Episode Transcript
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I it's Tom Holland here from But
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Go hang a sister show. The rest
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is history and I'm here to tell
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you about very exciting episode is out
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today. It's all about the men who
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walked on the main, the Apollo missions,
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the space race and it features a
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very exciting special guest. none other than
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Tom Hanks. Say that is out today
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And here is a little teaser. Very.
0:47
Interesting personalities of all of these Cruz
0:49
I think comes out in Apollo Eleven
0:51
because I don't think you could have
0:54
to. Individuals that are more different than
0:56
Neil Armstrong was from Buzz Aldrin and
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new truck Michael Collins in there you
1:00
have honest I'm not sure those guys
1:03
would a volunteer to you know drive
1:05
to the beach to get had they
1:07
not. Have not
1:09
been a been assigned to search.
1:12
The rest is history wherever you
1:14
get your podcasts to listen Now.
1:27
As the scott pile to the breaking
1:29
of a steely we did the the
1:32
signal kind. The company shook itself out
1:34
placebo a platoon and we went down
1:36
to the road school the shoulder behind
1:38
casino. Forward. We marched
1:40
called wit. Weary. And
1:43
apprehensive. Rioted. Fall and
1:45
during the not. The road with slushy
1:47
underfoot. We. Marched with our shoulders
1:49
hunched across the role wind. of
1:51
crabs your stomach stroller and to try and
1:53
compress the discord a fear that seem to
1:55
not in distance like a bold first. Fear.
1:58
Fear, fear, and the. Then I'm a feeling
2:00
of fried. The. Merciless enemy.
2:03
Born. Of memory and imagination the can
2:05
twist you mind and to his shrinks.
2:07
With. A tingle of apprehension. He.
2:10
Palm sweet. The. Arm
2:12
and voluntarily flinches at a remembered
2:14
version. Flashed. Only on
2:16
a retina. Of a gory sleeve
2:18
or the severed arm decided to twitching on the
2:20
sand. Is any man immune?
2:23
Can. Anyone face the imminent danger, violent
2:25
death, or deformity with complacency. To.
2:28
Be to some bile by clamoring blast to
2:30
sell for to be chopped in half by
2:32
streaming squirt spend hours to be mind torn
2:35
by by an it through your groin, the
2:37
grenade between your legs to be pointed to
2:39
be hunted to be shot at. The.
2:41
To hunt suit, Return Suddenly find
2:43
yourself a raging buzzard crouched over
2:45
lessing Tommy gone mad with a
2:47
desire to kill. That.
2:50
Is the worst of all. Well. As
2:52
the glory and such hora. Not
2:55
was. I mean and it's it's
2:57
like he was in the room that Rosa Smith
2:59
cell phone is very good. Twenty Fourth Battalion the
3:01
second U Z to division in these it into
3:04
the Dvd that some is a tricky one for
3:06
the tidied englishman of course Ah moto G pull
3:08
that off of of cause I off or he
3:10
did I regret com and and it's sad it's.
3:13
Definitely. Different from most nexus of watch
3:15
others the as we all know is very
3:17
different from I suppose part of efforts the
3:19
I was it will not a nosy about
3:21
us a hell of a bus out of
3:23
a line isn't it hurts? Very good it's
3:26
very good. And he spends easements him
3:28
or he dies into. Seen a bad thing about
3:30
not becoming a basilica. Not becoming is is a
3:32
piss a line, a modem and right by. Isn't
3:34
it that that thing was. Trying.
3:36
To stop self just. Becoming. A
3:38
killer. That the. Rage and all
3:41
that. Anyway, so I'm thanks for joining
3:43
us. Welcome to we have voiced by
3:45
Quito Achtung of Terminal that you're sick Well
3:47
we'll put cause for concern he attends
3:49
Yoni attempt Zone attempts. Yeah, this is
3:51
episode six. Of. On the
3:53
Road to Rome lot our last
3:56
episode with some the German operations
3:58
Swiss francs. or Zeitensprung,
4:02
which came to nothing. And
4:04
the familiar tale of the Germans smashing up
4:06
their own assets, and they, I mean, they
4:09
did cause the Allies some trouble, but smashing
4:11
up their own assets in attacks
4:13
that are ill conceived strategically and then
4:15
poorly executed tactically, I think it's fair
4:17
to say. Would you agree with that,
4:20
Jim? I would say that,
4:22
yeah. Your post-match analysis. I think the
4:24
Germans had a problem. They really have a
4:26
clear vision of, this is like the
4:28
rest, this is the rest, this match of
4:30
the day meets. Yeah. Second
4:32
one of the walks. Yeah, yeah. A very
4:35
patchy defence. In
4:40
the end, the team wasn't really clear on
4:42
what it was trying to achieve, Jim. I
4:45
think that's what we can say. Same ticks
4:47
all over the place. The final analysis is
4:49
Mac, Von Mackensen, one hand, hell behind his
4:51
back, unfortunately, by the Fuhrer. Yeah, he's very
4:53
much the manager of the team. The
4:58
Lair Regiment, the number 11, the Goldhanger.
5:00
The Lairman, that's the problem. Anyway, so
5:02
the Allies
5:05
decide what they're going to do now.
5:09
They're building up Anzio, 4,000
5:11
tonnes a day. Alex wants the
5:13
Navy can guarantee 2,500, but
5:16
they've been given some LSTs. D-Day is
5:18
being held back by a month. It's been
5:20
postponed by a month, which gives a month's
5:23
breathing space for landing ships
5:25
to sail round through the straits of
5:27
Gibraltar and get back to Britain
5:30
for overlords. But Alex
5:32
is also redrawing his lines. He's tidying things
5:34
up. He's going to do a two-fisted punch
5:36
in the form of Operation Dardan with his
5:39
assets in Italy. But what
5:41
we've got to do is
5:43
take Cassino. And luckily,
5:46
I did that New Zealand accident,
5:49
but luckily they got their very best people
5:51
on it. I mean, just to go, but
5:53
just very quickly, just to go back to
5:55
Alexander's plan. I mean, the
5:58
Allies are always in a hurry because... they want to end
6:00
the war as quickly as possible. But for the first
6:03
time, that kind of sort of ghastly,
6:05
awful kind of, right, you got to do it really
6:07
quickly, you got to do it quickly. So that no
6:09
one's got enough time to prepare to
6:11
kind of make proper plans to really get the lay
6:13
of the land. I mean, you
6:15
know, the Texans on the rapid over example, you
6:17
know, for everyone that just, you
6:20
know, walk us down on the whole thing right from the
6:22
word going all the rest of it, but had some other
6:24
kind of wise ahead just went, okay, let's just have
6:27
we got everything ready here, you know, Fred, have
6:29
you kind of sorted out your kind of your,
6:31
your, your far support, obviously, I don't know, being
6:33
all such a rush, then perhaps he might have
6:36
that might have come into play. What Alexander is
6:38
saying, and he's got Wilson's agreement on this is,
6:40
right, we're done on operating in rain and mud.
