Opening scene shows peaceful Italian mountains, including one snow-capped, in Spring, 1944, during World War 2. Camera focuses on the town of Monte Cassino and its historic Monastery, on a mountain above the town. (German forces held the Rapido-Gari, Liri and Garigliano valleys and some of the surrounding peaks and ridges that formed the heavily defended Gustav Line.) Animated relief map shows where, by mid January, 1944, American, Polish, and British forces had cleared the enemy from mountains east of Cassino and drawn up on the east side of the Rapido valley. Map shows progress of subsequent Allied attacks that finally reached Mount Castellone and then up Abbey Hill at Monte cassino, itself. Image of German soldier is superimposed on the scene, using binoculars on Abbey hilltop to observe Allied forces. (Narrator states: On February 9th, 75 yards from the abbey, we were stuck.") U.S. Army Air Forces Douglas A-20 Havoc aircraft are seen starting engines. Closeup of Fifth Army leaflet warning the local people to leave the Monte Cassino Abbey to avoid shelling and bombing. View of U.S. troops packing the leaflets into thin-skinned shells to deliver the warning by artillery fire. Next, 105 howitzer guns are seen under camouflage netting, firing bombardments of warning shells. Formation of A-20 aircraft taking off. Aerial view from high above, of B-25 bomber formation in flight. Formations of B-17s, B-24s, B-26s in flight enroute to bomb Monte Cassino. Bombs dropping from B-25 Mitchell bombers. Bombs exploding on Monte Cassino and the Abbey. Batteries of 155 mm guns firing. Formation of 6 B-25 bombers in formation. More bombs bursting on Monte Cassino. Animated map shows German forces taking up their earlier defenses again following the Allied artillery and air attacks. It also shows supplies streaming in to the German Green Devils Parachute Division (Luftwaffe’s 1st Fallschirmjaeger [Parachute-Hunter] division.) The map illustrates all the locations in the town that they occupied and would defend to the last man. Map also illustrates circling positions of Allied artillery batteries. Camera focuses on Polish troops and M4 Sherman tanks moving forward in an offensive. Glimpse of U.S. Army Air Forces mechanics working on a Douglas bomber engine. M4 prime movers towing 155mm howitzer guns. Gun crews camouflaging their positions with netting. Various views of A 240mm howitzer being put in place by a crane. Soldiers deploy detector microphones to locate enemy gunfire sources. They test them, and then enclose them in water-proof containers, bury and cover them. Sound from the microphones being recorded on film at a machine in the Command Post. The data being plotted on a map and corresponding grid locations phoned to Battalion headquarters. View of bombers resuming attacks again, on March 15, 1944. Formations of Douglas bombers, followed by B-25s, seen dropping bombs that explode in the town of Monte Cassino. Artillery firing. Formation of B-24 Liberator bombers in flight. Formation of B-17s dropping bombs. String of bombs exploding in a line on the town. More views of artillery barrages. More lines of bombs exploding. Allied forces storming the shattered town found German soldiers using destroyed structures as shelters to fire from and rubble obstructing the movements of Allied tanks, so the Allied advance was again stopped. Later, a newspaper headline reports resumption of Allied offensive.
Montage of scenes recorded after the Battle of Monte Cassino in World War 2. Opening scene shows New Zealand 19th RHQ tank in Mignano Montelungo, as the 24th New Zealand Battalion re-enacts its entry into the ruins of Monte Cassino, on March 26, 1944. In this restaging, 24th Battalion infantrymen are shown moving through rubble of destroyed town, firing small arms and one throwing a hand grenade. Narrator identifies "Hangman's Hill," (which was held by the 1st battalion 9th Gurkha Rifles) at Monte Cassino. In this restaging , New Zealanders, scramble over rubble, and dig out a "wounded" comrade, while explosions occur in background. Medics "attend" to him. Other NZ troops fire small arms from behind rubble barriers. A huge explosion occurs in background. A British artillery piece (obscured by debris) fires rounds. Infantrymen fire small arms. A camouflaged British tank fires its gun. In change of scene, other British troops advance cautiously near a damaged building and take several German soldiers prisoner. View of the destroyed Monte Cassino monastery and castle on Castle Heights. Ruins of building adjacent to the "Hotel Excelsior,"below the castle. Several medics with Red Cross flag in distant rubble. Views from destroyed Monastery atop the mountain. (World War II; WW II; World War 2; World War Two)
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).