Winter, 1944

Chapter 29

Monte Cassino

January - March

Europe: The Eastern Front

***German soldiers with a Panzer IV in January of 1944***
*German Federal Archives*

As the year began the Red Army found itself poised to cross the pre-war frontier into Poland, while in the north they poised to break the siege of Leningrad. Despite the Soviets having breached the German lines along the Dnieper in the previous autumn, Hitler and the OKW were insistent that no units retreat from their positions, meaning that many were now in danger of encirclement as well as unable to adequately respond to these penetrations.

***German soldiers move through the smoldering ruins of a village***
*German Federal Archives*

As the Soviets pressed forward from the Don, the threat of encirclement of significant elements of the German Army Group South grew increasingly real. The German’s allies, Romania and Hungary, were by now faltering in their commitment to a war of annihilation that was closing on their own borders, and the specter of the Italian capitulation last summer loomed large over the crumbling Axis Alliance. The loss of the Ukrainian breadbasket also figured into German plans to dig in their heels and hold the the end in the country, even as the strategic situation approached untenability, especially with German forces in the Crimea now entirely isolated.

***German troops engaged in a night engagement in Russia***
*German Federal Archives*

The Red Army offensive slammed into ever more exhausted German units, bolstered somewhat by units transferred from occupation duties in the west. One by one strongholds were overwhelmed, and the German commanders began to make withdrawals as possible in defiance of the orders coming from the Fuhrer. Pockets such as the one at Korsun became the scenes of vicious battles as the trapped Germans attempted breakouts with limited success as the winter turned into a muddy spring in early March.

***A German half track passes a knocked out Red Army Sherman tank***
*German Federal Archives*

The Soviets launched another offensive on the heels of their earlier successes, waiting only weeks before attacking the Germans with six tank armies at the beginning of March. The German 1st Panzer Army found itself engaged by massively superior Soviet forces in southern Ukraine by the end of the month, but as it came to a close the remnants of the German force were able to break out and rejoin friendly forces after heavy losses of men and materiel. Despite this escape, the Red Army had managed to sever the main rail links to the region, forcing the Germans to move supplies and reinforcements around the Carpathian Mountains and through the Balkans.

***Soviet soldiers enter the grounds of the Catherine Palace as the Siege of Leningrad is lifted***
*Russian International News Service*

Concurrently to the German disasters in the Ukraine, the siege of the city of Leningrad was coming to its end. Corridors had been opened into the city in the previous months, but the city had yet to be fully relieved until a Soviet offensive was launched on 14 January. Supported by overwhelming air and artillery assets, the Soviets slammed the Germans back 100 kilometers by the end of the month, and the Siege of Leningrad was decalred fully lifted by Stalin on 27 January, after 2 years, 4 months and 19 days.

Europe: Italy

***A British howitzer fires on the Gustav Line***

As the new year dawned, the Allied offensive along the boot of Italy continued, slowed considerably by the significant German defensive lines amongst the mountainous terrain of the peninsula. The center of these defenses lay at Monte Cassino, a mountainside village in the shadow of a Benedictine abbey. These defenses, designated the Gustav, Hitler and Bernhard Lines, had been constructed to block the Allied advance on Rome, and would prove a stubborn obstacle for some time.

Allied forces opened up their own assaults in mid January, starting with the British X Corps driving against the line along the western coast. This managed to get the Germans to redeploy their reserves, before the Americans launched their own attack on Monte Cassino proper on 20 January. The Americans advanced toward the German lines along the Rapido River, but due to difficulties getting armor across the river infantry units found themselves stranded and under sustained attack by panzer units. The attack was a dismal failure, with one US infantry regiment essentially annihilated for no gains.

Days later another assault was launched by US forces supported by Free French troops, striking across the Rapido River’s floodplains and securing a foothold on the northern side of the river after arduous fighting, although several strategic objectives remained in German hands. By February, American patrols were able to reach the outer walls of the abbey itself, but were unable to advance in force against it. By the eleventh, the Americans were exhausted, and began to withdraw from the area to lick their wounds.

***The abbey at Monte Cassino***
*Polish National Archives*

As the battle for Monte Cassino raged, the Allies launched a bold operation to completely circumvent the Gustav Line through their naval supremacy in the Mediterranean. Operation Shingle commenced on 22 January, with US and British forces landing at Anzio on the western Italian coast, with the hope of either forcing the Germans to redeploy their forces against it (thereby weakening the Gustav Line sufficiently to allow a breakthrough), or to advance on Rome and cut the Germans’ line of supply and reinforcement.