6:42
Okay, we're going to wait for the ground to
6:45
dry, we're going to bring all our assets to
6:47
bear, we're going to reorganize ourselves. Alex is a
6:49
great one for wanting balance, he likes balance, balancing
6:52
his forces, balancing his plan, flexibility,
6:54
you know, enough tactical flexibility,
6:56
so that if anything goes wrong, we either you've
6:59
got that balance to kind of to be able
7:01
to kind of recover from that, etc,
7:03
etc. And Operation Dardem, which he's
7:06
planning is part of that it
7:08
is we're no longer going to be rushed, we're going
7:10
to take our time to this, we're going to do
7:12
this properly with with no stone left unturned. However,
7:15
there is an advantage to neutralizing
7:18
the casino position before then, because it
7:20
means we can jump off straight into
7:22
the livery valley, rather than having
7:24
to kind of deal with this as a kind of sort of, you know,
7:26
this, this, this stubborn abscess
7:29
to coin his phrase, it would
7:31
be great to have that neutralize now rather than the
7:34
then and so if the weather allows, that's
7:36
what we're going to do. And we're but
7:38
I'm not going to authorize any further attack
7:40
on casino until we've had at least three
7:42
days of dry weather beforehand. Yeah, yeah,
7:45
right over to you now, Bernard. So
7:48
Bernard Freiberg, who, episode
7:51
before last, I think
7:53
we kind of, you know, laid out that the
7:55
basic issue is that he hasn't
7:58
really got his head round what needs
8:00
to happen here or hasn't really got
8:02
his head round the problem and
8:05
the best way to deal with
8:07
it. He's also got, I mean,
8:09
you could look at it from
8:11
his point of view, he's got
8:13
an extremely pushy and very, very
8:15
self-confident subordinate in the form of
8:17
Francis Shilker, who's been going, you've
8:20
been getting this wrong, boss. You
8:22
need to listen to me, who's been out
8:24
of the picture because he's not been well then returned to the
8:26
picture. And he's done what he, I
8:28
mean, we think we described him as someone
8:30
who tends to agree with the last person he's
8:33
spoken to. Yes, he's also got, I think, in
8:35
fairness to Freiburg, and this is the only
8:37
concession, this is the only concession I'm going
8:40
to give him, is
8:42
the New Zealand Expeditionary
8:44
Force is not in the best of
8:46
shape. And one of the problems is,
8:48
is that they've been, they've been overseas quite a long time.
8:50
They go over in, whenever it is, 1941, they're involved in
8:53
the North African War, or rest of it. And
8:55
then there is what happens, what
8:58
becomes known as the furlough scheme. So there
9:00
are these two furloughs where if you've been
9:02
at a certain length of time, then you
9:04
get to go home for a stretch. And
9:06
the idea is you go home for a
9:08
stretch, you kind of recharge your boots, someone
9:10
else has a go, and then you come
9:12
back out again at a certain time. And
9:14
6000 men are sent home, which
9:17
equates to about 20%. The problem
9:19
is that that 20% that
9:21
goes home are the most
9:23
experienced troops, you know, so these are your
9:25
kind of your backbone of the platoon, the
9:27
platoon sergeants and your senior NCOs. And it
9:30
strips it out of it. And there's no
9:32
question that the New Zealand force in
9:35
the November, December battles are
9:39
fine. But they're kind of
9:41
sort of almost not. They're
9:44
fine, but they they don't do anything
9:46
spectacular. But then I suppose no one does anything
9:48
spectacular in the kind of horrors and winter on
9:51
the Adriatic coast. But what's really
9:53
interesting is suddenly in January and February,
9:55
when they are not doing very much,
9:58
New Zealanders are just holding a line. The
10:00
number of desertions goes
10:03
up absolutely horrendously and
10:05
this is because they've only got time to think and
10:07
they're stuck in the snow in the mud and the
10:09
rain and it's freezing cold in New Zealand and they're
10:11
thinking hang on a minute what the hell is going
10:13
on back at home. What's going back on home is
10:16
that there is the revelation in
10:18
1943 that there's 35,000
10:21
grade A men who
10:23
are still at home who've avoided
10:26
being called up. That's
10:28
because they're in jobs which
10:31
are inverted covers essential industry well and
10:33
not only that. If
10:35
you go if you're back in Wellington there's
10:37
no war on apparently apart from for the
10:39
people whose men are away and
10:42
wages have gone up because there's a
10:44
shortage of manpower there's a consumer boom.
