| There were four separate battles for Cassino and the first three were not successful. In the final battle, I think the credit must go to:
1. The French who, with their trained mountain troops, were able to take the mountainous area behind Cassino and undermine the position.
2. The Poles, who actually took the monastery.
3. Alexander, plus the commanders of 5th and 8th Armies for a successful, complex operation which undermined the whole German position and would have been more successful if Clark had obeyed his orders and established a blocking position instead of going for Rome.
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Angie
"History is lived forward but it is written in retrospect. We know the end before we consider the beginning and we can never wholly recapture what it was like to know the beginning only." C V Wedgewood
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