The Battle of Monte Cassino: Message from Pope John Paul II on the 50th Anniversary of Battle of Monte Cassino

The following speech was given by Pope John Paul II for the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino.  No other words are adequate to describe what the Battle of Monte Cassino meant to the Polish veterans and to the Polish nation.  But there is one thing that must be acknowledged -  that the Poles fought for Your freedom, all the while hoping that they too would also be free again.

MESSAGE OF POPE JOHN PAUL II ON THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF MONTE CASSINO

1. Monte Cassino... What does this word say to all of you, present here today in this cemetery? It says a great deal: it speaks of the victory won there; it also speaks of the price Poles paid for it, fighting as the allies of other nations. This alliance was the consequence of events that began on September 1939. The Polish Republic was then seeking allies in the West, aware that it would be unable to face the invasion of Hitler's Germany alone. But perhaps this was not the only reason. Poles were aware of the fact that the conflict they were forced to face was not only demanded by patriotism, to defend the independence of the State they had so recently regained, but also had broader implications for the whole of Europe. Europe had to defend itself from the same threat as Poland. The national socialist system was opposed - if this can be said - to the "European spirit". And this problem could not be dealt with by endless attempts at apparent solutions. These attempts resulted in further victims with the invasion of Czechoslovakia. It was clear that other similar consequences would have occurred had Europe not decided to take a firm stand in the military sense as well. The decision taken by the Polish Republic in 1939 was therefore right. Indeed, it clearly appeared that Europe could not be defended without deciding on a defensive war, whose first phase was precisely Poland in 1939.

Poles fought for their country's independence

2. The victory of Monte Cassino took place five years later on 18 May 1944. The end of the terrible World War was now not far off. Not only had it raged through almost all of Europe, but it had also drawn non-European States into its vortex, the United States first, into the ranks of the Allies, and then Japan, into those of the so-called Axis. To understand what happened in Monte Cassino, it is necessary again to reflect on another date of the past: 17 September 1939, when Poland, desperately defending herself against invasion from the West, was attacked from the East. And this jeopardized the course of events in that Polish September, leading to a double occupation, with Hitler's concentration camps in the West and those of the Soviets in the East. The tragedy of Katyn, still today a unique testimony of the struggle undertaken at the time, took place in the East.

In order to understand the events that occurred at Monte Cassino, we also need to have this Eastern chapter of our history before our eyes, because the army commanded by General Wladyslaw Anders, which played such an important role in the battle of Monte Cassino, consisted largely of Poles deported to the Soviet Union. In addition, there were soldiers and officers who, from occupied Poland, had secretly reached the West through Hungary, with the intention of continuing the fight there for the independence of their homeland. Monte Cassino was an important milestone in this struggle. The soldiers involved in that battle were convinced that by helping to solve the problems concerning the whole of Europe, they were on the way to an independent Poland.

3. Those of you who fought here treasure in your hearts the memory of all your fellow soldiers. You have come here to visit the Polish military cemetery at Monte Cassino, where General Wladyslaw Anders and Archbishop Józef Gawlina, the faithful chaplain to the Polish army on the battlefield, also repose. Many of your companions rest here: soldiers and officers with names that are not only Polish but also Ukrainian, Belarusian and Jewish. They all fought in the battle for the same great cause, as the cemeteries attest: those of Monte Cassino, Loreto, Bologna and Casamassima. Our thoughts and prayers are addressed to those who fell, who, departing life, were thinking of their loved ones in Poland. Their death was a witness to the readiness that marked all society at the time: to give one's life for the holy cause of one's homeland.

Pope John Paul II laying flowers near the Eternal Flame of Polish Cemetery, Monte Cassino

We cannot forget that a few months later, in that same year of 1944, the Warsaw Uprising took place, an episode which corresponded to the battle of Monte Cassino. The Poles in their homeland felt that they had to fight this battle, in order to stress the fact that Poland had been fighting from the first day to the last, not only to defend her own freedom, but for the future of Europe and the world. They were convinced that the Soviet army, already close to Warsaw, together with the Polish battalions from the territory of the Soviet Union, would contribute decisively to the success of the Warsaw Uprising. But unfortunately this was not the case. We know that Poland paid very dearly for the Warsaw Uprising: not only with the death of so many thousands of Polish men and women of my contemporaries' generation, but even with the almost total destruction of the capital.

