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Monte Cassino

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Monte Cassino

By: Matthew Parker
Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong, Tim Pigott-Smith
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Summary

 The six-month battle for Monte Cassino was Britain's bitterest and bloodiest encounter with the German army on any front in World War Two.

At the beginning of 1944 Italy was the western Allies' only active front against Nazi-controlled Europe, and their only route to the capital was through the Liri valley. Towering over the entrance to the valley was the medieval monastery of Monte Cassino, a seemingly impenetrable fortress high up in the 'bleak and sinister' mountains. This was where the German commander, Kesselring, made his stand.

MONTE CASSINO tells the extraordinary story of ordinary soldiers tested to the limits under conditions reminiscent of the bloodbaths of World War One. In a battle that became increasingly political, symbolic and personal as it progressed, more and more men were asked to throw themselves at the virtually impregnable German defences. It is a story of incompetence, hubris and politics redeemed at dreadful cost by the heroism of the soldiers.

(P)2004 Headline Digital©2003 Matthew Parker Europe Great Britain Military War
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A very good insight to a fruitless battle, with huge loss on both side. Great breaking in places at the senseless loss of lives.

Very interesting.

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I don't know how comprehensive the unabridged book was, but this felt like a very superficial treatment of the subject. The production was weird too - almost random music and sound effects passages which for me didn't sit with the overall content.

too abridged and oddly produced...

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A bit disappointed with this audiobook. I bought it as my late uncle was actually there. The music that was offputting as was the accents used for eyewitness accounts.

Disappointed.

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I listened to this as one of my Audible books free with Prime. I had previously purchased the paperback (2004 edition). This is not a word for word reading of the book. Based on a comparison of the last chapter, I'd estimate that at about 25% of the written text is omitted from the audiobook. I'm not convinced that the parts omitted are less important than the parts included.

As far as the book itself is concerned, it's a rather dry account of the Cassino campaign. Great if you're really into the battle logistics but the human aspect is less well dealt with. Nevertheless, essential if you want to know what the Italian campaign was like and how futile some of the military decisions were.

Abridged, not sure that well.

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A very good account of the battle but let down by too many factors. The book has been very abridged to the point where the flow gets lost and the story appears superficial. There are strange sound effects and sci fi type music which add nothing and are very off putting. The references to unit designations are hopelessly wrong such as the Sussex Batallion rather than the 1st Bn The Royal Sussex Regiment for example. Finally the excellent personal accounts are let down by awful fake accents performed by someone with a very strong accent themselves, thus making them all sound the same. Such a disappointment for what is actually a very good account. With hindsight I'd stick to the book.

Sadly disappointing

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