***LSTs discharge men and vehicles at Anzio***

The initial landings were executed with only scattered German resistance, and a sizable beachhead was secured on the first day, but despite these gains the Germans were prepared, with mechanized rapid reaction units lying in wait. These were deployed to contain the beachheads around the villages of Anzio and Nettuno, along with additional divisions dispatched to the theater from the Balkans and central Europe.

***RAF spitfires over the rugged terrain of Italy***
*Royal Air Force*

As a result, as the Allies consolidated their positions the Gemans enveloped them with a ring of strong defenses, tightly sealing them into the area around Anzio and making it near impossible to break out and accomplish their main objectives. American breakout attempts were thwarted by the massed German defenders, although German attempts to crush the beachhead were likewise unsuccessful. The fighting around Anzio would devolve into a bloody stalemate by the end of February.

***German troops advance toward the Anzio beachhead with armored units***
*German Federal Archives*

As the Anzio operation continued, so did the fighting along the Gustav Line. A second major operation was launched against Monte Cassino, this time precipated by a large scale air raid intended to destroy the abbey itself in order to deprive the Germans of the position should they attempt to occupy it. USAAF bombers dropped over 1,000 tons of ordnance on the abbey, but did so without coordinating with ground units, resulting in no immediate follow up by Allied units after the bombardment, which in an event likely did not inflict damage on actual German units. The ensuing Second Battle of Monte Cassino would result in no greater success than the first.

***German Fallschirmjager man an MG42 machine gun in the ruins of Monte Cassino***
*German Federal Archives*

A Third Battle for Monte Cassino would follow in mid March, again preceded by a massive air and artillery bombardment before an assault by New Zealand troops. Massive rainstorms prevented the Allied forces from advancing, although eventually Allied forces penetrated into the town itself as well as near the ruined abbey walls. Despite these gains, they proved unsustainable, and the Allies withdrew again after days of hand to hand combat as their units reached exhaustion. As the month came to a close, Monte Cassino remained under German control, just as the Allies to the north remained corralled at Anzio with their backs to the sea.

***An airman sweeps volcanic ash from Mt. Vesuvius off a B25 bomber in Italy***
*US Army Air Force*

Europe: The Air War

In the skies over Europe, the Allied campaign against Germany itself continued to escalate. Large scale raids were by this point striking around the clock, with USAAF bombers attacking in the daylight before the RAF did the same overnight. In the early months of 1944 air raids struck the Reich Chancellery itself, impacting the heart of Hitler’s regime, while American bombers made their first daylight raids on the German capitol.

***USAAF fighter pilots of the all-black 332nd Fighter Group (the Tuskegee Airmen) are briefed near one of their P40 fighters in Italy***
*US Army Air Force*

The threat posed by American formations to the now battered Luftwaffe was also exacerbated, as new North American P51D Mustang fighters began to arrive in quantity, allowing US fighters to escort the bombers all the way to their targets and back. This was a serious blow to the Germans, with the Luftwaffe beginning to feel an ever worsening shortage of trained pilots for the Defense of the Reich.

***Bomb damage at 10 Downing Street (the residence of the UK Prime Minister) after a German raid***
*UK War Office*

Although the balance of power in the air had shifted decisively toward the Allies by this phase of the war, the Luftwaffe was not yet completely out of play either. This fact was driven home in January, as Operation Steinbock saw a renewed aerial assault on British cities. The main concentration, as before, was London, with German bombers striking the city several times of the early months of 1944. German raids under the umbrella of Steinbock would continue into April, despite high casualties among German bombers and crews.

***The University of Helsinki after a Soviet air raid***

In the East, the Soviets were increasing their own contriutions of the bombing campaign. Finally recovering from the deveastation wrought upon it in 1941, the VVS was increasing its own raids on Germany and other Axis states. Notably, the Soviets attacked the Finnish capitol of Helsinki three times in February with large bomber forces, although damage was relatively light due to the efficiency of the Finnish defenses.

Europe: Under Occupation

Across the bulk of Europe the Swastika still flew high, despite Allied gains in Italy and along the Eastern Front. In Italy, the new Italian Social Republic was moving to consolidate its power, with a trial in Verona being held for the members of the Grand Council of Fascism that had voted to oust Mussolini the past summer, despite only six members actually being located and arrested. All but one were sentenced to death and executed the next day, including the Duce’s son in law Galeazzo Ciano, the former Foreign Minister. Strikes and outright insurgency continued to build however, as most Italians viewed the new Republic for exactly what it was: a weak puppet of the occupying Germans.