10:47
Life is pretty good if you're not directly involved
10:49
in the war if your family is not directly
10:51
involved in the war and lots of men go
10:53
back and think why the hell should I. What
10:56
the hell would I want to go back
10:58
up that horrible mountainside or whatever and they
11:00
have a motto and the motto is no
11:02
man twice before every man wants. Yeah
11:05
I argue they basically what these guys these veterans
11:07
are doing that coming back and they're seeing these
11:10
middle class types. Who avoided
11:13
the draft doing kind of cushy jobs
11:15
back at home and basically avoiding the
11:17
kind of slaughter that has just been
11:19
described in the opening quote by roger smith is in
11:21
24th britainian. The
11:23
trouble is this filters back to
11:26
the guys at casino in letters and what
11:28
have you and newspapers and news and stuff
11:31
they hear about it and
11:33
so there is a massive rise
11:36
in January and February. In
11:39
desertions and disgruntled and
11:42
there is also a qualitative drop off
11:45
because the six thousand men are no longer
11:47
you know who are the backbone. Is
11:50
that the old timers because they've gone back home
11:52
so the extraordinary thing is is
11:55
that that when alexander creates
11:57
the new zealand call which which for
11:59
my money. is the worst
12:01
decision he makes since arriving as
12:03
commander in chief of the
12:05
Middle East in August 1942. I don't think
12:07
he really puts the foot wrong. I think he's really,
12:10
really fantastic in August 1942 when he
12:12
takes over there and no more retreats
12:14
and all that kind of stuff. He's
12:16
absolutely brilliant when he takes over 18th
12:19
Army Group in February 1943. To need a
12:23
campaign in shape just like that, I think he held
12:25
a pretty good hand in Sicily. And I think the
12:27
first few months of Italy, actually, I think he's done
12:29
really well. I don't think any fault for
12:32
the failures in the Italy campaign lie his feet. I think
12:34
they lie much higher than that, as I've said before. I think
12:37
the one mistake he makes is
12:39
creating the New Zealand Corps. Because
12:42
Freiberg is, to put it
12:44
bluntly, a shit for brains. He's not the
12:47
sharpest tool in the shed. And he's got
12:49
a proven track record of making absolute
12:52
terrible mistakes. CF
12:54
Crete for starters. And
12:57
it's clear that the New Zealand Expeditionary
12:59
Force, Second New Zealand Infantry
13:01
Division, is in a bit
13:03
of a pickle because of the furlough mutiny because of
13:05
drop of morale and all the rest of it. And
13:09
he doesn't have to create a corps out
13:12
of the New Zealanders. It would be much better to
13:14
leave the New Zealanders on the
13:16
Adriatic Coast in a holding position so that
13:18
they're not overstressed and use other units to
13:21
do the hard work here. And
13:24
you could have easily created an Indian Corps, for
13:26
example. Or just called it anything you
13:28
like. You could have created any corps. If you've got a whole 13th
13:30
brigade, you could have used it with 78th
13:32
Division and 4th Indian
13:34
Division or 78th Division and 8th Indian Division. There
13:37
are options. You could
13:39
call it Duke Corps. Duke Corps.
13:41
It could have gone for the acronym early.
13:43
Well, if it had the prescient stuff, yeah,
13:45
exactly. Could have got there before you did.
13:47
But anyway, so for my
13:49
money, this is the worst, worst decision
13:51
because I don't think that the New
13:53
Zealanders are the right people. And it's
13:56
really interesting that in what comes known
13:58
as the Second Battle of Casino. of
14:00
Monte Cassino, which is the Indians up on
14:02
the massive and the Nadees and forced down
14:04
in the zoo. He uses
14:07
two companies. Two
14:09
companies are involved in that attack. That's
14:11
the Marries attacking the 28th Marry Battalion,
14:15
who have much less of a morale issue, which
14:17
is why they're used. And
14:20
it's just, it's a mistake. Why
14:22
is it in that whole second battle of Cassino,
14:25
only two companies are used for
14:27
the attack on the town. And
14:29
that's because Freiburg doesn't trust
14:32
them himself. And when your
14:34
commanding officer doesn't really believe in
14:36
you, you've got a problem. How
14:39
does Clark feel about Freiburg? Well, he doesn't like
14:41
it, but before we get to what Clark feels
14:43
about Freiburg. So you have to then chart the
14:45
coast. So so so blatantly, Freiburg
14:48
has realised that
14:50
Tuka was right about smothering the
14:52
Monte Cassino massive. So he goes,
14:54
Okay, so when I when I
14:57
saw Gertie, I said he said,
14:59
You need to do this and you need, you
15:01
know, high capacity bombs and you need to absolutely
15:03
saturate the whole area. And I didn't do that.
15:05
I said 36 kettie bombers, which is the exact
15:07
opposite of what what Gertie told me. I've
15:10
realised my mistake. I'm not going to make that
15:12
mistake on this battle. Instead, what I'm going to
15:14
do is I'm going to I'm going to saturate
15:16
Cassino town. So I'm
15:18
going to what I want from now on, is
15:21
I want absolute saturation. And I'm going to ram
15:23
that point home to the air people into Clark
15:25
and tell him that the future if you want
15:27
me to attack Cassino town, the only way I'm
15:29
going to do it is if I completely saturate
15:31
it with high capacity bombs, lots of them completely
15:34
destroy the whole thing, lots of armour
15:36
lined up as well. And and then
15:38
we'll sweep in straight after the whole
15:40
thing needs to be properly coordinated, which
15:42
is exactly what you could told him
15:44
to do. But if you remember, Tucker
15:47
is saying the whole Monte Cassino
15:49
idea is a really bad idea. What we really
15:51
should be doing is infiltrating up around Castellani Monte
15:53
Castellani. But if you can't do that, then
15:56
you have to do this. Yeah, they have to obliterate
15:58
the flag. And interestingly, his Preyberg's
16:00
first plan for Operation Dickens
16:02
is Tukka's first plan for
16:04
Monte Cassino. So it
16:06
is to attack north of Monte Castelloni and
16:08
do a river crossing over at the Rapido.
16:11
And again, this gets kicked into touch very
16:13
quick order because of the long
16:16
shadow of the Texans failed crossings
16:18
at the Rapido. And because people
16:20
say things like, yeah, but we haven't really got
16:22
enough mules to go up north of Castelloni, which
16:24
is just absolute nonsense.
16:26
Because the problem with it's not
16:28
about the numbers of fields, it's
16:31
about congestion. So up
16:33
on Monte Cassino, you've got congestion of
16:35
mules because you've only got these one
16:37
or two very narrow tracks. Whereas
16:40
the whole point about north of Castelloni, the
16:42
mountain, although it's higher and the massive there
16:44
is wider to get to, you know, the
16:46
saddle is wider to get to the Via
16:48
Casilina on the Lury Valley, the
16:50
ground is much more open. So
16:52
you haven't got these narrow ridge lines, which means
16:54
that you can attack on a much broader front.
