The War in Italy 1943-1944: Monte Cassino

History Does You

With Allied soldiers penned in at Anzio, the need to breakthrough past Monte Cassino became the priority. Between January and May of 1944, American, British, French, New Zealand, Indian, and Polish soldiers attempted to take Monte Cassino and the surrounding area. By the time the battle ended with a breakthrough to Rome, there had been almost 350,000 casualties on both sides and one of the few battles where every major Allied nation participated in some capacity. We interview Mathew Parker who is the author of several history books including Hells Gorge, The Battle of Britain and Monte Cassino which well be talking about today. His most recent book, published in August, tells the extraordinary story of Willoughbyland, the forgotten seventeenth-century English colony in Surinam that was exchanged with the Dutch for New York. He was also recently elected to be a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. This is the final part of our series on the War in Italy during World War II