The Destruction of Monte Cassino Abbey
History Repeats Itself
The Nazis were exhausted and clearly losing the war, but Hitler expected his armies to fight to the death. When the Allies had liberated Sicily, they had Rome in their sights, but that was not going to be easy. Monte Cassino
seemed to the Germans like a good place to stop the Allied progression. The Abbey on top of the hill (The Monte) dominated the area below, and the Allied forces had decided not to venture beyond it too quickly, as they expected it to be armed to the teeth with elite German shooters. Some brass-hats advocated the destruction of the abbey, but others warned against the destruction of a holy site. In the end General Alexander prevailed, and the abbey was flattened.
It turned out that not a single German soldier was there, nor were there any weapons. The only dead were 270 Italian civilians who had sought refuge in the abbey.
History repeats itself.