16:56
You don't have to attack on just one company
16:58
front down these narrow ridge lines, which means you
17:00
can overwhelm the enemy. And the
17:03
enemy up there is very, very thin on the ground. It
17:05
is the first Fausch and Rieger regiment to hold
17:07
that bit, who are the ones who have suffered
17:09
the most and are the most battered, which is
17:11
why they've been given the kind of, you know,
17:14
the easiest stretch of the line to hold. Freberg
17:17
just said, basically what Freberg is
17:19
revealing is his total lack of
17:22
comprehension of what it was that that
17:24
Chuka was driving at. And when he
17:26
does start to understand what Chuka is
17:28
driving out in terms of saturation of
17:30
bombs, he's applying it
17:32
to the wrong target. Yeah, it's too
17:35
late as well. And the
17:37
reason it is too late and the reason he
17:39
wants this saturation of bombing is so that he
17:41
the idea is that you saturate
17:43
Casino Town, you completely hammer it
17:46
totally. You then send the Indian
17:48
divisions because they're the mountain experts,
17:50
but also then you're preserving your
17:53
New Zealand troops up
17:55
onto the up onto to kill to
17:57
get get Castle Hill, which overlooks the
17:59
town and get an attack. up towards
18:01
the abbey on that south steep face,
18:04
which is basically like Monte
18:06
Belvedere for the French, except that on
18:08
the top now you've got lots of
18:10
Alshonmiega bristling with machine guns and
18:13
mortars who are not going to cut
18:15
and run. So it's a similarly suicidal
18:17
attack, but with a much tougher
18:20
enemy proposition that you're facing. So
18:23
it's a completely bonkers plan. But
18:25
what he's trying to do here is save
18:27
the lives of his New Zealander troops, who
18:29
he knows are fragile. Which he knows
18:31
are fragile. I mean, when you said when
18:33
a general doesn't trust the people below him,
18:36
that's a bad thing. Clark
18:38
doesn't trust Freiburg. So
18:40
I mean, the thing he says is the more
18:43
I see of Freiburg, the more disgusted I am
18:45
with his actions. He may be an extremely courageous
18:47
individual, but he has no brains, has been spoiled,
18:49
demands everything in sight, and altogether is most difficult
18:51
to handle. I mean, that's absolutely spot on. You
18:53
can't argue with any of that. But I mean,
18:55
but bloody hell, you know, if Freiburg doesn't trust
18:57
the people beneath him, then Clark doesn't trust the
18:59
people beneath him either. But but but Clark has
19:01
been told right a go when when Frobo turns up,
19:04
he's been told by Alexander, you got to tread very,
19:06
very carefully with him because this is this is political.
19:08
Yeah, which is a thing we talked about in
19:10
the last episode is that politics is politics is
19:12
often the thing here. And there's lots
19:14
of Fauci and Jager. There's not that many.
19:17
No, but but in for that position 1700,
19:20
that 1700 Fauci and
19:22
Jager means what? I don't
19:24
know, and then the
19:26
FG42s plastering the place with an FG42s.
19:30
Yeah, maybe maybe that's something like that. But but
19:32
yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, it means a
19:34
lot. But but but the main point is, they're
19:36
all Germans. They're all Germans. They're not they're not from
19:38
Austria. They're not from, you know, they're
19:41
not from from Czechoslovakia or they're not
19:43
Alsatians or whatever. Alsatians?
19:45
No, none of those.
19:47
Not even Bidded Collies either. You know,
19:49
so so the Germans are true, they're sort of
19:51
slightly more indoctrinated than most they've got, they've gotten
19:53
a spree decor, which is is absolutely evident, even
19:56
if the kind of training doesn't quite back that
19:58
up. And they're not going to run away. That
20:00
is the bottom line and they're led by
20:02
incredibly aggressive commanders like Harmon Schultz
20:05
and of course the divisional commander Richard hydric
20:07
you know so so you know they're just
20:10
cut from a different cloth. Not
20:12
that rich is hydric for those of you wondering
20:14
i'm a different hydric a different
20:17
one yeah i'm so good weather
20:19
on the 12th of 13th of
20:21
march 14th is also okay so
20:23
the code bradman batting tomorrow which
20:25
is. I
20:27
mean I love you of
20:29
course you do. And
20:33
then what happens is I mean I think this is
20:35
interesting is there's a bomb line isn't
20:37
there and so the news news
20:39
editors withdraw behind the to the safety line
20:41
to get out of the way of the.
20:44
bombers, which I think is
20:46
really, really interesting so already you're kind of you're
20:48
kind of seeding ground you gotta make that up
20:50
now, haven't you. Yeah the other the other problem
20:53
about attacking casino town is that basically got the
20:55
railway line which is coming from the east. So
20:58
that coming to the south of the town so
21:00
curves into sometime that's on a raised embankment and
21:02
that's the line that the marry were taking in
21:04
the foot in the second battle of casino. When
21:07
they sent those two companies down the problem
21:09
of that of course it's an even narrower
21:11
front than than it is on
21:13
a ridge line on snakes edge or
21:16
monty castelloni. So you're you're you're
21:18
can I just funneled into into that approach road
21:20
everywhere else around casino is waterlogged so there
21:23
is no other approach road apart from the
21:25
north where there's these two roads coming down.
21:28
Which is the route that the hundred and thirty third infantry
21:30
from the 34 red bulls were
21:33
taking back in January and very beginning of
21:35
February. So you're you're access
21:37
of the boxes but very small the problem is
21:39
if you're talking north you got these hills you
21:41
got castle hill. Overlooking and
21:43
then you got the series of you
21:45
got the road going up to the abbey which
21:48
is a series of switchbacks and hairpins. And
21:50
then you got this not sticking out
21:52
just but just beneath the crest of
21:54
monty casino. Which is
21:57
where the cable car was built and that
21:59
was just. It's mantle by the Germans in
22:01
I think October or certainly by November anyway. And
22:04
it's still one of the cable car struts
22:06
pylons. It's still sticking out and silhouetted against
22:08
the sky. And it looks like a
22:10
gibbet. So it's known as Hangman's Hill, but it's not
22:12
Hangman's Hill. It's like a little sort of rocky knoll
22:14
sticking out. And so the fourth
22:16
Indian division, and this time it's the fifth
22:19
Indian infantry brigade, are given the
22:21
job of first of all clearing
22:23
Castle Hill, then taking various high
22:26
points where there are these sort of switchbacks on
22:28
the road. And finally also taking Hangman's
22:31
Hill as a jump off point before you then attack
22:33
the abbey. But as I say, you're attacking
22:35
it up the kind of steepest side, the
22:37
steepest approach and overlooking
22:39
the town. And this is all about watching
22:41
the flank of the New
22:43
Zealanders as they go into the town, which
22:46
has then been demolished. And the high idea is that
22:49
you saturate the town and you're
22:51
through and clear by that evening. So
22:53
the infantry is just doing a mopping up job. So
22:56
what Freiburg is trying to do is protect the arse
22:58
of his New Zealand troops. Yeah, in
23:01
a very big way. Let's do the first
23:03
day of the battle and then we'll go
23:05
to the break. So it starts off at
23:08
8.30 the morning, 15th of March. I
23:11
mean, 992 tons of bombs are delivered. I
23:14
mean, that's... Yep. 164 B-24s,
23:16
114 B-17s, 105 B-26s, 72 B-25s. That's
23:21
a lot. And then another 260 heavies
23:23
are meant to come in the afternoon and they're stopped
23:25
because of the cloud and smoke coming off the target.