***Soldiers of the National Republican Army assemble in Rome***
*German Federal Archives*

In France, the Germans were becoming increasingly concerned about the prospect of impending Allied invasion, and the resulting re-opening of the dormant Western Front. The situation was becoming ever more precarious, with the buildup of Allied forces in Britain being to big to conceal, and the increase in coordination of resistance activity causing consternation. American and British aircraft were now even launching operations intended to support the resistance, including breaking open prisons to free captured partisans, and by the end of March most of the various resistance forces had been consolidated into the Free French Forces of the Interior, under the control of de Gaulle’s administration.

***Field Marshal Rommel inspects Indian volunteers along the Atlantic Wall***
*German Federal Archives*

Elsewhere, the Germans were encountering issues in Norway, as resistance fighters attacked and sank ferries carrying deuterium oxide, also known as heavy water, from the Vermork Hydro plant to Germany, depriving the German nuclear program of this critical resource. Farther south, a mass escape of Allied airmen from Stalag Luft III near Sagan in Germany resulted in a massive manhunt, culminating in the capture of all but three of the 76 escapees. Of these, fifty were executed by the Gestapo for their role in what would come to be known as the “Great Escape”.

Pacific: Southern Islands

*The cruiser* USS Boise shells Japanese positions in New Guinea
US Navy

The campaign for New Guinea continued to drag on as 1944 dawned. Shortly after the new year, US forces commenced an amphibious landing at Saidor with an eye towards the capture of the Huon Peninsula. This small beachhead was expanded over the following months as the Japanese withdrew toward Madang farther up the coast. Australian and American forces commenced the assault on this objective in mid February, pressing along the northern coastline toward the old German colonial capitol.

***US troops and tanks advance at Arawe on New Britain***

On the adjacent island of New Britain the Allied invasion started at the end of 1943 continued, with the Japanese slowly withdrawing toward their stronghold at Rabaul on the opposite end of the island. An additional landing took place at Talasea in mid March, with US forces pressing inland and consolidating their positions. As a result, by the end of March Rabaul had been effectively isolated, although still a formidible position.

***US Army troops land in the Admiralty Islands***
*US Army*

Finally, in mid February US Army troops landed on the Admiralty Islands, a small archipelago north of New Guinea. Initial landings were made directly in the area of the small airstrip on the island of Los Negros, with the first wave making it ashore with little difficulty, but the subsequent assault waves ran into resistance so strong the landing craft were forced to turn back to allow the Navy to shell the defenders into a dazed state once again. The airfield was secured by the mid afternoon, allowing General MacArthur to come ashore for photographs, before US troops set in for the night.

In subsequent days the Americans expanded their control over the area, and with Los Negros mostly secure by the middle of March landings were made on Manus Island, encountering a major Japanese force near Rossum at the center of the island. This was reduced after several days of hard fighting, although the Japanese would still be holding on the island at the end of March.

Pacific: Island Hopping

***US Marines advance with flamethrowers and bayonets on Kwajalein***
*US National Archives*

In the central pacific, the Americans capitalized on the beginning of their “Island Hopping” strategy after the fall of Tarawa with landings in the Marshall Islands. The first step in this campaign was to be Kwajalein Atoll, a small set of islands located defended by a garrison of some 3,500 Japanese troops. The assault began on 31 January, following a massive bombardment by artillery posted on nearby islands along with US warships and USAAF bombers. With such a small island, the Japanese were left with no options aside from an attempt to meet the attack head on along the beaches, incurring heavy casualties. In the end the battle would last until 3 February, and result in the near total annihilation of the Japanese garrison.

***A Japanese tank wreck loaded onto the back of a USMC Sherman on Kwajalein***
*US Marine Corps*

Subsequent to the capture of Kwajalein, the next objective was Einewetok, yet another atoll of the Marshalls. Designated Operation Catchpole, this was commenced on 17 February with the typical air and naval bombardments of the island. These were followed by landings on the atoll itself the following day, with the first island cleared and its airfield secured by the end of the day.

