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Article: The worst battle; Second world war.('Monte Cassino: The Hardest-Fought Battle of World War Two')(Book Review)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- September 20, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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MOST of the great battles of the second world war have been well chronicled in millions of battle-hardened words, allowing a reader to experience their fury from the safety of an armchair: Stalingrad, Berlin, Normandy, the battle of Britain. Now here is Monte Cassino, perhaps the most interesting campaign of all. It lasted six months, a quarter of a million soldiers died or were wounded and probably it should never have been fought.
In 1943, the fourth year of the war, the Americans wanted to get on with the invasion of Europe, across the Channel from Britain to Normandy, through France and into Germany. But Britain believed the allies were not yet ready to take ...