23:28
Yeah. And I mean, there's film footage of this
23:31
because everyone watches from a hill a
23:34
few miles away. It
23:36
is the most extraordinary thing. I mean, it
23:38
is absolutely brutal and it is
23:42
saturation bombing. It is the first time the
23:44
Allies have tried saturation bombing of a town
23:48
or a city or any kind
23:50
of built up area. And you're
23:53
getting into the whole sort of fibular stuff, fighting
23:55
up and build up areas and
23:57
the problems of having short horizons.
23:59
stuff if you've got lots of buildings in the way. The truth
24:01
of the matter is though, is that casino
24:04
is already broken. So there
24:07
is not a single civilian living there. It's been
24:09
cleared out the previous autumn. It
24:11
is a ghost town already. It is already a
24:14
town that is shattered. There's barely
24:16
a building that hasn't been hit.
24:19
So this is the coup de grâce
24:21
of a town that has
24:24
already been destroyed. Even
24:27
so, there is something about the
24:30
saturation of casino town which
24:32
sits, I think, very uncomfortably.
24:34
It is so
24:36
brutal in its destruction.
24:38
The photographs of
24:40
casino in the autumn of
24:42
1943 and the photographs of
24:44
casino in the middle of
24:47
March 1944, it's really
24:49
shocking. I mean, it is just completely wiped
24:52
from the face of the earth. But
24:54
the Falsjim Jäger aren't though, are they? Well, a lot
24:56
of them are. But 160 out of 300 of the
24:58
second battalion of Falsjim Jäger regiment,
25:02
which is Madludvig Hellman's mob
25:05
who we met in Sicily and Primisoli and
25:07
all that. 160 of them are killed, but
25:10
not all of them, no. I knew a
25:12
guy called Jip Klein, he
25:14
was an engineer, he was in the engineer, the
25:16
pioneer battalion of the first Falsjim
25:18
Jäger division. They were doing mainly what
25:20
they were doing was building tunnels, connecting
25:23
cellars so that you could go from, you
25:25
could protect the road, you could protect the
25:27
Via Casa Lina, Highway 6 that runs from
25:30
the east into the town, then does
25:32
a 90 degree dogleg and turns southwards
25:35
into the Liri Valley. All along
25:37
there, you've then got the houses on
25:41
the kind of lower slopes of Monte
25:44
Cassino. And so the connection
25:46
is between is under the road between
25:48
cellars and up into those up into
25:50
those higher buildings. So you can then
25:52
emerge into kind of machine gun posts
25:55
and cover the Via Casa Lina. They've made a
25:57
fortress of it, basically. They've made a fortress of
25:59
it. in seen underground fortress i
26:01
mean think of mass in garza yeah and
26:03
so then there's artillery at midday
26:05
the key we start
26:08
moving forward with tanks in a
26:10
in accompaniment but they obviously they
26:12
get stuck in the they get stuck in the
26:14
town but they get about two-thirds
26:16
of it they get through very quickly the first two-thirds
26:19
they get up to the vehicle as lean or is it coming from the
26:21
east but you can't be two-thirds pregnant
26:23
can you i mean this is the thing they need
26:25
to take the heart anything i understand they have to
26:28
take the whole town don't they and they don't and
26:30
this is the this is the thing when you know
26:32
so often that if you're held up you held up if you
26:35
held up at all you held up
26:37
forever in these circumstances right because getting started
26:39
again is the really hard part um so
26:41
first fourth essex take castle hill but not
26:43
until the early hours of the of the
26:45
next day so sort
26:47
of in the middle of the night
26:49
first six rash putana rifles they're attacking
26:51
point two three six early on the
26:54
16th so there's a dog leg there's
26:56
a hairpin by the castle and
26:58
then it goes around again and then it comes back so
27:01
point two three six is the next hairpin above
27:03
castle hill they put in a tap but they
27:05
have to withdraw to castle hill and i mean
27:08
this is interesting that their headquarters is wiped
27:10
out which is bad luck i wonder if
27:12
that's because they have a radio set with
27:14
a 12-foot high radio aerial and
27:17
have unfortunately made themselves
27:19
visible to you know people looking yeah
27:22
one of the other problems is is is
27:24
that the the first night gurkis which is
27:26
the third battalion of the of the the
27:28
fifth indian infantry brigade they're moving
27:30
up from from kara the village of kara which is just
27:32
to the north sort of just just beneath kind of monty
27:35
belvedere takes them five
27:37
hours to get to their start position because
27:40
the routes down are clogged by new zealanders
27:43
getting in the way and so they
27:45
have to fight their way through congestion they then
27:47
do and then then two of
27:49
their companies just vanish overnight no
27:51
one knows where they are until at dawn
27:53
they suddenly see them they're on hangman's hill
27:56
they've got to they've got to the cable
27:58
they've got there but then the weather in
28:00
intervenes because the weather gets a vote, casting
28:02
vote and it's torrential rain. Yeah,
28:04
it's absolutely to eat hooves it
28:06
down. Yeah. And
28:08
so it's not the sort of
28:10
straightforward we batter them. We batter
28:12
the Abbey, we batter the town
28:15
and then we simply, you
28:17
know, the Germans turn the town and on we move. That
28:19
has not happened. We will take a
28:21
very quick break and then we'll be back with the 16th
28:23
of March to find out how much change
28:25
there is by the end of day two. See
28:28
you in a second. Welcome
28:40
back to We Have Ways To Make You Talk. That
28:43
was the 15th of March, the first
28:45
day of Freiburg's attempt to prize the
28:47
Germans out of Monte Cassino and
28:50
it's gone. It's been a curious egg, isn't it?
28:52
It's gone well in. It's good in part, isn't
28:54
it? Is the truth? Yeah, as I say, they've
28:57
got up to the Carlefia Casalinos. It's coming from
28:59
the west around what used to be known as
29:01
a continental hotel. It's obviously just
29:03
rubble now. The Indians have done really,
29:05
really well. It's just going to show
29:07
their prowess as mountain fighters. I mean,
29:09
the infiltration of the first knife gurk
29:11
is up on the Hagenwens Hill is
29:13
absolutely astonishing. But, you know, this is what
29:16
happens also when you can move stealthily and when your enemy can't
29:18
see you. Because one of the things, actually, the advantages of going
29:20
up a really, really steep hill is that
29:22
quite often your enemy don't have the angle of
29:24
fire. If they're in dug-in positions, they can fire
29:26
down to the town, but they can't actually fire
29:29
down the slopes because the angle is too great.
