MONTECASSINO – On the 70^thanniversary of the controversial bombing of Monte Cassino Abbey, the town has inaugurated celebrations to commemorate the tragic event.

 Delegations from Rome and around Italy gathered in Montecassino last Saturday to honour the memory of those fallen in the bombing which, between 15 and 18 February 1944, turned the abbey into ruins.

 Montecassino was chosen as the target of the Allies’ aerial attack in the aftermath of the landing of British and American troops in Anzio as several units of the Nazi army were believed to have barricaded themselves in the Benedictine monastery. The location was deemed strategic to open the Allied forces the way to Casilina and consequently, to Rome, which was finally liberated in June ’44.

 The final assault was carried out by gallant Polish troops from Gen. Anders' Corps of the 8th Army who suffered appalling casualties in the last of three separate battles or stages of the struggle for the monastery hill.

 “We should never forget”, said Giuseppe Golini Petrarcone, mayor of Monte Cassino, during the opening ceremony, “the tribute paid by this land.”

 An intense program of anniversary celebrations commenced at 9.30am with the sound of a siren to commemorate the exact time when the first bomb fell on the 6^th-century monastery, followed by testimonies given by three survivors of the disastrous attack, and a series of commemorative events organised by the Monastic Community of Montecassino.

 “Remembering the Battle of Montecassino”, said Nicola Zingaretti, president of the Lazio region, “means valuing the historic, social and spiritual heritage of our territory.”

 Later this year surviving veterans of the battle will meet to commemorate the struggle in what is expected to be the last such reunion of old soldiers now in their late 80s or 90s.