Map of Italy showing major cities. During a battlefield lull,in World War 2, in Italy, a German soldier reads a newpaper called the "Southern Front." View of Monte Cassino,Italy, with German troops taking cover amongst war debris. Fencing and signs identify minefields. German soldiers with their weapons, hidden in foliage. German soldier looks through binoculars as American forces bombard the town of Monte Cassino. German soldier, seeking cover, jumps over a stone wall. Smoke rises from the U.S. bombardment. German officers consult in a dugout. German soldiers move stealthily across a stream and through battle scarred landscape. Some take up positions and fire machine guns, rifles, and rifle grenades toward American lines. They advance from their trenches and come across fallen American soldiers on the field. They encounter one crawling, and several others from the U.S. 34th Division, whom they take prisoner. They remove their equipment and weapons, and smoke the American cigarettes. Behind the lines, a man in civilian clothes questions the captured American soldiers. A German soldier uses periscopic binoculars to spot targets for German artillerymen firing heavy weapons. Explosions seen in valley below as shells burst.
Battle of Monte Casino between Germany and Allied troops in Monte Cassino, Italy. German troops are supported by heavy artillery and rockets. The troops fire artillery and rockets. Explosions and smoke rises over targets. A battle with mortars and small arms. Allied prisoners (both British and American) are taken by German forces. Allied POWs marched on road under German guard. Cannons are fired. A soldier watches a plane through binoculars. Rockets are fired. Planes in flight. Ruins of Cassino. A German antiaircraft downs an enemy bomber. Explosions and smoke rises. A flag of Nazi Germany in the ruins. (World War II period).
U.S. Artillerymen employ heavy gun from camouflaged position, to bombard German positions in Monte Cassino, Italy, during World War II. Views of gun being loaded and fired. Open breech smoking after firing. Smoke rising from shells striking targets.
The Battle of Monte Cassino, Italy. Artillery and air bombardment by U.S.forces against German positions on Monte Cassino, and the Abbey above them. Smoke rises as shells strike. (World War II period).
The Battle of Monte Cassino, Italy, in World War 2. .A U.S. self-propelled gun crew member looks at written instructions. Crew loads and fires 105 mm Howitzer on Motor Carriage M7 from a position covered by camouflage netting. U.S. soldiers arm 105mm artillery shells in a munitions dump. Soldiers review written instructions.
The Battle of Monte Cassino, Italy. Aerial view of San Vittore to the west. U.S. troops walk along a mountain road, as an Italian woman, holding a small child, watches from the roadside. Views of the town and Abbey of Monte Cassino, from mountainside outlook. Aerial view of Abbey on mountaintop. M7 Priest SP firing 105mm howitzer from camouflaged position. U.S. troops escorting Italian prisoners of war (POWs). American soldier carries several artillery shells up a hill. Several Sherman tanks of the 756th Tank Battalion are parked in a quarry below him. (The quarry is on the Cassino - Caira Rd north of Cassino.} Group of Italian civilians walk past a line of Sherman tanks parked along the empty riverbed of the Rapido River. U.S. soldier observes the Abbey of Monte Cassino through binoculars. Two American soldiers climb aboard an M4 Sherman tank mired down in the mud.(It has been identified as tank number C-14 belonging to the 3rd Platoon of C Company, 756th Tank Battalion.) Their Jeep is parked beside it. U.S. soldiers dug in along a roadside. One soldier plays solitaire with cards. Two soldiers place several propaganda leaflets into artillery shells.