 1st Parachute Division had taken heavy losses, but had held onto their position.
Fighting in Cassino caused the 4th Indian Division to lose 3,000 men and the New Zealand Division had 1,600 men killed, missing and wounded. The German defenders had heavy losses.
General Alexander's plan in Italy was to force the enemy to use the maximum number of divisions in Italy. With the arrival of the spring weather, it would be possible to use large groups of troops and armour.
The fourth battle was called "Operation Diadem". The plan was that U.S. II Corps on the left would attack up the coast. The French Corps would attack across the Garigliano. British XIII Corps in the centre right of the front would attack along the Liri valley. On the right Polish II Corps (3rd and 5th Divisions) would attack the Abbey. It took two months to get the troops ready. Movements of troops was done in the darkness.
The attack (11–12 May) on Cassino started at 23:00 with artillery bombing with 1,060 guns on the 8th Army front and 600 guns on the Fifth Army front. The U.S. II Corps made little progress. The French Expeditionary Force got into the Aurunci Mountains. In the mountains above Cassino, for three days Polish attacks and German attacks brought heavy losses to both sides.
By 13, the German right side began to lose to the Fifth Army. On 17 May, Polish II Corps launched their second attack on Monte Cassino. The Poles, on their second try, had captured Monte Cassino.
Eleanor Parker
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Parker died on December 9, 2013 of complications of pneumonia at her Palm Springs, California home. She was 91.
Kuniko Inoguchi
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She received an Master of Arts from Yale University in 1977. She also received a Ph.D. in political science from Yale in 1982.
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Thomas Chippendale
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A former player, Ichiro Suzuki, now plays for the New York Yankees.
Steve Lawrence
Steve Lawrence (born Sidney Liebowitz; July 8, 1935) is an American singer, musician, and actor. He is best known as a member of a duo with his wife Eydie Gormé, known as "Steve and Eydie." The two appeared together since appearing regularly on "Tonight Starring Steve Allen" in the mid-1950s until Gormé's retirement. He was raised of a Jewish faith.
In June 2019, Lawrence was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
Claire Martin
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Martin was born in Quebec City, Quebec. She studied at the Ursuline convent and by the Dames de la Congrégation. From 1945 to 1972, she lived in Ottawa and was a writer she created a book called The Race Of The Golden Apples.
Her residence at the University of Ottawa. From 1972 to 1982, she lived in France, before returning to Quebec.
Martin died in Quebec City, aged 100.
Douglas Slocombe
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Green Climate Fund
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is an international fund for fighting climate change. It is part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It was proposed at the Cancun Conference in Mexico in 2010. It was accepted at the Durban Conference in South Africa in December 2011. The fund's goal is to help developing countries fight climate change by providing them with the money they need to do so. Money may be granted for projects, programs, policies and activities that will help fight climate change or help those countries adapt to global warming.
GCF operates in Songdo, Incheon, South Korea. The Green Climate Fund headquarters were officially opened on 4 December 2013.