Closing the Ring (84 page)

Despite the collapse of their seaward flank, the enemy north of the Liri hung on desperately to the last elements of the Gustav Line. But gradually they were overborne. On the 15th, the XIIIth Corps reached the Cassino-Pignataro road, and General Leese brought up the Canadian Corps to be ready to exploit his success. Next day the 78th Division broke through the defences in a northwesterly drive which reached Route 6, and on the 17th the Poles attacked north of the monastery. This time they succeeded, and occupied the ridges northwest of it which overlooked the highway.

On the morning of May 18, Cassino town was finally cleared by the 4th British Division, and the Poles triumphantly hoisted their red and white standard over the ruins of the monastery. Although they were not the first to enter it, they greatly distinguished themselves in this their first major engagement in Italy. Later, under their thrustful General Anders, himself a survivor from Russian imprisonment, they were to win many laurels during the long advance to the river Po. The XIIIth Corps had also advanced all along their front, reaching the outskirts of Aquino, with the Canadian Corps driving forward to the south of them. On the other bank of the Liri, the French had reached Esperia and were pushing on towards Pico. The United States Corps had taken Formia, and they too were getting on splendidly. Kesselring had been sending down reinforcements as fast as he could muster them, but they were arriving piecemeal, only to be thrown into the battle to check the mounting flood of the Allied advance. The Eighth Army had yet to break the Adolf Hitler Line, running from Pontecorvo to Aquino and thence to Piedimonte, but it was now certain that the Germans would soon be forced into a general retreat.

The minds of our commanders were therefore focused on two points: the timing and direction of the Anzio break-out, and the possibility of a final German stand south of Rome, based on the Alban Hills and Valmontone on the highroad.

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Prime Minister to General Alexander
    17 May 44

I congratulate you wholeheartedly on the fine advance made along your whole front.

There is some opinion here that it would have been better for the Anzio punch to have been let off first. But C.I.G.S. and I agree with you that it is better to keep the threat of the compressed spring working on the enemy in the present phase. Let me know however what you have in mind.

In your message received this morning you speak of a pause to bring up the artillery. Will this take a few days or a longer period? It seems to me very important to keep close on their heels. It is unusual for a beaten army to stop at a line of entrenchment which has been dug for them in rear unless there is another considerable force already holding this line.

I wonder what your casualties have been since the beginning of this battle. Do not call for any returns which hamper the regular procedure. My own feeling is that seven or eight thousand killed and wounded would cover your losses on the whole front. It suffices to let me know whether your own feeling is that they are higher or lower than this.

All blessings upon you and your men.

  Alexander replied the next day:

General Alexander to Prime Minister
    18 May 44

Many thanks for your congratulations, which we all greatly appreciated.

2. I weighed very carefully the pros and cons of an Anzio breakout, and among many factors two influenced me most. First, the enemy’s reserves in that area were too strong, with 90th Division and 26th Division, and I wanted to draw them away first. As you know, 90th Division has been drawn down to main battle area, and part of 26th Division has also been moved. Secondly, the German expected Anzio to be the major thrust, and to gain surprise I did what he did not expect. I have ordered 36th United States Division to start moving into bridgehead tonight. I am trying to dribble them in unseen. When right moment comes, the Americans will punch out to get astride enemy’s communications to Rome. If successful, this may well prove decisive.

3. The intention is not only to keep up the present pressure on the main battle-front, but to step it up. I have ordered Eighth Army to use the utmost energy to break through the Adolf Hitler Line in the Liri Valley before the Germans have time to settle down in it. I have also directed that Poles press on at once to Piedimonte, so as to turn this line from north. And I have directed that French Corps, after reaching Pico, should turn north and come in behind enemy facing Eighth Army. If these manoeuvres are successful, it will go a long way toward destroying right wing of German Tenth Army. If we get held up in front of the Adolf Hitler Line and are unable to turn it from north or south, a full-scale mounted attack will be necessary to break it; in which case the heavier artillery will have to be moved forward, and this will take several days. But you may be sure that there will be no unnecessary delay. The Germans are very quick to regain their balance, and I have no intention of allowing them to do so.

4. My latest information on casualties is as follows: Eighth Army, 6000; Fifth Army, 7000; total, 13,000.

5. Capture of Cassino means a great deal to me and both my armies. Apart from its Foreign Office value, it seems to me to have great propaganda possibilities.

  General Wilson, who had gone to the front from Algiers, also reported.

General Wilson to Prime Minister
    18 May 44

Battle continues to progress satisfactorily. I visited Poles today. They are elated at their hard-won success at Monte Cassino, where fighting was very severe.

2. Eighth Army and Americans have resources to maintain impetus of attack, but those of Juin’s corps uncertain after eight more days of hard fighting, at present rate of casualties. I discussed this with de Gaulle today at Juin’s Headquarters. He has agreed to send from North Africa one armoured and one infantry regiment at once, and to follow this up with further reinforcements as soon as they have been trained in American weapons.

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The Eighth Army found that probing attacks on the Adolf Hitler Line in the Liri Valley gave no results, for although the defenders had been hurriedly thrown into them they were resolute men and the defences themselves were formidable. A set-piece assault was necessary, which could not be launched until May 23, but in the meantime the French had taken Pico after a stiff fight, and the United States IId Corps were in Fondi. The Germans had good cause to be anxious for their southern flank.