New life has risen from the ruins

4. While we have the image of 50 years ago before our eyes, we must once more repeat the word Monte Cassino, a name that has a far older meaning than the one attributed to it in 1944. We must go back 15 centuries to the time of St Benedict. Precisely at Monte Cassino one of those Benedictine abbeys that was to initiate the formation of Europe arose. Historians show that on the basis of the Benedictine principle "ora et labora", after the decline of the Roman Empire of the West and after the migrations of peoples, this Europe began to emerge, whose civil and cultural foundations have been preserved to this day. This is Christian Europe. It was St Benedict in the West, like Saints Cyril and Methodius in the East, who contributed to the Christianization of Europe in the first millennium. Moreover, the European nations are indebted to them for the very beginnings of their own culture and of this Western civilization, which has continued to develop over the centuries and has also spread to other continents.

From this standpoint, what does the battle of Monte Cassino represent? It was the clashing of two "projects": one, both in the East and in the West, aiming at uprooting Europe from its Christian past linked to her Patrons, and in particular to St Benedict, and the other, striving to defend the Christian tradition of Europe and the "European spirit". The fact that the Abbey of Monte Cassino was destroyed has a symbolic value. Christ said: "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit" (Jn 12:24). Evidently, the ancient Abbey of Monte Cassino had to be destroyed so that a new life for all of Europe could rise from its ruins. And in a certain sense, this is what happened. On the ruins of the Second World War, a united Europe began to be built, and those who were its first builders staunchly clung to the Christian roots of European culture.

5. We Poles were unable to participate directly in the rebuilding of Christian Europe undertaken in the West. We were left with the ruins of our capital. Although we had been allies in the victorious coalition, we found ourselves in the situation of the defeated, upon whom the domination of the East, within the Soviet Bloc, was imposed for more than 40 years. Hence for us the struggle did not end in 1945; we were forced to take it up all over again. Furthermore, the same thing happened for our neighbours. Commemorating the Monte Cassino victory, it is therefore essential today to add the truth about all Polish men and women, who in an apparently independent State, became the victims of a totalitarian system. In their homeland, they gave their lives for the very cause for which Poles had died in 1939, then throughout the occupation and finally at Monte Cassino and in the Warsaw Uprising. We must also remember how many were killed at the hand of the Polish institutions and security services that served the system imposed by the East. They must at least be remembered before God and before history, in order not to veil the truth about our past at this decisive moment in history. The Church commemorates her martyrs in martyrologies. We cannot allow that in Poland, especially Poland today, the martyrology of the Polish nation should not be recomposed.

We pray for a good use of freedom

6. This is the price we paid for our current independence. If after the First World War it was necessary to fight to put Poland back on the map of Europe, after the Second World War no one could harbour any doubts on this score. The Polish nation had paid such a high price, had claimed its right to exist as a State with such tremendous efforts and suffering, that even our enemies - let us say, the dubious "friends" of the East and the West - could not question this right. This too must be said today, on the occasion of the great anniversary of the battle of Monte Cassino, because it has fundamental significance for our Polish and European present. If it is impossible to detach the "today" from the past, from all our history and especially from the past 50 years, it is impossible to forget that every human "today" is the introduction to a human future. What will the future of Poland and Europe be like? There are many promising elements for this future. Apparently Europe has detached herself from the dangerous systems that have prevailed in the 20th century, and the desire for peaceful co-existence among nations is rather general. Is this also the desire to build our own future in the spirit of Monte Cassino? Monte Cassino represents a symbol proven by the experience of history. But should we not fear that we might be unable to draw the right conclusions from this experience, letting ourselves be misled by other "spirits" that have little in common with Monte Cassino, or are even opposed to it, perhaps to the point of being responsible for its systematic destruction?

