World Battlefronts: On the Chosen Road

Near the southwestern end of the Allied line across Italy, the town of Cassino nestles at the base of holy, historic Mount Cassino. There, Byzantine conqueror Belisarius paused on his way to Rome in 536; the Benedictine Order was founded in 529.* Forbiddingly fortified by the Germans, Cassino now straddles the road to Rome chosen by General Mark W. Clark's Fifth Army. Last week, yard by yard, French, U.S. and Canadian troops advanced toward the ancient, strategic town.

They had to claw their way along a mountainous, broken front of 20 miles. In the...

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