The Allied advance in Italy was blocked by the Gustav Line, the German defensive line. Winston Churchill promoted the idea of an amphibious invasion behind the German line as a means of breaking the stalemate.
At the front line, many Allied commanders were inclined to think, despite German claims to the contrary, that the enemy was using the abbey on Monte Cassino as a forward observation post, and bombed the abbey.
- Listen now:
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening War Theme
Overture to La Forza del Destino
Composed in 1861 by Giuseppe Verdi. Public domain.
Performed by the University of Chicago Orchestra and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.
Closing War Theme
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
I listened with special interest to the latest episode because my dad often talked about his experience at Anzio. He was with the military police, and his job was to stay out on the landing area and direct traffic even during the shelling. When I had just graduated from college, back in the late ‘70’s, we took a trip together back to Italy so he could visit the cemetery at Nettuno. It was really a moving experience for me to see my stoic dad get so emotional. Thank you for bringing back the memories!
The “One more thing” after this episode gave me goosebumps. Canticle for Leibowitz is one of my favourite books and I knew about Miller’s inspiration taken from Monte Casino, so he mentioning at the end made me truly happy.
It’s one of my favorites, too.