Lost Evidence: "Monte Cassino" 1 of 5

[squamish4244]

'Soft underbelly' my ass. Churchill, as much as I admire you, what were you thinking?

[shoesalesmanBundy]

It seems Poland went almost everywhere to take out those fucking nazi cunts.

[alanheath]

It is often said that the objective of this attack was to tie up German resources and divert them from France which was to become a battleground. It strikes me that comparitively more resources were needed by the Allies to attack the Gustav line than were lost defending it.

[alanheath]

It seems to me that every single WW2 documentary has the expression 'in some of the heaviest fighting of WW2 .....' One I saw last week repeated the same thing three times for three different battles.

I have a request to make of documentary makers.  Drop this expression.

Am I the only person getting wound up by this?

[MarruecosMan]

The French Expeditionary Forces, from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, and commanded by French nationals, fought for their national honor. They did what both the Germans and Allies thought was impossible: Working their way through the trackless wilderness of the Arunchi Mountains they cut off German supply routes and broke the Gustav Line (this is an untold story).

[karlkarlkarl1234]

If you want to CRINGE really really hard, just read the comments on any WW2 video.

Farkkking hell, amazing how gay some people can be.

[zhukov1927]

the d day and all that fucking shit fight of the uk and usa....was nothing in addition like the red army and stalingrad, minsk, and berlin....USSR was the winner not the other shit.....

[alanheath]

@zhukov1927 Winning is not the same as taking casualties.

[Xiolablu3]

@zhukov1927 Funny how Russians always seem to forget the pact with the Nazis to invade Poland in 1939. Then crying for help and supplies during the rest of WW2 after their 'ally' invaded them....

[22grena]

@Xiolablu3 When you think the way that history is taught there is something very wrong. France and germany went to war because germany invaded Poland. But so did the USSR. And rightly we are told about the horrors of nazisn (although every single day on TV is a bit much) but what about the fact that the Soviet Communists, an allied power, actually murdered more men woman and children.

[lordofvampirefaith]

why does everyone forget the UK and France when ever ww2 is mentioned.

Just does my head in.

[The33times]

@lordofvampirefaith

What does my head in is that everyone forgets Finland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Estonia, Poland, Belgium, Switzerland etc.

People talk about Europe like there were only 6 countries Russia, England, France, USSR, Germany and Italy.

[lordofvampirefaith]

@The33times srry m8 i didnt mean to forget those i mant to say the closest countries to me that i noticed but i am sure that all over the world there are forgotten pockets of fighting that usa leaves out.

[NickToznost]

@The33times People tend not to remember Switzerland's WWII contribution purely because it was neutral and a safe banking zone for Nazi plundered gold.

[Kelly14UK]

@NickToznost It looked really suspicious on a WW2 map- in the middle of that hell, there was this unspoiled place. Yeah what you said makes sense.

[hockey6467]

The narrarator keeps saying that the troops there were green. Not true, the 7th Army was probably the most veteran army and they were the one who fought around Monte Cassino/Anzio. The 36th landed and battled at Salerno and the 34th fought in North Africa.

[alanheath]

@hockey6467 I got the impression he was referring to these particular troops.

[hockey6467]

@alanheath Possibly, but even then, except for very recent replacements, the troops were far from green. Also during that time, replacements were much better trained as D-Day had not occured yet and casualties were still manageable. So even those recent replacements were still pretty well trained.

[playa1258]

Germany lost, get over it fanboys. They had no chance to win the war once America and the Soviet Union were in it

[rukkus99]

Actually many nations were part of the 4th and last battle of Monte Cassino.2nd Polish Corps relieved the 78th Division in the mountains behind Cassino.Its was their job to link with the British XIII Corps in a pinching manouvre that was key to overall success in the operation.Dont forget the Americam II Corps or the French whose parts in this action were also essential. The Polesplayed a major aprt in this battle nobody is denying that , but this was a joint action with many nations taking part

[Ddstairclimber]

this video is baised. in reallity no germans ocupied the monastery. and many refugees died due to the allied bombing, but of coarse this video does not say anything about that.

[Akorg123]

Monte Cassino has earned Polish Soldiers!!!

Don't  Englishmen ,americans, canadians soldiers. Monte Cassino has earned Polish Soldiers General Władyslaw Anders!!!

[vernonmillanmk]

excellent we often play it at birthdays with my friends they are incredibly good at it. I was lucky enough to download the game utterly free for my sony ps3 here; 115 games |DOT| com there are literally thousands best thing about it is they are all free oh also 2:02 was outstanding

[jakefree25]

If the Allies had simply used their overwhelming air-sea mobility, like making Anzio a real offensive landing, or even landing farther up north. blood baths like Cassino would have been unnecessary. We fought the war the way the Germans wanted to, on land where even our armor was hemmed in to coastal roads.

[martincool90]

there never gona be a better army then nazis germany most advance of its day. resaon that germans lost ww2 is most hitlers falt he didnt want to listen to his commanders so they did lose to mutch for suceed. i wonder how the world hade lookt like if hitlers commanders hade got what they wanted....

[mecher3k]

lol dream swede, dream on.

[nofingershaha]

hitler was too prideful, he thought of himself as great tactician when he wasn't.

[jakefree25]

but he did have his moments of brilliance as well as the Army brass lacked any long term coherent plans. The Abwehr, German Army Intelligence underestimated Soviet reserves by about 75% nor figured out how poor logistic there were.

[SoulsStealerMalti]

@nofingershaha You are right. People like Hans Guderian, the creator of the Blitzkrieg and the Panzer Divisions, Erwin Rommel a military genius and down to the actual troops like the elite Fallschirmjager, these were the best of their time. And their skills were wasted by Hitler's ambition and daydreaming of wonder weapons that in the end destroyed the German economy for no gain.

