Cassino to the Alps - US Army Center Of Military History

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Monte Cavo, both rIsmg hundreds of
feet above the crater floor. Over the
years the southeastern rim of the crater
eroded to form an elongated ridge
about four miles in length, averaging
2,000 feet in height. Rising like a wall
behind the town of Velletri, l(x:ated at a
point halfway up the ridge where Highway
7 leaves the coastal plain and
enters the hills, the ridge bears the
lyrical name of Monte Artemisio. From
both Velletri and the ridge behind it
the Germans had excellent observation
over !xJth the beachhead and the corridor
leading from Cisterna to Valmontone.
Extending like fingers from the
southern slopes of the Alban Hills and
onto the coastal plain, steep-sided ridges
formed by ancient lava flows ran past
the towns of Velletri and Lanuvio, the
latter located five miles to the west of
the former. The sides of the ridges
were covered with modest vineyards
and groves of chestnut trees, but the
crests were open and usually cultivated
in a patchwork of grain fields.
The Opposing Forces
Reflecting the Huctuations imposed
by attack and counterattack in the
weeks since the landing at Anzio, the
Allies' forward positions by mid-May
traced a meandering line across the
landscape. From the sea on the southwest
they led to a ridge south of the
Moletta River, thence to the Anzio­
Aprilia-Albano road. From the road the
front curved northeastward about five
miles to the hamlet of Casale Carano,
thence followed the Carano Canal for a
short distance before turning southeast
to parallel the Cisterna-Campoleone­
Rome railroad for some seven miles as
CASSINO TO THE ALPS
far as the west bank of the Mussolini
Canal. At the canal the front turned
south and followed its west bank for
nine miles to the sea. Blocking the most
likely avenues of enemy attack across
the front were numerous mine fields
emplaced by the Allied troops during
the winter battles.
Of the U.S. units on the beachhead
in Februarv-the 3d and 45th Divisions,
the 1st A'rmored Division's Combat
Command A, the 1st Special Service
Force (an American-Canadian regimental-sized
force), the reinforced 509th
Parachute Regiment, and the 6615th
Ranger Force (three battalions)-only
the paratroopers had left the beachhead
by mid-May. The survivors of the
ranger force had been integrated into
the 1st Special Service Force. Those
losses had been more than made up in
late March by the arrival of the 34th
Infantry Division, a veteran of the winter
fighting at Cassino. On 28 March
that division began relieving the 3d
Division, which had been on the front
for sixty-seven consecutive days. The
1st Armored Division was also brought
up to full strength with the arrival in
April of CCB, its second combat command,
and other elements of the divi­
SIOn.
The British too had shifted some of
their units. In early March the 5th
Division had replaced the 56th, and the
latter, together with some British commandos,
left the beachhead. The 1 st
Division remained, but its 24th Guards
Brigade was relieved by the 18th
Guards Brigade, the former moving to
:-.Japles for rest and reorganization.
By the bebrinning of April all Allied
units had been brought to full strength.
The VI Corps, including the two Brit-