CASSINO- ROLLING BARRAGE In Cassino the German army occupied and fortified the Catholic Monastery on the peak of the mountain. This, of course, gave them excellent visibilty. Thus, they were able to control the roads leading up to the mountainside as well as the plains below. Our gun emplacement was dug into the ground and surrounded by a wall of sandbags. For days, we lived underground in foxholes and the only time we emerged was when we had a firing mission. Our meals were served only after nightfall. When we were not under observation due to inclement weather, we would emerge like nocturnal animals and we constatnly made every effort to increase the safety of our foxhole. During a lull when bad weather had set in, I was visited by my Captain. He looked into my foxhole and jokingly said, "Bill, if you dig that hold any deeper, I will charge you with desertion." At certain intervals, the German artillery would subject us to what is termed "a rolling barrage." The Germans would aim all their artillery at a certain zone, their guns would all fire simultaneously until the zone was saturated and the shelling would creep forward. You knew when you would be subjected to this horror: you could see the explosions coming closer and closer and when the barrage passed your position, for the time being, you knew you survived and you would say a little prayer of thanks. Our casualties were high, and on one occasion I came very close to bidding this world a fond farewell. A shell landed right beside my foxhole, the hole collapsed on me, I was buried in dirt and frantically with the help of other soldiers, I dug my way up to safety. The smoke was still coming out of the dirt and thankfully I was unharmed and strangely enough, my right ear was bleeding due to the force of the concussion. return to top