29:32
And they're not in the right positions and all the rest
29:34
of it. And it's an amazing achievement. And they stay out
29:36
there. The Germans don't push them
29:38
off. Day two
29:40
is one of those days. It's a
29:42
bit like Fish Fang day two and
29:44
Saitensprung day two. If
29:47
it hasn't worked on the first day, chances are
29:49
it's not going to really work on the second
29:51
day either. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because the amount of
29:53
surprise has gone. You've now got
29:55
your landscape that's been obliterated by bombers.
29:58
You know where you are. It's wet and miserable. cold
30:01
and the only way you're gonna really really
30:03
push through is by the new zealand infantry
30:06
really really really hammering
30:08
and being very very aggressive
30:11
and the truth of the
30:13
matter is that just not
30:15
really because. By the
30:17
end of play on the 17th of march
30:19
day three the new zealands
30:22
of lost only hundred thirty men
30:24
and twelve tanks. Right
30:27
you know against. You
30:29
know hundred and fifty germans so
30:32
it's kind of i don't want to
30:34
call for any sort of you know this is the
30:36
new zealand is but but there is a kind of
30:38
feeling that they're not quite. There's
30:41
gun how is they might be but they're
30:44
up against people who have prepared a
30:46
fantastic it's a fantastic defensive scenario
30:48
isn't it if you're the. You're
30:51
the fashion here it's it's ideal
30:53
isn't it if well it's ideal
30:55
if what you want to do is fight to
30:57
the last round and make the enemy pay which
30:59
is which is what they're doing right. Yeah
31:02
you should you should have you know with that amount
31:04
of you know with a whole division. I
31:06
don't know what time to get the promise you can
31:09
get the tanks in because the only time to go
31:11
into the tanks are going on the afternoon the 15th
31:13
because. Everything else is too long
31:15
you can't get through the ball that the days come with
31:18
probably could sort of swarm out with men but
31:20
this congestion is a lack of leadership there's a
31:22
lack of will is all that kind of stuff
31:25
you know the the reinforcements all the time in
31:27
this battle are really slow at coming up. It's
31:30
almost like there's no so
31:32
urgency there's no drive you know they're not kind
31:34
of like right we got exploited of course what
31:37
happens of course is is that. You
31:39
know overnight on the on the 16th you know
31:42
they managed to get some more troops down
31:44
the you know they would shift some troops from
31:46
the abbey area down into the town. That move
31:48
down and then eventually for baby
31:50
often customer and say right you know you need
31:52
reinforcements and hydroxide yeah okay i'm gonna reinforce i'm
31:54
not having them in the town will put them
31:56
on the site will put hundred fifty pounds of
31:58
grenadier infantry. You know
32:00
up on some of the quiet spots and I'll shift my my
32:02
fashion make around you know I'm not having that. I'm
32:05
sorry just it becomes you
32:08
know day three the seventy for March it's
32:10
just a kind of you know it's like
32:12
a slow, slow they're
32:14
making kind of very very slow
32:17
headway in casino. They do
32:19
kind of push out and get the
32:21
railway station and they're closing in on that
32:23
kind of continental hotel which is right that's what
32:25
you first the way through. But
32:27
they're not making a decisive breakthrough and
32:31
the enemy defenses solidifying rather
32:33
than loosening. Yeah your
32:36
flies on fly paper in that environment on
32:38
you in that in that landscape if you're
32:40
not careful. Yeah it's pretty
32:42
horrendous Saturday the 18th of March
32:45
day for the Germans I mean
32:47
the other things the Germans are counter attacking there
32:49
trying to win back castle hill this you know
32:51
they can't help themselves. Is the first for the
32:53
six in there I'm meeting bill Hawkins he was
32:55
involved in that he was lovely chat. Yeah
32:58
and I and again it just always shows you
33:00
this just so much harder counter attacking
33:02
that it is attacking. I mean rather
33:05
than it is defending that's that's the point defense
33:07
defense is easy. I'm straight forward
33:09
you know where you are you know what your parameters are you
33:11
have got to expose yourself you can hide. But
33:13
the money attack you've got to get up
33:15
out of those positions of hiding and move
33:17
in on open ground so it all becomes
33:19
night fighting stuff really this is where it's
33:21
all kicking off is at night. Well
33:25
because I mean it's the thing we talked about the last
33:28
episode is that you know that the defender doesn't need to
33:30
take the initiative in that regard. No
33:32
if you're attacking it all gets we
33:35
talked about this before in Normandy attacking is
33:38
attacking is hard defending is
33:40
the defending is the way to go if
33:43
what you're trying to do is hold the other side up. Then
33:45
the Sunday the 19th day five Freiberg
33:47
decides on a he wants to coordinate
33:49
attacks rather than have this sort of
33:51
chipping chipping away thing so fourth
33:53
Indian division to reinforce the gherkas on hangman's
33:56
hill and then assault the abbey and then
33:58
a force of tanks also to scale. the
34:00
Cavendish Road are getting around the back of the massif.
34:03
We're talking about getting around the back of things
34:05
now rather than simply bashing ourselves against
34:07
them. Yes, well, I mean, this is the Cavendish Road,
34:09
which has been forced out, which has been hewn
34:12
out of the... Basically, it's a mule track that
34:14
has been widened to be able to take a
34:16
tank up there. It's the most
34:18
extraordinary achievement. This is done up
34:21
to the start of the battle by the Indian
34:23
sappers from the fourth
34:25
Indian division. It is an absolutely
34:27
incredible achievement. Interesting, you can still walk
34:29
it to this day. It's still
34:32
there just about. It's a
34:34
really good walk to do. The
34:36
problem with it is that
34:38
from the engineering feet point, where
34:40
it's been blasted out of the
34:42
side of the hill, that's the
34:44
really, really impressive point from
34:46
an engineering perspective. That bit
34:48
all works fine because you're out of sight for
34:51
most of it. The problem
34:53
is, you then emerge between Monte
34:56
Castelloni and Snakeshead Ridge or
34:58
the Colley Maola into
35:00
the first of a series of
35:02
mountain pastures. It's one of these
35:05
weird mountain plateaus up there. We
35:07
even find a sandwich between the
35:09
ridge. You could advance up there,
35:11
and that's quite wide and open, and that's all fine.
