Interview - Matthew Parker Author of Monte Cassino - The Hardest-Fought Battle of World War II

06/30/20 • 76 min

This past Sunday, Matthew Parker, author of Monte Cassino - The Hardest-Fought Battle of World War II, and I talked about his excellent history of one of WWII's least talked about battles. I had told him the whole thing would run about 45 minutes, and he was patient and gracious enough to give me over an hour of his time. Our chat ranged from his early days as a ghostwriter to the most exciting moments of Monte Cassino and beyond. Matthew has a natural, conversational way of delivering facts and history that comes through in his writing just as much as it does in this interview.

The book is fantastic. I'm not just saying it to please the author (although he's a great guy, and I'm not above such things!). I came to Monte Cassino with little knowledge of the battle other than the monastery was destroyed, and it was something of a fiasco on the part of the Allies. The stories Matthew tells - of Italian peasants having little but still giving food and sustenance to weary soldiers on both sides, of Gurkhas from half a world away fighting in the icy Italian mountains, of brave but exhausted German infantrymen writing letters to fathers on the Eastern Front, of men (with women in support roles) fighting on the very precipice of human endurance. From start to finish, this book is jammed with fascinating details, first-person accounts, and the kinds of stories of battle that can only be true. If you are looking for an introduction to the "Hardest-Fought Battle of World War II," look no further.

Click the link to buy the book

http://www.matthewparker.co.uk/buyonlineoptions.php

Click the link to visit the website

http://www.matthewparker.co.uk

Click the link to buy the book

http://www.matthewparker.co.uk/buyonlineoptions.php

Click the link to visit the website

http://www.matthewparker.co.uk

Previous Episode

The Battle On The Ice - Lake Peipus April 5, 1242

Let's go back to the time of the Mongols, Lord Novgorod The Great, and the Teutonic Knights. To the frozen landscape and icy lakes fo a medieval spring. To a time when the Pope in Rome wanted nothing more than to force the known world to follow the Latin Creed. To a time when Russia was nothing more than a dream, far in the distant future. In this episode of Cauldron, let's go back to the Battle On The Ice April 5th, 1242.

This has been one of the more exciting battles I have covered in Cauldron to date. The high drama of Teutonic Knights crashing into the brave Russian peasantry suddenly crashing, man and horse alike, into the icy waters of Lake Peipus, is so cinematic it belongs on the bog screen (likely the only place it has ever existed.) The real battle was so unimportant at the time that one contemporary chronicler noted of the year 1242, "Nothing happened." The real fight was a brutal, deadly little melee on the side of the lake that ended abruptly when the Crusaders broke under heavy flanking horse-archery. There was a chase on the ice, and some horses and men may have broken through the ice, but Esientsien's vision is not likely to have been the result.

Producer's Note: This episode was recorded without a script in an attempt to speed up the production process. Working just from notes and ideas was a new and stressful experience, but scriptwriting takes days, this episode took days from record compiling to release. Not sure how I like it yet, any constructive feedback is appreciated - [email protected] or DM in on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook. Thank you for listening and for your help!

Maine Source - Lake Peipus 1242: Battle of the Ice (Osprey Military Campaign Series, #46) by David Nicolle

Artwork by terrybogard392 on Fiverr

Music - from Youtube's Free Library

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Next Episode

The Battle of Monte Cassino - 17 January – 18 May 1944

In this episode, we are diving into one of the more controversial and least covered battles of WWII - the fight for Monte Cassino. A sideshow to the main events of Normandy and the Eastern Front, the Italian Campaign was no less violent or brutal, consuming men and material at the same rate as the worst fighting in either World War. The ancient monastery of the Benedictine Order loomed over the entire battlefield like some Tolkein-Esque evil tower. Time and again, the Allied soldiers mentioned the ever-present feeling of being watched by Monte Cassino, and its eventual destruction was likely inevitable. But the bombing of such a culturally relevant sight has become the lasting legacy of the battle - is "military necessity," as Eisenhower phrased it, always the right path? Are there any structures of historical significance that should be outside the realm of warfare? In the case of Monte Cassino, both Allied intelligence at the time of the fighting and inquiries after the war found no German occupation of the monastery. And unfortunately for the Gurkha, Indian, New Zealand, and eventually the Poles that had to try and take the rubble that was Monte Cassino, the bombing had made the Axis position ten-fold more challenging to assault. By battles end, the Axis forces along the Gustav Line had been dislodged and sent reeling north. Rome was taken soon after, and the overwhelming might and logistical superiority of the democracies were brought to bear on the Wehrmacht for the first time in Europe proper.

So this time on Cauldron, let's go back to the frigid rain and icy peaks of the Southern Apennine Mountains. The late winter in the Liri Valley, waterlogged and deadly, bristling with the guns and traps of a dug in and ready Wehrmacht. To 1944, a time when the Grand Alliance was shaky at best, Stalin demanding the Western powers spill blood so his armies could catch their breath. To a time when the Americans were still trying to figure out how best to use their incredible strength and regularly failing. To a time when the British relied on their colonial forces for much of the heavy-lifting, and those colonial fighters never failed. To a place where 100's of years of art, culture, and religious thought resided in one of the world's most elegant and beautiful monasteries. Perched over the land like humanity had placed all his finest things on a grand pedestal in the hopes it would remain unharmed forever; the monastery was doomed from the battles beginning. Let's go back to what historian Matthew Parker has called "The Hardest-Fought Battle of World War II." Let's go back to January to May 1944, and the battle of Monte Cassino.

Checkout the interview I did with author/historian Matthew Parker here - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/interview-matthew-parker-author-monte-cassino-hardest/id1345505888?i=1000480879271

Also for some fantastic photos and maps go to here - https://www.matthewparker.co.uk/About_the_author.php

To buy a copy of Parker's excellent book Monte Cassino - The Hardest-Fought Battle of World War II go here - https://www.matthewparker.co.uk/buyonlineoptions.php

Main source - Monte Cassino - The Hardest-Fought Battle of World War II by Matthew Parker

Artwork - terrybogard392 @ Fiverr

Music - The Future Ancient Now - Nathan Moore