The D-Day Dodgers - Monte Cassino 1944
At the behest of Winston Churchill 38 (Irish) Brigade was formed in January 1942. It included 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers, 6th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and 2nd London Irish Rifles. As part of 6th Armoured Division the Irish Brigade took part in operations before being transferred to 78th (Battleaxe) Division with which it fought in the breakthrough to Tunis in Tunisia in April/May 1943. Following the Sicilian campaign in July and August 1943, the Brigade moved to Italy with Eighth Army.
The Germans created a series of defensive lines intended to keep Allied armies in southern Italy. Key to this strategy was the Gustav Line, anchored on the mountains around the town of Cassino. To enter the Liri valley, through which passed Highway 6, the Via Casilna, the main road to Rome, the Allies had to break this line. From 17 January to 18 May the Gustav line was attacked by Allied troops on four occasions. These operations resulted in 54,000 Allied and 20,000 German casualties.
Having seen its first action at Termoli on the Adriatic coast the Irish Brigade took part in the crossing of the Tringo and Sangro rivers before moving into reserve. When the plan to make a pincer attack on Rome was abandoned, the Brigade was committed to the New Zealand Corps in the assault on Cassino and Monte Cassino. Its battalions spent almost a month in mountain positions under regular shell and mortar fire, before moving to train for Operation DIADEM, the army group attack on the Gustav Line.
At 2300hrs on 11 May 1944 Operation DIADEM was launched. The Battleaxe Division was to pass through a bridgehead created by the 4th British and 8th Indian Divisions,but such was the German opposition that the plan fell behind schedule and it was 14 May before the Irish Brigade spearheaded its Division’s advance. In the days of desperate fighting that followed the Irish Brigade achieved its objectives and, on the afternoon of the 17th, threatened Highway 6. This prompted a German decision to withdraw and, next morning, Polish troops took Monte Cassino and its ruined Abbey.
Cassino Itinerary
| Day 1 | Fly to Rome and be collected by coach for the journey to Cassino. After your evening meal you will receive a |
| Day 2 | After breakfast you will visit the town of Cassino and take in the railway station, Maori memorial and the Battle of Cassino Museum. After lunch there will be visits to the Polish cemetery and German cemetery at Caira where we will see the quarry used as forward base by Allied troops as well as the route into the mountains along which mule trains re-supplied the troops on the heights. |
| Day 3 | In the morning we will visit Monte Cassino to view the famous Monastery. The Monastery, which has a small museum, overlooks some of the critical areas of the battle. Monte Trocchio, taken in January, should be clearly visible. On our return route we will stop at Point 236 from which should have a commanding view of the castle, built on Rocca Janula, and Point 165. From the road we will also be able to see Hangman’s Hill (Point 435), taken by the Gurkhas in March during the New Zealand Corps’ attack. After lunch we travel on to Monte Trocchio from where we can see the town and the surrounding plain as the Allied commanders and artillery observers saw it. Along our route we will see the memorial to civilian and military casualties of the battles, alongside of which is a 6-pounder antitank gun. |
| Day 4 | We will travel to Sant’ Angelo in Theodice and visit the memorials alongside the bridge over the Gari, one to the battles and peace and the other to the US 100th (Nisei) Infantry, Japanese American troops of the 34th (Red Bull) Division. We will visit the memorial to the 36th (Texas) Division from where we have a clear picture from the German defenders’ perspective as the 8th Indian Division made its attack in the final battle. Near here, 19 year old Sepoy Kamal Ram of the 3/8th Punjab Regiment, on his first day in action, won a V.C. as he knocked out three machine-guns posts and cleared the way for his comrades to advance. In the afternoon we travel back to Cassino, stop to look at the Beds and Herts Memorial and visit the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery where we will hold a brief service of remembrance. There are many graves of members of the Irish Brigade as well of those of the North Irish Horse, thirty-four of whom are buried here. |
| Day 5 | Travel to airport for return flight home. |
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