Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Canning  Warlord -
I keep hearing about this plan of Gen Juin - but I have never fully understood which one it was - can you enlighten me ?
All I know about him was that he was severely critical about everthing and felt - rightly - that we had too many vehicles as opposed to foot sloggers - and that we should be doing this instead of that -
So US Gen Mark Clark put him to the test by swinging him to the East of the monastery towards Altina where he made good progress and might have cut Highway six - but then he was recalled to assist the US 34th Div which was in trouble closer to the Monastery - that was battle No 1 in Jan '44
His next Battle was No 4 - May '44 when starting from the bridgehead over the Garigliano - he went storming over the Aurunci Mountains - all the time complaining that 8th Army - were as always too slow to catch up which was the general Mark Clark line - but then he was French ! and so he was first at the top of the Liri valley
What is seldom talked about was that 8th Army and in particular the two Canadian Divisions -plus 25th and 21st Tank Bdes - 78th Division- 6th Armoured Div - 10 Indian Div- 4th British Div as well as the Polish Corps were hammering away at the toughest defences and killing grounds we had seen - wheras the French were runnng amok over virtually undefended mountains ! US 2nd corps staying close to the West coast
There is a great deal of difference in running through an open door - and trying to unlock a barred and very secure door - which the great French General failed to point out - at any time - then they disappaeraed to take part in the relatively undefended again - South OF France landings !!!
Cheers |
Well, you basically hit it right on the nose, because what Juin proposed was a flanking attack well around Monastery Hill, in order to come back upon its rear, isolate it and take it without having to face the murderous fire Jerry was raining upon the allied forces that tried to go up its forward slopes.
The whole idea was, as you already pointed out, to break free of the stalemate, by attacking over almost defenseless high ground (in fact, a door left open) that the French-African troops with their mules had already proved most capable of handling, at least better than motorized unis with lots of vehicles, stuck under heavy shelling in the middle of roadless mountains.