Monte Cassino
Four battles, four months, and the destruction of a 1,400-year-old abbey — the hardest fighting of the western war.
The Verdict
Four times in four months the Allies threw themselves at the mountain, and Matthew Parker refuses to let the resulting bloodbath stay forgotten. Monte Cassino reconstructs the brutal 1944 battles for the heights guarding the road to Rome — the destruction of a 1,400-year-old abbey, the Polish, Indian, New Zealand, French, and American troops who died on the slopes — through interviews with the men of a dozen nations who survived them. Parker conveys both the futility and the ferocity, and makes a strong case that this was the western war's nearest equivalent to the meat-grinders of the East.
Who Should Read It
Read it if you want
- The four battles for Monte Cassino in full
- The multinational fight
- The Italian campaign's hardest, costliest action
- Veterans' testimony from many armies
Look elsewhere if you want
- The wider Italian campaign (read The Day of Battle)
- A single-nation account
- Strategy over the front line
Why We Rated It 4.4
Historical Context
Monte Cassino (2003) chronicles the four Allied assaults between January and May 1944 on the German positions around Monte Cassino, which blocked the road to Rome, including the controversial bombing of the ancient Benedictine abbey. Parker drew on interviews with veterans of the many nations that fought there.
Events Covered
Editions & Reading Notes
Read It Alongside
Where to Buy
ISBN: 978-1400033959
Read This Against
The same events seen from a different vantage point. The fullest understanding often lives in the space between accounts that don't agree.
Other Books About the Same Events
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many battles were fought at Monte Cassino?
- Four major Allied assaults between January and May 1944, at enormous cost, before the German line was finally broken.
- Was the abbey really destroyed?
- Yes — the historic Benedictine monastery was bombed to rubble in 1944, a decision still debated; the book examines it closely.