Thus we cannot conclude our meditation on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the victory of Monte Cassino without adding a similar warning for the future and together beseeching God to remain with us and we with him. We must pray that we may be able to make good use of the freedom purchased at such a high price: because we are returning to the heritage of St Benedict and of Sts Cyril and Methodius, co-patrons of Europe in the West and in the East.

At the end of the second millennium and on the eve of the third, I recommend all those present and the whole of our country to them, as well as to all the patrons of our nation, especially to the one who is the symbol of our century, the martyr saint of Auschwitz, Maximilian Maria Kolbe, as well as to Our Lady of Jasna Góra, Queen of Poland.

May almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, bless you.

"They must be remembered

before God and before history."

This concludes the Special series on the Battle of Monte Cassino.  I have provided the following links for your convenience so that you may review specific sections as you wish.

Battle of Monte Cassino Introduction
Phase One (January 17 -  February 11, 1944)
Phase Two (February 12 - February 19, 1944)
Phase Three (February 20 - March 25, 1944)
Phase Four - Polish Army (A race against death) (March 26 - May 18, 1944)
Aftermath (May 23, 1944 - April 20, 1945)

REMEMBRANCE: BATTLE OF MONTE CASSINO

On September 3, 1943, the Allies had captured the island of Sicily. From there the next step was to land on the Italian mainland and liberate it from the Germans. On September 4, British, Polish, and Canadian troops landed on Calabria. Four days later, Italy capitulated.

In the Battle of Monte Cassino, the Allies faced insurmountable obstacles in their mission to break down German defenses and liberate the Eternal City of Rome. In co-ordinated military operations, the British, French, Americans, Indians, New Zealanders, Moroccans, and Polish Regiments converged on key German strongholds in a bitter struggle that lasted several months and cost the lives of thousands of men.The only two roads leading to Rome, the Via Appia (Highway7) and Via Casilina (Highway 6) were fiercely defended by a series of impregnable German fortifications running across the width of Italy, from the Garigliano River on the west coast to the Sangro on the east coast. The strongest of their defenses, the Gustav Line, made it virtually impossible for the Allies to advance without suffering heavy casualties.The Gustav Line was erected by the Germans along the course of the Rapido, Gari, and Garogliano Rivers, behind which the Germans were solidly dug in.

General Wladyslaw Anders

Their positions were further secured by garrisons posted on every peak of the surrounding mountain ranges.Dominating the landscape is Monte Cassino, towering to almost 1,700m (5,500 ft), surrounded by smaller but no less imposing series of mountains.This natural terrain gave the Germans an excellent vantage point from which to observe and attack Allied positions.To obstruct the Allied advances, the Germans dammed the Rapido River causing it to flood the Liri Valley. The combination of natural terrain, bad weather, forced flooding and solid German defenses all conspired to frustrate and defeat Allied efforts time and time again. It took all of six months of the most bitter of fighting for the Allies to penetrate enemy lines. The Battle of Monte Cassino was carried out in four stages by a vast number of regiments and divisions under the banner of many nations, foremost Poland. The losses to men and material were staggering.It turned out to be a "see-saw" battle, where Allies, having captured key German strongholds, lost it shortly thereafter to the enemy and then succeeded in recapturing it. It was not until the last phase of the Battle, when all other Allied efforts had failed so dismally, that the II Polish Corps, under the command of Lt. General Wladyslaw Anders was finally called into action. Their mission was to capture Monte Cassino and Piedimonte, which up until then could not be achieved by any other military units. Now everything depended on the Polish units.

