World War II: The Battle for Monte Cassino
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The Allies reached the western end of the German Gustav Line in Italy in mid-Jan 1943.
The main German positions generally ran along the valleys created by the Rapido River, Liri River, and the Garigliano River.
German troops established positions on the hill of Monte Cassino, which dominated over the valleys, but they had stayed out of the nearby historical Benedictine monastery per orders of Field Marshal Albert Kesselring.
British X Corps, consisted of 56th Infantry Division and 5th Infantry Division, attacked first on 17 Jan 1944, crossing the Garigliano River near the coast on a 20-mile-wide front.
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