The Bombing of the Abbey of Monte Cassino
February 15, 1944
The Abby of Monte Cassino, founded by St. Benedict in the sixth century, was a site of enormous cultural and religious value. In a move that later appeared to have been mistaken and that dismayed many Catholics and others around the world, the Allied forces fighting Germans in Italy decided to bomb the structure, utterly destroying it. The decision was the outcome of a debate between New Zealand General Bernard Freyberg, who insisted that the targeting of the abbey was a military necessity, and American General Mark Clark (later nominated to by President Truman to be ambassador to the Holy See), who was reluctant to approve it.
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