Swordpoint

An ambitious plan, a looming fortress, a devastating battle... Famous for its ancient hilltop monastery, Monte Cassino achieved a new and grimmer renown in the Second World War when it became a German bastion against the Allied advance through Italy. Even in February 1944, when the abbey buildings had been reduced to rubble by aerial bombardment, the mountain itself continued to command the adjoining river valleys and to block the road to Rome. Cassino had to be taken. Frontal assault had proved