On this day, Operation Panther, the Allied invasion of Cassino, in central
Italy, is launched. The ancient town of Cassino, near the Rapido River, was
a strategic point in the German Gustav Line, a defensive front across
central Italy and based at the Rapido, Garigliano, and Sangro rivers. Taking
Cassino would mean a breach in the German line and their inevitable retreat
farther north. Although the campaign to take Cassino commenced in January,
the town was not safely in Allied hands until May. The campaign caused
considerable destruction, including the bombing of the ancient Benedictine
abbey Monte Cassino, which took the lives of a bishop and several monks.
Everette