Good books about Monte Cassino

charlie don't surf · Post by **charlie don't surf** » Sun Sep 29, 2002 6:55 am

Are there any good books about the battles at monte cassino?

regards

Jason Pipes · Post by **Jason Pipes** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 12:15 am

Is there a particular aspect of the battle that you are interested in? I know of some but most have a focus on the units that I have been studying in relation to the battle, namely the 5.Gebirgs-Division.

charlie don't surf · Post by **charlie don't surf** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 4:01 am

I always like to read first hand accounts of the battles, I'm looking for something detailed. something in comparison with breakout at normandy or the panzers and the battle of normandy.

regards

Juha Hujanen · Post by **Juha Hujanen** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 10:32 am

Well i haven't read these,but you might want to have alook of these...

Bowlby:Countdown to Cassino:The battle of Mignano cap 1943
Von Senger und Etterlin:Neither fear nor hope
Majdalany:Cassino.Portrait of a battle(view from allied side)
Peters:Fallschirmjäger RGT3(one i have,650+ pages of photos from this unit,lovely..)

Chears Juha

charlie don't surf · Post by **charlie don't surf** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 10:47 am

thanks!

regards

Richard Murphy · Post by **Richard Murphy** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 12:44 pm

Another very good one (Though mainly told from the Allied perspective.) is John Ellis's Cassino, The Hollow Victory(Andre Deutsch/Sphere Books.[/i].

Kesselring's memoirs (My copy is simply titled The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Kesselring, but I've also seen it refered to as A Soldiers Story.) also contains a fair bit on Italy (Where he was C. in C.).

Regards from the Park,

Rich

Fridolin · Post by **Fridolin** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 4:50 am

I still believe that, apart from its obvious bias, Fred Madjalany's book is quite good. It's not only that it's written in an most excellent prose, not often found nowadays, or that the actual account is clear, if one-sided, but the Prelude contains a magnificient and sucint description of what a 'battle' is from the fighter and historian's point of view (pp. 13ff.). That, coming from a book written in the fifties, is outstanding.As for the other side of the hill, Fridolin von Senger von Etterlin's Neither Fear nor Hope (Chapter 5, Presidio Edition), although not up to modern historian standards, is worth reading. And of course, von Senger is my personal hero!

Cheers

charlie don't surf · Post by **charlie don't surf** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 6:39 am

thanks for the tips!

regards

Wolf · Post by **Wolf** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 1:16 pm

In Sven Hassel:Monte Casino they fight in mONTE cASSINO I KNOW ITS NOT THAT GOOD BUT WELL ITS ABOUT mONTE cASINO.

wOLF

Fridolin · Post by **Fridolin** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 1:54 pm

'Is not that good'
Well, to put it politely, it is fiction, and not terribly good at that. Just another League.
And this is understatement.
Cheers

Richard Murphy · Post by **Richard Murphy** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 11:33 pm

Actually I thought Hassel's Monte Cassino was one of his better efforts!
BTW, the incident he describes in the book about the removal of the treasures from the Abbey actually happened!

Regards from the Park,

Rich

Fridolin · Post by **Fridolin** » Fri Oct 04, 2002 7:35 am

Heh, heh...! I won't argue with you on that. I'm not an 'Sven Hassel' expert myself! If you say Cassino is one of his better efforts, let it be so. So that leaves it at let's say, Barbara Cartland level!
Cheers

Richard Murphy · Post by **Richard Murphy** » Sun Oct 06, 2002 3:40 pm

For all his alledged faults, I can't even picture Sven in a pink frock and blonde wig, together with make-up that would make Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen throw his hands up in despairing horror!

I still prefer his books to Kessler/Whiting's!

Rich