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Battle Of Monte Cassino
The Battle of Monte Cassino, also known as the Battle for Rome, was a series of four military assaults by the Allies of World War II, Allies against Nazi Germany, German forces in Kingdom of Italy, Italy during the Italian Campaign (World War II), Italian Campaign of World War II. The objective was to break through the Winter Line and facilitate an advance towards Rome. In the beginning of 1944, the western half of the Winter Line was anchored by German forces holding the Rapido (river), Rapido-Gari (river), Gari, Liri, and Garigliano valleys and several surrounding peaks and ridges. Together, these features formed the Winter Line, Gustav Line. Monte Cassino, a historic hilltop abbey founded in 529 by Benedict of Nursia, dominated the nearby town of Cassino and the entrances to the Liri and Rapido valleys. Lying in a protected historic zone, it had been left unoccupied by the Germans, although they manned some positions set into the slopes below the abbey's walls. Repeated art ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hitler Line
The Hitler Line was a German Army defensive line in central Italy during the Second World War. The strong points of the line were at Piedimonte, Pontecorvo, and Aquino. In May 1944, the line was renamed the Senger Line, after General Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin, one of the generals commanding Axis forces in the area. That was done at Adolf Hitler's insistence to minimise any propaganda significance if the line was penetrated. The line was a so-called " switch line", joined the Gustav Line at Monte Cairo and provided a fall-back position behind the Gustav Line. The line was breached on 24 May 1944 on the British Eighth Army's front by the 1st Canadian Infantry Division and 5th Canadian Armoured Division, which attacked with II Polish Corps on their right. The first to breach the line, at Pontecorvo were the 1st Canadian Division's 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards. The Polish Corps captured Piedimonte on 25 May, and the line collapsed. The next German line was the Cae ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
II Corps (Poland)
The 2nd Polish Corps (), 1943–1947, was a major tactical and operational unit of the Polish Armed Forces in the West during World War II. It was commanded by Lieutenant General Władysław Anders and fought with distinction in the Italian Campaign, in particular at the Battle of Monte Cassino. By the end of 1945, the corps had grown to well over 100,000 soldiers. History Victims of Soviet deportations from occupied Poland in 1939–40 had been processed by the NKVD and sent to prison or exile in Siberia. The Nazi-Soviet pact of August 1939 effectively ended on 22 June 1941 when the German Wehrmacht invaded the USSR. The release of many thousands of former citizens of Poland (including Ukrainians and Belarusians) from the Soviet Gulags, following the signing of the Polish-Russian Military Agreement on 14 August 1941, allowed for the creation of a Polish Army on Soviet soil. Its first commander, General Michał Tokarzewski, began the task of forming this army in the Soviet v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fallschirmjäger (World War II)
The () were the airborne forces branch of the Luftwaffe before and during World War II. They were the first paratroopers to be committed in large-scale airborne operations. They were commanded by Kurt Student, the Luftwaffe's second-in-command. Between the wars During the interwar years, the rapid development of aircraft and aviation technology drew the attention of imaginative military planners. The idea of aerially inserting a large body of troops inside enemy territory was proposed during World War I by Brigadier General Billy Mitchell (general), Billy Mitchell, commander of the United States Army Air Corps, U.S. Army Air Corps in France.Ailsby, Christopher: ''Hitler's Sky Warriors: German Paratroopers in Action, 1939–1945'', p. 12. Spellmount Limited, 2000. However, the Allies of World War I, Entente High Command was forced to abandon the idea, as it was unprepared for such an undertaking, both logistically and in materiel. Among the first to recognize the potential ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bomber
A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strategic bombing is done by heavy bombers primarily designed for long-range bombing missions against strategic targets to diminish the enemy's ability to wage war by limiting access to resources through crippling infrastructure, reducing industrial output, or inflicting massive civilian casualties to an extent deemed to force surrender. Tactical bombing is aimed at countering enemy military activity and in supporting offensive operations, and is typically assigned to smaller aircraft operating at shorter ranges, typically near the troops on the ground or against enemy shipping. Bombs were first dropped from an aircraft during the Italo-Turkish War, with the first major deployments coming in the World War I, First World War and World War II, Seco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artillery
Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and led to heavy, fairly immobile siege engines. As technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery cannons were developed for battlefield use. This development continues today; modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility generally providing the largest share of an army's total firepower. Originally, the word "artillery" referred to any group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of manufactured weapon or armour. Since the introduction of gunpowder and cannon, "artillery" has largely meant cannon, and in contemporary usage, usually refers to Shell (projectile), shell-firing Field gun, guns, howitzers, and Mortar (weapon), mortars (collectively called ''barrel artillery'', ''cannon artil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cassino
Cassino () is a ''comune'' in the province of Frosinone at the southern end of the region of Lazio. It's the last city of the Valle Latina, Latin Valley. It is located at the foot of Monte Cairo near the confluence of the Gari (river), Gari and Liri rivers and on the via Casilina between Rome and Naples. The city is best known as the site of the Monte Cassino, Abbey of Montecassino and the Battle of Monte Cassino during World War II, which resulted in huge Allied and German casualties as well as the near total destruction of the town itself. It is also home to the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio. Cassino has a population of 35,969 as of July 2017, making it the second largest town in the province. History Ancient Cassino's roots lie in the settlement of Casinum, the last city of the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins, of Umbri, UmbrianTacitus, Annales or Venetic or Oscan origin, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benedict Of Nursia
Benedict of Nursia (; ; 2 March 480 – 21 March 547), often known as Saint Benedict, was a Great Church, Christian monk. He is famed in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lutheran Churches, the Anglican Communion, and Old Catholic Churches. In 1964, Pope Paul VI declared Benedict a Patron saints of Europe , patron saint of Europe. Benedict founded twelve communities for monks at Subiaco, Lazio , Subiaco in present-day Lazio, Italy (about to the east of Rome), before moving southeast to Monte Cassino in the mountains of central Italy. The present-day Order of Saint Benedict emerged later and, moreover, is not an religious order , "order" as the term is commonly understood, but a confederation of autonomous Congregation (group of houses) , congregations. Benedict's main achievement, his ''Rule of Saint Benedict'', contains a set of Decree (canon law), rules for his monks to follow. Heavily influenced by the writings of John Cassian ( – ), it shows st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garigliano
The Garigliano () is a river in central Italy. It forms at the confluence of the rivers Gari (also known as the Rapido) and Liri. Garigliano is actually a deformation of "Gari-Lirano" (which in Italian means something like "Gari from the Liri"). In ancient times the whole course of the Liri and Garigliano was known as the ''Liris''. For the most part of its length, the Garigliano River marks the border between the Italian regions of Lazio and Campania. In medieval times, the river (then known as the ''Verde'') marked the southern border of the Papal States. Historical significance Western Roman Emperor Majorian engaged a Vandal raiding party in battle at Garigliano in 457. In the 9th and early 10th centuries, a band of Saracens established themselves on the banks of the river, from where they launched frequent raids on Campania and central Italy. In 915 a coalition of Pope John X, the Byzantines, Franks, Lombards, and Naples defeated the Garigliano Arabs in the Battle o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liri
The Liri (Latin Liris or Lyris, previously, Clanis; Greek: ) is one of the principal rivers of central Italy, flowing into the Tyrrhenian Sea a little below Minturno under the name Garigliano. Source and route The Liri's source is in the Monte Camiciola, elevation , in the Monti Simbruini of central Apennines (Abruzzo, ''comune'' of Cappadocia). It flows at first in a southeasterly direction through a long trough-like valley, parallel to the general direction of the Apennines, until it reaches the city of Sora. In the upper part of Isola del Liri it receives the waters of Fibreno and then it divides into two branches which then rejoin, surrounding the lower part of the town (''Isola del Liri'' stands for ''Liri Island''). One branch makes a high waterfall situated in the centre, a unique case in Europe. A dam is built on the river after the confluence with the Sacco at Ceprano. The last important Liri's tributary is the Melfa, with which it joins near Aquino. Af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gari (river)
The Gari is a short river that flows in Monte Cassino, Italy at the southern end of the region of Lazio. The Battle of Gari River, better known as the Battle of Rapido River, one of the bloodiest battles of the Italian Campaign of World War II occurred in 1944, along its banks. The river origins from a spring in the center of Cassino, in Piazza Corte, at the foot of Montecassino. It flows underground and reappears in the Villa Comunale, the main public park in the town. In the thermal area known as Varronian Thermal Baths, it increases its discharge considerably from several springs, as well as from the river Rapido. In Sant'Apollinare, few miles south of Cassino, it joins the Liri to form the Garigliano river, which marks the border between Lazio and Campania. The battle The Gari river (erroneously identified as the Rapido) was the site of a bloodily repulsed and ill-conceived assault during the Italian Campaign of World War II by the U.S. 36th Infantry Division, led by M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
