The Allies take Cassino

18th May 1944: The dominating feature on the Germans Gustav Line suddenly falls after months of bloody struggle

View of Cassino after heavy bombardment showing a knocked-out Sherman tank by a Bailey bridge in the foreground with Monastery Ridge and Castle Hill in the background

A British soldier with a Bren gun in the ruins of Monte Cassino.

The Allies had been struggling since the beginning of the year at Cassino, the mountainous redoubt in the middle of the German 'Gustav' Line. Bitter fighting had continued in appalling conditions - and the Monastery at the centre of the defences had been smashed to smithereens. The attempt to turn the line by landing at Anzio had merely seen the Allies bogged down in another location as well.

This is the first photo in a dramatic sequence made in an unnamed Italian village as three U.S. scouts fought a building-to-building scrap against entrenched Nazis.

Here the men try to keep their heads low as they edge cautiously toward an open door.

Here one of them is hit by a Nazi bullet and falls as his two comrades quickly dart into an open door for momentary shelter. White cloud is probably caused by exploding grenade.

The latest attempt to break through had begun on the 11th. When the end finally came, it was a surprise to many involved.

Hundreds of dead lay all over the hillsides, Americans, French, N. Zealanders, and now Poles.