Prime Minister to General Alexander
    23 May 44

Your battle seems to be approaching its climax, and all thoughts here are with you. Owing to the enemy pivoting backwards on his left, the advances of the French and the Americans are naturally filling the headlines. Your well-deserved message to the Poles also gained them great prominence.

At Cabinet yesterday some queries were made as to whether the part played by the British troops was receiving proportionate notice. They have been up against the stiffest and most unyielding parts of the line. We do not want anything said that is not justified, but reading the current press one might well doubt if we were making any serious contribution. I know of course what the facts are, but the public may be upset. Could you therefore bring them a little more into the communiqués, presuming of course you think that such mentions are deserved?

  It fell to the Canadian Corps to make the main attack in the
Liri Valley. By noon of the 24th, they had made a clear breakthrough, and their Armoured Division pierced towards Ceprano. Next day the Germans were in full retreat and hotly pursued on the whole of the Eighth Army front.

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General Alexander had decided that the punch from the Anzio beachhead should be simultaneous with the breakthrough of the Eighth Army. The American General Truscott now struck his blow against Cisterna with two divisions of his army, still called the VIth Corps. Cisterna was captured on the 25th after two days of stiff fighting, and on the same day the beachhead forces gained contact with the leading troops of the United States IId Corps, which had captured and thrust forward from Terracina. At long last all our forces were reunited, and we began to reap the harvest from our winter sowing at Anzio.

General Alexander to Prime Minister
    24 May 44

Herewith some interesting and pleasant facts. My usual daily report to C.I.G.S. follows through normal channels.

The Gustav Line, which the enemy has been preparing all winter, and which was guarded by Rapido River, was penetrated by both armies in the initial assault, and the enemy was driven out of it in first week of battle. Cassino, which was an almost impregnable fortress, was turned by a brilliant pincers movement, which ended by isolating it from the battlefield.

The much-vaunted Adolf Hitler Line, fortified by wire, mines, and concrete and steel pillboxes, has been smashed on the front of Eighth Army.

The beachhead enabled us to position a strong force on the German rear flanks, which is now in operation to complete another larger pincers manoeuvre. The deepest penetration up to date is a distance of thirty-eight miles as the crow flies.

In the Anzio sector the Americans have advanced four thousand yards through heavily prepared fixed defences, and have surrounded Cisterna.

We have taken over ten thousand prisoners, and killed and wounded a large number of the enemy, of which figures are not yet
available. Owing to extent of battlefield and rate of advance, it has not been possible yet to check the material captured, but it includes not less than a hundred guns of various types and a great deal of ammunition and other equipment. Much mechanical transport has been destroyed and damaged by our air forces, who claim at least a hundred vehicles destroyed today.

Of German divisions that have been engaged, the 71st and 94th Infantry Divisions have been destroyed as fighting formations. The 1st Parachute Division, 90th Panzer Grenadier Division, and 15th Panzer Grenadier Division have lost the greater part of their effective strength. Heavy losses have been inflicted on 26th Panzer, 29th Panzer Grenadier Division, 715th and 362d Infantry Divisions; 576th Regiment, 305th and 131st Regiments, 44th Division, have also been practically wiped out. All enemy reserves, including a division which was believed to have been north of Rome, have been drawn into the battle, and there are strong indications that the Hermann Goering Division, which was in O.K.W. Reserve, is on its way south to try to stem the tide, though this cannot be referred to in public, as this division has not yet been identified in the fighting.

Co-operation between the two armies and Allied Air Forces has been quite excellent. British, American, French, Canadian, New Zealand, Indian, and Polish troops have all been engaged in fighting. British troops have played a conspicuous part in very bitter fighting, especially for the crossings over the Rapido River and in turning Cassino from the south. I will see that they have their share of publicity in the communiqués. British and American Air Forces have combined in both the close and more distant support of both armies. Allied naval forces are co-operating by bombardment and by the movement of troops and stores by sea. It is, and will continue to be, in every sense an Allied battle.

Finally, we have freed five hundred square miles of Italy from the grip of the German aggressor in under a fortnight.

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General Truscott quickly took advantage of the breach he had made at Cisterna. Under General Clark’s orders, he dispatched three divisions, one of them armoured, to Velletri and the Alban Hills; but only one, the 3d United States Division, towards Valmontone, where they would cut the most important
escape route of the enemy farther south. This was not in accord with Alexander’s instructions, which put Valmontone as the primary objective.

Prime Minister to General Alexander
    28 May 44

We are all delighted to hear your good news. At this distance it seems much more important to cut their line of retreat that anything else. I am sure you will have carefully considered moving more armour by the Appian Way up to the northernmost spearhead directed against the Valmontone-Frosinone road. A cop is much more important than Rome, which would anyhow come as its consequence. The cop is the one thing that matters.

Prime Minister to General Alexander
    28 May 44

Further to my telegram [above], I have been looking through the tank strength as we get it from various sources. C.I.G.S. furnishes me with figures showing that you have at least twenty-five hundred serviceable. Surely one-half of these could be used, and indeed used up, in making a scythe movement cutting off the enemy’s retreat.

I am going to send you and your armies a public message in a few days, and will back you up whatever happens, but I should feel myself wanting in comradeship if I did not let you know that the glory of this battle, already great, will be measured, not by the capture of Rome or the juncture with the bridgehead, but by the number of German divisions cut off. I am sure you will have revolved all this in your mind, and perhaps you have already acted in this way. Nevertheless, I feel I ought to tell you that it is the cop that counts.