Hang 'Em High MTO (id:#59439)

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Monte Cassino, Italy 1944-03-17 (1 other)

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Overview:

Point 435, a mere 250 yards below the Monte Casino Manastery, comprised a jutting platform of rock that could serve as an ideal jumping-off point for an assault. From the top of this platform rose a broken pylon that had originally anchored an aerial ropeway from the town beneath. To the soldiers in the valley below, this pylon resembled a gallows and Point 435 earned the nickname "Hangman's Hill". As the third battle for Casino began, Lt. Col. G.S. Nangle, commanding the 1/9 Gurkha Rifles, had been tasked with the capture of Point 435. The battle had opened with a series of fits and starts, and while two companies of Rajputana Rifles had secured Castle Hill, the intermidiate objectives between Castle Hill and Point 435 remained unsecured. Finding himself out of communication with Brigade Headquarters, Nangle was faced with an agonizing dilema: hold back his entire battalion, or proceed with his advance onto an uncharted and possibly enemy-held hillside. He decided to go forward with the original plan, and in the early morning hours of March 15th, Companies C and D stepped off into the darkness.

Defender: German (1st Fallschirmjäger Division)  

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