The Flattening
of an Abbey

The most spectacular bombings were the ones at 1:20 and 1:35 pm. These were raids by medium [bombers] but there were twenty in each shift and they flew pretty low. This time from a good observation post we saw the abbey crumble in detail and other bombs snap over the whole top of the hill and plow through the emplacements.”

It should be noted that the bombing of the Medieval abbey at Montecassino was one of the saddest tactical errors of the Second World War. The decision to bomb the structure was a result an error in translating an intercepted German communique that lead the Allies to believe that there was Nazi battalion contained within the abbey. This was not the case. When the Allies sifted through the rubble they were surprised to find the remains of numerous Italian civilians and very few Germans. When Eisenhower heard of the blunder, he ordered that heavy bombers no longer be deployed in support of infantry.