[sexyxrs]

@nofingershaha stalin and roswelt too .. to many idiots during that period of time.

[sherman3211]

@nofingershaha

His real mistake was invading Russia. If they remained allies, it would have ended much differently.

[DonMeaker]

Germans lost because they didn't sweat the logistics, never got their units supplied by rail lines, never got winter clothing to the soldiers until too late in 1941. What, the General Staff didn't think that winter would visit that year?

[MiramonteSucks]

@martincool90

Martin you obviously don't know what your talking about. America and Britain's army easily surpassed the nazi germany armies. Our commanders were far more tactically advanced than Germany's except for Rommel. the only reason why they had made such a strong advance in the earlier part of the war was because they had the element of surprise and various armies throughout europe could not compete with them.

[rvederis1991]

@MiramonteSucks The German army was superior to the British and American forces. The Germans had better equipment and the spirit of their army was higher. Plus they had good tactics. They lost the war because of their mistakes. Thats how most wars are lost; is by mistakes.

[meatwad4900]

@rvederis1991 The German Army lost because it just did not have the capacity to wage a long war against two superpowers. Hitler tried to take out the Soviet Union in a quick blow but failed miserably (battle of Stalingrad and again at Kursk). They simply did not have the minerals to compete against the Soviet Union or the United States at the same time.

[rvederis1991]

@meatwad4900 Exactly, their mistake was to wage war against two superpowers.

[Xiolablu3]

@meatwad4900 Germany was fighting 3 superpowers at the time actually, not just 2 as you say. Britain was still a world superpower at that time and had the largest Empire that the world has ever seen.

[meatwad4900]

@Xiolablu3 I stand corrected then.

[Xiolablu3]

@meatwad4900 Hehe, sorry for adding that, but we Brits have to celebrate the past these days! ;) Our small Union just cannot compete alone any more.

[meatwad4900]

@Xiolablu3 I understand =0. To be honest, there's little to be proud of over here lately.

[Xiolablu3]

@meatwad4900 Hehe, actually, I think we still over-acheive for the size of our country, but in the Victorian period it was pretty crazy that a small country like ours could rule the worlds largest ever Empire :) Hitler greatly admired the British Empire and wanted to build Germany up into the same kind of thing. He wanted Britain and Germany to rule the world together. However he was too cruel, ruthless and radical and totally misunderstood what the British Empire was about. :)

[22grena]

@Xiolablu3 Yes the British Empire was a beacon to humanity wasnt it. Shame its gone when a quarter iof the world could dtill be slaves, sigh.

[22grena]

@Xiolablu3 and its about to get smaller hehe

[22grena]

@Xiolablu3 In terminal decline (thank God)

[Xiolablu3]

@rvederis1991 No, the Germans had SOME better equipment. Both the UK and US had better equipment in some areas too. Its a myth that Germany had 'all the best equipment'. Just a few examples :- In the battle of France 1940, the UK and France had better tanks. The US service rifle M1 Garand was better than the Germans K98 bolt action. The British and US both had a far better Navy and ships than the Germans. Both the UK and US had far better heavy bombers than the Germans - He177 was awful plane.

[22grena]

@Xiolablu3 The Allies had inferior tanks but they had a lot more tanks than the germans. The germans called the Sherman tank the 'Tommy Cooker' because it caught fire so easily. The german Army man for man was superior but it was the allied air dominance and inexhaustable amount of material that made the difference.

[The33times]

@MiramonteSucks

Depends on what you mean by commander. Rommel could mop the floor at the regimental level but wasn't nearly as good at commanding larger forces.

As far as grand strategists go, the western allies had very few who could match Guderian and von Manstein.

[morrisonfurryant]

@martincool90

oh my GOD i hope you aren't a native English speaker.

[asherchchnz]

hey man dont bagg on NZ solidiers, i know our army is upto fuck all compared to larger nations but we've got a tiny population and arnt as wealthy as other nations in the west but fuck the kiwi soldiers fought hard!

[one1939]

well we polish people fought in every major battles of Ward War 2

[DirtyDefeatist]

The two unsuccessful attacks by the New Zealanders basically broke the backbone of the German defence making it alot easier for the Poles to take the monastery in the fourth and final attack.

[blaszczko]

can you explain? axis had time and supplies and they rebuilt all NZ soldiers did

[gusswilliams]

Can't imagine New Zealanders making anything easier for anyone ....maybe the germans had a laugh at them

[macronaria]

hahahah

[PanzerGrenadierLSSAH]

The Italian campaign was needed. If Italy hadn't been invaded the war would have lasted longer. The resources the Germans were forced to throw into Italy were large. This weakened the forces in France and the eastern front. Not to mention it gave the US and UK new air bases from which to bomb the oil fields in Romania and else where.

[thganger]

i agree

[Raaskill]

however some military historians believe that a smarter thing to do rather than hold the gustav line in the winter of 1943 would have been to pull the line back to the natural incline of the hills at the foot of the alps which would have been easier to defend. but hitler and his generals beleived that the more land they had the stronger they were, so such an event was not put in place

FREAKIN IDIOTS!!!

[Acid4Blood]

Well let see mr historian:

the germans lost 22.000 troops around cassino

put that against the over 110.000 that the allies suffer at cassino.

One example: on the 11th of february the US 34th and 36th divisions attempted to take Calvario and Cassino with mass losses,which failed and in the process took appalling casualties,including the slaughter of the entire US142nd regiment.

[jakefree25]

Not really, the idiots were the allies for fighting the war the way the Germans wanted it. If the allies had been able to advance to the Alps, they could have harnessed not only all the people, industry & agriculture of Italy, but had bomber bases next door to Germany. The Germans fought the war very effectively using the terrain to max advantages.

[mbison83]

amazing. thank you.