35:14
Then there's this weird bottleneck
35:16
at the end of Phantom Ridge, which is one of
35:18
the spurs that comes off Castelloni, before
35:21
you reach Albanesa, which is this weird monastery
35:24
buildings and farm beyond that.
35:27
The bottleneck is just, you can't do it because
35:29
the bottleneck is at the crest. It suddenly
35:32
narrows as it rises. At
35:34
some point, you've got to go over a
35:36
very narrow stretch and then drop down again.
35:40
Obviously, the moment you go through that, you're
35:43
in shtuk. You're
35:45
in trouble. It's interesting. What
35:47
Heijrich then has planned is a strong
35:49
counter-attack. I think it's fascinating. They just
35:51
cannot help themselves, can they? He's going
35:53
to bring in a fresh battalion of
35:55
4 Falsimjäger. They're going to attack first
35:58
light on the 19th of November. Yeah,
36:00
but let's also say, you know, when we're talking
36:02
about a first battalion, we're talking about 80 men,
36:04
we're not talking about a hundred. But of course,
36:06
but this determination to I mean, you
36:08
know, he's gonna waste
36:11
of those people, aren't they? It's just this,
36:13
it's this, you're in a
36:15
strong position here, why weaken it, you know,
36:17
because in the strong position depends on well
36:20
motivated soldiers. So don't spaff
36:22
them up the wall as to use
36:24
a john sonyan expression about on
36:27
a counter attack that's not going to work.
36:29
And it's not going to work, is it? This is
36:31
the thing, you know, well, it sort of works.
36:34
It sort of works because it does cock up
36:36
the fourth Indians plans. Yes, it discombobulates fourth Indian,
36:38
but it's but it's not like, what's it actually
36:40
going to achieve? Well, I've got a better plan,
36:42
which is put lots of machine guns and mortars
36:44
all around the Abbey at the top and try
36:47
and come and take us if you like. Yeah.
36:50
And we'll when you attack us to
36:52
take the monetary Hill, we'll
36:55
just shoot at you rather than us getting
36:57
out of our foxholes and our MG posts and
36:59
coming to get you. It's very, very, I mean,
37:01
it's the mentality is strange, isn't it? But
37:04
as you say, fourth Indian, then they cancel. Interesting,
37:07
isn't it like a scrap of a
37:09
battalion holding up a division in that instance,
37:12
the New Zealand that they attack the continental hotel,
37:14
that doesn't work. Tanks are
37:16
sent in and they take point 593. But
37:18
by the time it's done, seventh brigade have been written
37:21
down too much to make the most of it. So
37:23
the lead Sherman tank hits, it's my blocks,
37:25
the blocks of bottleneck and it's enough. Yeah,
37:29
that's the end of that. So all that effort,
37:31
all that time, you know, it's just it's just it's bonkers.
37:33
And this is why it's so frustrating because
37:36
there is another plan, which is to go
37:38
further north around Monty North between Castelloni and
37:41
I mean, I'm actually gonna go and walk
37:43
this in May, because I really want to
37:45
feel completely 100% satisfied that I've got
37:47
this right. But by looking at it
37:49
on the ground and looking at it from I mean, I've been up on
37:51
Collies and Angelo, I've been up
37:54
on Castelloni before, I've looked across, I've
37:56
looked every which way you can on
37:59
3D Google Earth. You
38:01
can see these slug-like
38:04
narrow ridges going across the Monte Cassino
38:06
spur, Monte Castelloni leading into Collies and
38:09
Angelo and forking off into Phantom Ridge,
38:11
and then obviously the spur which ends
38:13
with the kind of rocky knoll of
38:16
0.593. You
38:19
can see the land, and it's
38:21
just so much more open further north, north
38:23
of Castelloni. That is the route. That's what
38:25
you want to take. This idea that there
38:27
aren't enough mules, but it's just absolute horseshit.
38:30
That's finding a reason not to do something
38:32
rather than finding a solution. It's
38:36
absolutely crazy. It's interesting though, because after
38:39
a long stretch they've been stuck here, you might
38:42
start finding reasons not to do things. The idea
38:44
that it's impossible might creep in, right? Yeah,
38:47
but the impossible bit is sort
38:49
of snakeshead ridge and the Cassino
38:51
spur and going through the town.
38:53
I mean, the town, the attack
38:55
on the town is clearly a
38:57
one trick. It's a one-card operation.
39:00
Saturate the town, send the
39:02
troops in, sweep through, be out the other
39:04
side by 6.30 that night. If
39:07
that hasn't worked, it's not going to work.
39:10
You're done. It's battering at the
39:12
same brick wall, but with
39:14
diminishing assets. That's the problem. Which
39:16
is after all what we talked
39:18
about in the last episode with the Germans attacking the salient
39:20
in Anteos. Day
39:23
one, unless it works on day one, it's not
39:25
going to work. So then the
39:27
night of the 19th, 20th, the Germans reinforce, 150
39:29
pounds of going to the idea they come in
39:32
and the Falsch and Bieger are redeployed to infiltrate
39:34
into the town along the mountain side. So
39:37
suddenly you've increased the number of Germans that are in
39:39
Cassino rubble. Yeah, and their artillery
39:41
and mortise become more active. So the
39:43
Germans are increasing in confidence here is
39:45
what this tells us actually. The
39:47
Germans are feeling more confident about what they're doing and
39:50
they're prepared to... Because after all, the minute you start
39:52
firing your artillery or mortise, maybe you're
39:54
going to get counter-mortared and
39:56
counter-artillery. So they clearly got confidence in
39:59
what they're doing. doing to be
40:01
prepared to risk those guns and mortars. I
40:03
mean, it's very interesting, isn't it, that what
40:06
you've got is the confidence draining out the
40:08
allies into the Germans. Yes, there's a little
40:10
of that going on. If there's a quantity
40:12
of confidence to be had. And then the
40:15
20th of March, day six, Alex
40:17
has a look, decides if there's
40:19
no improvement within 36 hours, he's going
40:21
to call it off and
40:23
consolidate the ground gained. Which, to be
40:25
fair, is not insignificant. Holding
40:28
Castle Hill, that's important. Holding two-thirds
40:30
of the town, when you've got to jump
40:32
up. That is better than having none
40:34
of the town. It
40:37
dries out and the pothole's empty and you
40:39
get the bulldozers in and stuff. So that's
40:41
not useful. It
40:46
hasn't been a total waste of time. It's
40:50
not working. That is a
40:52
problem. I think Alexander's
40:55
point is, we've got to be careful.