Polish Soldiers Monte Cassino

Battle of Monte Cassino - Phase Four

The fourth phase of the battle code-named Operation Diadem would be launched by the US II Corps, by an attack up the coast along Route 7 towards Rome. To their right the French Corps would attack from the bridgehead across the Garigliano. (The bridgehead was originally created by X Corps in the first battle in January into the Aurunci Mountains. It formed a barrier between the coastal plain and the Liri Valley.) In the center right of the front, the British XIII Corps would attack along the Liri valley. Meanwhile, on the right side the 2nd Polish Corps (3rd and 5th Division) commanded by Lt. Gen. Władysław Anders,would attempt to isolate the monastery and push round behind it into the Liri Valley to link up with XIII Corp's thrust and pinch out the Cassino position. The 4th Indian Division had attempted this mission but failed. Allied Command hoped that a much larger force than the Indian Division would be able to saturate the German defenses thereby preventing the enemy to give supporting fire to each others positions. Success of the Operation depended on this pinching manoeuvre. That and improved weather were important factors for the mission to succeed. Canadian I Corps was held in reserve pending a breakthrough. Once the German 10th Army would be defeated, the US VI Corps could break out the Anzio beachhead and cut off the retreating Germans in the Alban hills.

Polish soldiers charging up Phantom Hill

It took two months to set up troop positions and movements to prepare for the last phase of the battle and it had to be carried out in small units so as to maintain secrecy and wield an element of surprise. The ruse was on: the U.S. 36th Division was sent on amphibious assault training. Road signposts and dummy radio signal traffic were created to give the impression that a seaborne landing was being planned for north of Rome. The purpose of this was to keep German reserves held back from the Gustav line.

Troop movements in forward areas were conducted under darkness and as armoured units moved from the Adriatic front, they left behind dummy tanks and vehicles so that vacated areas appeared unchanged to enemy aerial reconnaissance. The deception was successful. As late as the second day of the final Cassino battle, Kesselring estimated the Allies had six divisions facing his four on the Cassino front. In reality there were thirteen.

The first assault was launched on Cassino at 23:00 hours on May 11th with a massive artillery bombardment of 1,060 guns on the 8th Army front and 600 guns on the 5th Army front, manned by British, Americans, Poles, New Zealanders, South Africans, and French. Within an hour and a half all four sectors were on the move. By daylight U.S. II Corps had made little progress, but their 5th Army colleagues, the French Corps, had achieved their objectives and were fanning out in the Aurunci Mountains toward the 8th Army to their right, rolling up the German positions between the two armies.

On the 8th Army front, XIII Corps had made two strongly opposed crossings of the Rapido (by British 4th Infantry Division and 8th Indian Division. By morning, the engineers of Dudley Russell's 8th Indian Division had succeeded in the critical task of bridging the river which enabled the armour of 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade to cross and provide the vital element (so missed by the Americans in the first battle and New Zealanders in the second battle) to beat off the inevitable counterattacks from German tanks that would come.

Point 593 or Snakeshead Ridge (Monte Calvario) above Cassino was taken by the Poles only to be recaptured by German paratroops. For three days Polish and German troops conducted ferocious attacks and counterattacks resulting in heavy losses to both sides. The Polish Corps lost 281 officers and 3,503 until the attacks were called off. At the end of the battles the Poles erected a memorial on the slope of the mountain.

Polish Soldiers Monte Cassino

May 1944: Over 1,500 Poles were killed in 3 days

By the afternoon of May 12, the Rapido bridgeheads were increasing despite furious counterattacks meanwhile the attrition on the coast and in the mountains continued. By May 13 the pressure was starting to show. The German right wing began to give way to the 5th Army. The French Corps had captured Monte Maio. They were now in a position to give material flank assistance to the 8th Army against whom Kesselring had thrown every available reserve in order to buy time to switch to his second prepared defensive position,the Hitler Line, about eight miles (13km) to the rear.



On May 14 Moroccan Goumiers were advancing through the mountains parallel to the Liri valley and were able to outflank the German defense materially assisting XIII Corps in the valley. (The area was undefended because it was considered impossible to traverse such terrain.) The Goumiers were colonial troops formed a year earlier into four Groups of Moroccan Tabors specialised in mountain warfare. On May 15, British 78 Division came into the XIII Corps line from reserve passing through the bridgehead divisions to execute the turning move to isolate Cassino from the Liri valley. On May 17 the Polish Division renewed their assault in the mountains. By the early hours of May 18, 78 Division and the Polish Corps had rendezvoused in the Liri valley 2 miles (3km) west of Cassino town.

