Cassino: nine months in hell

S1, E3: The Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino, halfway between Rome and Naples was one of the most important monuments in the whole of Christianity. During the Second World War the Allied forces decide to bomb the Abbey of Monte Cassino with such unprecedented violence. The battle resulted in one of the worst massacres of the Second World War, with the death of 50,000 from the multinational contingent of the Allied forces, 20,000 German soldiers, plus thousands of Italian civilians, in a battle that went on well into the spring. Was it really necessary to conquer Monte Cassino to free the road for the conquest of Rome? Why did the Anzio landings not avoid a bloodbath at Monte Cassino? Why didn’t the Allies head immediately for Rome? This engrossing narration will reconstruct all the political and military background behind the dreadful stalemate of the Anglo-American military campaign in Italy in the winter of 1944, the dramatic leadership errors and the mutual lack of trust between the Allied partners.