40:57
We don't want to deplete two
40:59
of our divisions here. Here we
41:02
might need for diadem. And let's circle
41:04
back. There's been a morale problem
41:06
in Italy for quite a while. If
41:09
you bang your head against a brick wall and
41:11
there is an argument that a lot of
41:13
the issues that Kiwis are having here is
41:15
because of a morale problem and because of
41:17
an extended morale problem, where these guys
41:20
in their mailbags, they're going to have their wives going, there's
41:22
a mutiny going on back here. Why are you still there?
41:25
People have had enough. They're going to know about it even
41:27
though the New Zealand government did
41:29
the damnedest to conceal the furlough mutiny.
41:31
But they wouldn't have kept it out
41:33
to people's mailbags. I'm sure of it.
41:36
And this is Jonathan Vanell's research, isn't it?
41:39
And so if you're Alex and you're
41:41
thinking, we just got to be careful,
41:43
we have just got to be careful,
41:45
morale-wise. If you lose too
41:47
much, the men might think
41:49
there's no point. You're never going to win. So
41:52
you can see there's lots of reasons
41:54
to stop. And also, there
41:56
is this interesting that the Allies are now
41:58
able to consider stopping. start
42:01
this up to this point it's
42:03
been about push push push push push regardless is
42:05
alex going no actually you know what we
42:07
can afford to stop now. What
42:10
we're better off stopping with better off pausing
42:13
so on the twenty third of march it's called
42:15
off first night girl cuz i recall from hangman's
42:17
hill imagine. Yeah
42:20
maybe something that they've been doing a kind
42:22
of feeling sparks act up
42:24
on the up on on hammons hill. So
42:27
the refusing to budge and hanging on in
42:30
there and in the. Sorry
42:32
that's off and the truth
42:34
is that the jobs covered get out of them because
42:37
it is this kind of little no that kind of
42:39
stuck on the sides and the edges and behind it
42:41
they can hide quite quite well in the rock of
42:43
the just can't get to them. Obviously
42:45
you know they they they've suffered casualties and get me wrong
42:47
i mean they have i mean it is
42:49
an amazing effort to get up there it
42:52
really really is extraordinary to get to get there in the
42:54
first place. Yeah what
42:56
are the losses from this battle. Title
42:58
losses all casualties and that includes
43:01
sort of you know we didn't want
43:03
to be is four thousand men.
43:06
Right from two divisions which is a
43:08
lot but i thought i you know the interesting thing is
43:10
it is the first bit by the end of the seventeenth
43:12
of march the new zenas have only lost one hundred thirty
43:14
men which is not very many at all. No
43:17
it's obviously further treated the the the
43:19
german's you know first fowls from jager
43:21
is is bashed again i mean. It's
43:24
not good for the spouse of a division at
43:26
all i mean they like being bashed let's face
43:28
it let's face it if you if
43:30
you're first person you really want. Is
43:33
to be smashed up by the allies and
43:37
that's your bag look across the rubble to
43:39
one another with your true and say here
43:41
we go again hands. And
43:44
you know one more time for the fatherland
43:46
surely i mean what else what's motivating them
43:48
these guys are completely become just
43:50
war people from that they're just what they
43:53
are they are worried well interesting i mean
43:55
what is one of the very exciting people
43:57
we got coming on at some point and
43:59
who is coming to you. we have waste
44:02
fest is Magnus Paul who is a German
44:04
academic and who has written a book on
44:06
casino and which he basically rubbish is the
44:08
reputation of the Fauci Mega which is he
44:11
says a basically they're a there the Goebbels propaganda thing
44:13
and not you we can't end up with the thing
44:15
is we're gonna end up with a point where absolutely
44:17
everyone's crap yeah well they're
44:19
clearly not crap they're not crap compared to
44:22
compared to others and disciplines
44:24
are motivated I think that's the point I think I think
44:26
that's the key people use
44:28
sort of the term elite troops just a
44:30
little bit too freely a bit too
44:33
freely yeah and and you know there's obviously there's a lot
44:35
of guys who are coming through who coming
44:37
into the ranks who aren't particularly brilliantly
44:40
well trained or particularly amazing
44:43
but what you've got is you have still got this
44:45
card you got you got people like Rudolf Kratzert who
44:47
who was you may remember was
44:49
the guy who was his troops kind of got shoved
44:51
up and you know he had 236 men and
44:54
four officers and they were put
44:56
onto Albonetta and point five nine three and kind
44:58
of resisted everything that came their way you know
45:00
these and and that's because he's very clear-headed he's
45:02
absolutely you'd follow him to battle every single time
45:04
you know he's one of you what you're going
45:06
higher types but they're also you
45:09
can't put a price on experience and that's the
45:11
big thing that there's enough in the first Fashion
45:14
Ego Division still to really to
45:16
be able to kind of sort of osmosis
45:18
effect kind of through those recruits and create
45:20
a kind of a culture and a spreed
45:22
of core and all restaurant that absolutely exists
45:25
and they're not having to but they're not having to
45:27
attack and they're having to attack
45:29
you know so we see well I say you're
45:32
when you're doing counterattacks on Apostle Hill or whatever
45:34
well so clearly Monte Cassino
45:36
unfinished business that's the that's the the
45:38
truth of it they tried
45:41
but they failed join us in our next episode and hopefully
45:43
you're listening to this on our Apple Channel and that means
45:45
you you can listen to all sort of one great big
45:47
splurge I mean god knows how long a walk you'd have
45:49
to go to listen to this all in one go I
45:52
mean get off what whatever you do to get off
45:54
that exercise bike if you put this series on and
45:56
you're on the exercise bike get off now because there's no way
45:58
we're gonna You know, you're
46:01
gonna do yourself a mischief. Anyway, if you're
46:03
on the Apple podcast where you can subscribe
46:05
and do the advertising or join us on
46:07
our Patreon, we have ways to make you
46:09
talk Patreon where there's all sorts of extra
46:11
trickles of goodies and bits of news and
46:13
offers and stuff, bits and pieces. And then
46:16
of course come to our festival on the 18th, 21st
46:18
of July, we have ways to
46:20
make you talk fest where you can shake
46:23
hands with a spicer pint and say,
46:25
you know what, I think you're a bit harsh
46:27
on Bernard Freiberg, so I'm fully expecting the Anzac
46:29
Cove Jake Hayward to do if he joins us
46:31
this summer. Anyway, we will see
46:33
you all very, very soon.
46:36
Thanks for listening and goodbye. Farewell.
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