History /
Poles and Falaise pocket - WWII [90]
There were many Allied nation troops trying to take Mt Cassino. The Brits, Yanks, Indians, Poles. They all fought well, but the Germans were tenacious fighters. The American 36th Texas division lost so many men that there was a Congressional hearing against Gen Mark Clark for incompetence. He was vindicated. It was the Poles that finally captured Cassino.
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U.S. Fifth Army commander Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, on board a PT-boat just before the Anzio landing. After the war, Clark was accused of showing a clear disregard for human life and military information during the "Rapido River fiasco." (U.S. Naval Historical Center)
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Rapido River Disaster
A rain-swollen river and powerful German defenses made the 36th Division's assault an exercise in futility.
By Clayton D. Laurie
At 10 a.m. on March 18, 1946, Andrew J. May, chairman of the Military Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, called to order hearings on the Rapido River crossing conducted by the 36th Infantry Division near Sant' Angelo, Italy, between January 20 and 22, 1944.
Hearings
During the course of two days of hearings, the 30 committee members heard testimony from veterans supporting the statements made in two resolutions: one approved in January 1946 by the members of the 36th Infantry Division Association and the other passed by the Texas Legislature. These resolutions referred to the infamous battle as "one of the most colossal blunders of the Second World War," a "murderous blunder" that "every man connected with this undertaking knew...was doomed to failure" before it took place.
Further, the resolutions charged Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, the commander of the Fifth Army, of which the 36th Division was then a part, with a clear disregard for human life and military information. Clark, they alleged, ordered the attack even though he knew it was going to fail with horrendous losses, even after his subordinates had voiced their misgivings and offered alternative suggestions for attacks elsewhere that could, and later did, succeed. The petitioners urged Congress to investigate not just the "Rapido River fiasco," but to take "the necessary steps to correct a military system that will permit an inefficient and inexperienced officer, such as Gen. Mark Clark, in a high command...to prevent future soldiers from being sacrificed wastefully and uselessly." With this testimony and supplemental reports from the War Department and Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson, the committee examined all aspects of the Rapido River disaster.