The Allies Bomb Monte Cassino
February 15, 1944
According to Gregory the Great, in 529, Benedict built his famous monastery at Monte Cassino in central Italy on the site of a temple of Apollo. Benedict “smashed the idol, overturned the altar,” then built two chapels.
Monte Cassino was well situated on the Nazi defensive Gustav Line in 1944, and the Allies were frustrated by repeated failures to break through. German forces, respecting its significance, did not occupy the abbey, which sheltered 2,000 refugees. But Allied commanders, informed of possible evidence of enemy troops in the abbey, authorized an aerial attack after much debate. Leaflets urging evacuation were dropped on the abbey on February 14, and the next day 250 Allied planes pulverized it, killing several hundred civilians. Not until May 18 did Polish and British troops conquer the ruins.
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James M. Kushiner is the Director of Publications for The Fellowship of St. James and the former Executive Editor of Touchstone.
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