In the early morning of May 18 a reconnaissance group of Polish 12th Podolian Regiment found the monastery defences abandoned and raised a Polish flag over its ruins. With German supply lines threatened by the Allied advance, German paratroopers had withdrawn from the monastery during the night and took up new defensive positions on the Hitler Line. The only remaining defenders were a group of thirty wounded German troops who had been unable to move.

The 8th Army units advanced up the Liri valley and the 5th Army up the coast to the Hitler defensive line (renamed the Senger Line at Hitler's insistence to minimize the significance if it were penetrated). An immediate assault failed and 8th Army took some time to re-organize. Over the next several days it took an effort of monumental proportions in getting 20,000 vehicles and 2,000 tanks through the broken Gustav Line. The next Allied assault commenced on May 23 with the Polish Corps attacking Piedimonte (defended by the redoubtable 1st Parachute Division) on the right and 1st Canadian Infantry Division (fresh from 8th Army reserve) in the centre. On May 24, the Canadians had breached the line, and 5th Canadian (Armoured) Division poured through the gap. On May 25 the Poles took Piedimonte, and the line collapsed. The way was clear for the advance northwards towards Rome.




On May 23,the Canadians and Poles launched their attack. Meanwhile General Lucian Truscott (who had replaced Lt. Gen.John P. Lucas as commander of U.S. VI Corps) launched a two pronged attack using five (three U.S. and two British) of the seven divisions in the bridgehead at Anzio. The German Fourteenth Army facing this thrust had no armoured divisions since Kesselring had sent his armour south to help the German Tenth Army in the Cassino action. The 26th Panzer Division was also unavailable to fight as it was in transit from the north of Rome where it had been anticipating the non-existent seaborn landing that the Allies had faked.

The Tenth Army was in full retreat by May 25 and the Allied VI Corps were headed eastward to cut them off. By the next day they would have been astride the line of retreat and the Tenth Army with all Kesselring's reserves committed to them, would have been trapped. At this point, surprisingly, General Mark Clark ordered Truscott to change his line of attack from a northeasterly one to Valmontone on Route 6 to a northwesterly one directly towards Rome.  The reasons for his decision are unclear and controversy continues to surround the issue to this day. Most commentators believe that it was due to Clark's ambition to be the first to arrive in Rome however others suggest that Clark had to give the necessary respite to his tired troops. (notwithstanding the new direction of attack required his troops to make a frontal attack on the Germans' prepared defenses on the Caesar C line). Truscott later wrote in his memoirs that Clark "was fearful that the British were laying devious plans to be first into Rome, a sentiment somewhat reinforced in Clark's own writings. However, Alexander had clearly laid down the Army boundaries before the battle, and Rome was allocated to the Fifth Army. The 8th Army was constantly reminded that their job was to engage the Tenth Army, destroy as much of it as possible and then bypass Rome to continue the pursuit of the German Tenth Army, which they did for six weeks covering some 225 miles (360km) towards Perugia.

The Allies lost an opportunity. The seven divisions of the Tenth Army retreated to the next line of defence, the Trasimene Line where they then linked up with the Fourteenth Army and began to make a fighting withdrawal to the formidable Gothic Line north of Florence. 

Rome fell June 4, 1944, just two days before the Normandy invasion.

EPILOGUE

The capture of Monte Cassino came at a high price. The total Allied Fifth and Eighth Army casualties spanning the period of the four Cassino battles and the advance to capture Rome on 4 June were 105,000. Of a total of 51,000 Polish soldiers, over 4,000 lost their lives on Monte Cassino.

Polish Cemetery Monte Cassino

Suggested Link:
The Battle of Monte Cassino (series); Introduction