***US Marines man a machine gun during the fighting on Eniwetok, as a Dauntless flies overhead***
*US National Archives*

Assault units landed on the main island of the atoll an hour after the first, and here the Americans ran into heavy resistance from a far large Japanese garrison. Well concealed with spider holes as well as other prepared positions, the Japanese put up a ferocious fight as they were pushed back against the sea. It would take two days to secure the island, and in the end almost a thousand Japanese were killed in the operation.

***A dirty Marine after the fighting on Eniwetok***
*US Marine Corps*

The strongest Japanese force on Einewetok was located on the island of Parry, and accordingly this was given the largest preliminary bombardment before landings began on 22 February. The Marines stormed the island with armored units leading the way, followed by flamethrower units to clear up stragglers in a rapid advance. Again almost the entire Japanese garrison was killed, but the operation was a success as the island was essentially secured by the end of the day.

Pacific: Southeast Asia

In the steaming jungles of Burma, the Allies had mounted several offensives from India with limited success in 1943, and after resting and reorganizing the British Indian Army launched a new offensive in early January. The advance was slow but steady as the Japanese were pushed back, but by February as the Allied forces held to consolidate their gains, the Japanese launched a counterattack, infiltrating the lines and attacking the headquarters of the Indian 7th Division, with the command staff of the division forced to withdraw into the fortified perimeter designated the Admin Box.

In short order the Admin Box was isolated by the advancing IJA troops and besieged. Resupply was performed by air, despite interception attempts by Japanese fighters. On the ground desperate hand to hand combat raged, with the Japanese overrunning the field hospital and executing the wounded within. Reinforcement was attempted with small units, although not all were successful, with high casualties incurred. by the end of the month the Japanese had exhausted their supplies and were compelled to withdraw, incurring severe casualties as they retreated to their jump-off lines. Subsequent Allied offensives gained yet more ground before stalling with the arrival of the monsoon season.

Pacific: Air War

***US Navy Dauntless dive bombers airborne near New Georgia***
*US Navy*

As the Americans advanced across New Guinea and the islands of the Pacific both the US Army Air Force and the US Naval Air Service provided invaluable support to their operations. Air supremacy could be enjoyed in most areas by this stage in the war, as US aircraft improved, more and more experienced pilots fielded, and the quality and quantity of their Japanese adversaries proportionately shrank.

*The* USS Bunker Hill launches aircraft to hit the Marshall Islands
US Navy

In mid February a large air offensive was launched against the Japanese naval base at Truk in the Caroline Islands, designated Operation Hailstone. Truk had been established as a major Japanese naval base shortly before the outbreak of war in Europe, and represented a major objective for the Allies in the reduction of the power of the IJN in the south-central Pacific, as well as depriving them of a major air base for launching bombers to interfere with American advances in the region.

***The Japanese base on Truk as viewed from an attacking USN Dauntless***

The US Navy tasked a total of nine aircraft carriers for Hailstone, with over 500 aircraft available between them. Exploiting holes in the Japanese radar screen, the Americans achieved near complete surprise, with IJN aircraft making only a small showing and incurring heavy losses against superior American machines. The ships clustered in Truk Lagoon faired worse, with most being caught at anchor and destroyed. Those that attempted to sortie were engaged by a US Navy surface force and slaughtered, with a total of fifteen warships and and thirty-two merchantmen sunk, along with serious damage to the port and airfield facilities. The base at Truk would never recover from Hailstone, and would no longer serve as a notable obstacle as the Americans continued to close on Japan itself.

Political Developments

***German BF110 fighters over Budapest***
*German Federal Archives*

Most political developments in the early months of 1944 were situated in Europe, with various shuffles and meetings taking place in England regarding the planned invasion of France. American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, proven as commander of the North African and Sicilian landings, was appointed as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. With his well known skill as an organizer as well as ability to wrangle the strong personalities of such figures as Patton and Montgomery he was seen as the best choice for this critical international command. A notable problem for him would be present in the form of Free French leader Charles de Gaulle, who had a reputation for obstinacy in his dealings with his allies.

On the Eastern Front, peace terms between the USSR and Finland came to nothing even as the tide of war turned decisively against the Germans, and in Hungary the government was making covert overtures in hope of sparing their nation the devastation on the horizon. A furious Hitler summoned Hungarian Regent Miklos Horthy to Germany, and while “negotiating” with him German troops seized control of the country’s critical infrastructure. Effectively held hostage, Horthy was forced to submit to quiet vasselage under his earstwhile ally.