The Christy Collection

Military Stories and Articles

WW2 – The Battle of Monte Cassino

WW2 – The Battle of Monte Cassino

Allied forces landed in the Italian peninsula in September 1943. The Apennine Mountains divided the peninsula, and Allied troops split and advanced on both sides. They took control of Naples and continued the push towards Rome. Monte Cassino was the gateway to Rome. It towered above the city and provided unobstructed views. German troops occupied lookouts on the hillside but agreed to stay out of the abbey because of its historical importance. The precious manuscripts and antiquities housed in...

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The Fall of Rome

The Fall of Rome

In any normal war, capturing an enemy capital would capture the imagination of soldiers and the public back home. During World War II, capturing the capital of one of the original members of the Axis Pact should have been a defining moment. That moment was overshadowed by another defining moment: D-Day, the amphibious invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.   When the Allies captured Rome on June 4, 1944, however, the city was open because most of the fighting had taken place along the way – and the...

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Famous Army Unit: 100th Infantry Battalion

Famous Army Unit: 100th Infantry Battalion

With much of the world already at war, December 7, 1941 proved not only a day that would live in infamy but for most Americans, an event that would redefine their world. This impact was no more significant or immediate than for US citizens of Japanese ancestry and in particular second-generation Americans, or Nisei.  Since 1937 the Japanese invasion of China and atrocities inflicted on civilian populations sickened most of the world, punctuated by the undeclared attack on Pearl Harbor. ...

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