Wednesday – the Abbey of Monte Cassino.
Last time I was in Cassino I never entered the Abbey! This time J made sure I did. I did some catch-up work in the morning, and then we headed up the hill after mezzogiorno. The Abbey was rebuilt to almost the same plan as the building pre-bombing so you get a good feel for what it was like. The views are fabulous, and the building is very interesting. Matches were out of the question as most of the photos were from areas that aren’t open to the public. The basilica was open and we heard the monks singing. It was a most beautiful sound in that environment, the sound floating around the church. I have a short recording but don’t know how to add it to the blog…

While J drove the car down the hill I scrambled over Hangman’s Hill, or Pt 435. During the battle a battalion from the 4th Indian Division, mainly Gurkhas, managed to get this far and then get stuck. They were ordered to wait for successes in battle elsewhere that never came, and then found themselves surrounded. Eventually they were able to sneak off the hill, and a contact here assures me that the Germans deliberately held their fire while they did so. It is hard to understand why they would do so however, and it is more likely the evacuation was unexpected and undetected. I found the remains of the cable-car gantry that gave the hill its name. In late ’43 a German pilot cut the cable while ‘hot-dogging’ as the Yanks call it. The gantry came to look like a gallows, hence the name. There are two big notches in the crest of the peak where the cars ran through, but otherwise the only remains are some metal supports and a pile of concrete. The scramble down caused J some alarm as I only had jandals on and it’s a mighty steep piece of rock.

Once she was sure I was safe she headed home while I continued down the mountain on the old road. This appears to be Roman, or at least medieval and is still in very good condition along most of its route. It kind of zigs when the main road zags and v.v., so they cross several times. I passed through Pt 236 and scrambled through the brambles looking for a way down to Pt 165 directly but without success. I did find several broken TVs, some aluminium doors, various tins, and the odd washing-machine bowl, but I don’t think they were durante la guerre somehow. For all the scrambling I found one tiny fragment, from under Hangman’s Hill.

Anyway, I wandered down to Pt 165 and the Castle. The latter is closed and under reconstruction, just as it was last time I visited. The former has the remains of a house on it that was a strongpoint for both sides at times, but mostly German, so I had to go through more bloody bramble to get shots of it. Then I snuck through the fence to battle the bramble outside the Castle. I found the foundations of what was known as the ‘Yellow House’ (because it was yellow, dummies), and then took some matches for the position where a German Stug III was destroyed by a very brave Nissan (Japanese) American bazookaman.

(Incidentally, with all these vicious scratching, prickly bushes I really wish they had a good fire on these hills instead of the ones across the valley.)

I didn’t have time before sunset to investigate the Castle again so popped over the fence to the surprise of three Italians and headed down the hill again. I walked through the remains of the old town that are now overgrown with bush and returning to nature. It was like walking through a cemetery in a way – the ghost of a town. I’m not quite sure how I’ll get matches in those area. 8-)

That night we found a wi-fi hotspot, did some blogging and checked emails. Not much for me. The Army are still not seeing my way and I haven’t heard back from the CAB with their advice yet.