European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 8, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse The ghostly remains of the Abbey of Monte Cassino looks to in from a Rocky Cassino Symbol of War s needless destruction by j. King Cruces Northern Italy Bureau t hese Days Italy s Abbey of Monte Cassino and Cassino the prosperous City below it Are tourist stops about Halfway along the superhighway linking Naples and Rome. Fifty years ago they were bloody Way stations on the Allied Road to Victory that led to the italian capital. In the Middle of january 1944, the Allied fifth army commanded by . Army it. Gen. Mark w. Clark was stalled on its Advance from Salerno to Rome by a formidable system of fortifications the so called Gustav line. The line prepared by German Field Marshall Albert Kesselring extended along the Banks of three Rivers in the West and stretched eastward across the mountains to the Adriatic. The Gustav line was a Belt of defences in depth that necessitated storming each Mountain Valley after Valley a All of them grinding up Allied infantry. The enemy was dug in so tenaciously that Clark wrote Quot we found out later that during one of our most intense bombing and artillery attacks a an attack in which we threw All the great weight our forces could Muster against a comparatively Small target area a a group of German officers sat in an underground Bunker in the Mountainside playing cards. _ Quot they did t move from the table during the attack. Our greatest Effort did t break up that card the allies were under increasing pressure to breach the Gustav line and to take Rome quickly since its capitulation was believed indispensable for the Success of operation overlord the planned invasion of the european continent from across the English Channel. The germans under like pressure to hold the line a whatever the Cost a made the 1,700-foot-High monastery capped Hill one of their principal strongholds. Thus the stage was set for the Battle for Monte Cassino. To get to Cassino the allies tried assaults across the nearby rain swollen Bone chilling fast flowing rapid River. The . Army s 36th inf div suffered terrible losses attempting to Cross. Quot tonight the 36th div will attempt to Cross the rapid River opposite Sant Angelo. Everything has been done that can be done to ensure Success. We might succeed file but i do not see How we can Quot maj Gen. Fred l. Walker wrote in his diary on Jan. 20, 1944. Many of those who stepped Forward a into the night into the fog into the water into waiting minefields a did not return. They left hearts limbs and souls along the rapid s Banks. One of those american infantrymen who crossed the rapid More than a half Century ago was former pvt. Richard Gearhart. Quot i crossed the River three times All the Crossings were at night. I crossed it twice on patrols around Jan. 15. We crossed in Little boats by pulling ourselves along a rope Strung across the River. Then we walked behind a combat Engineer who had a mine Detector Quot Gearhart recalled while recently revisiting Sant Angelo about four Miles South of Cassino with nearly 40 other american world War ii veterans. Quot during the third crossing i made it Alt the Way to Poland a As a Row Quot Gearhart said with an ironic chuckle. Quot the third crossing was during the attack. We crossed by walking across a Bridge of boats lashed Side by Side. I be heard that the germans were floating mines Down onto us but we did t run into any Quot said Gearhart a 70-year-old resident of St. Louis to. Quot we ran into terribly heavy fire. Their machine guns kept cutting us Down. We kept calling for arty fire but our radio did t work. Most of us were killed or captured on Jan. 22. I got captured the next afternoon Quot when the germans trucked him off to stalag 28 in Poland the 6-foot-4-Inch Gearhart weighed 225 pounds. He d lost 90 pounds by the time he was liberated by russian troops near War s end continued on Page 18 an Allied mortar outfit shells the Abbey grounds. Wednesday june 8, 1994 the stars and stripes 17
