| Original caption: “A Guardsman (British soldier) bringing in two German prisoners. First Guards Brigade and East Surreys.” The 1st Independent Guards Brigade Group served in the Italian theatre with various divisions. At the end of the 4th and final battle of Monte Cassino, the ruins of the Abbey dominate the surrounding area. Corpses were used as landmarks in some cases; resupply could only be done at night, as at daytime, machine guns and nebelwefers (literally “smoke projector” but a multibarreled rocket launcher) would annihilate Allied attackers. Successive waves of American, New Zealand, Polish, South African, and British infantry were decimated. Conversely, Allied artillery thought nothing of expending ammunition on single targets of Heer (“Nazi German Army”) infantrymen caught exposed in the open. With the landscape around Monte Cassino reduced to an unrecognizable moonscape of shell holes, the Gustav Line and the Heer defenses at Monte Cassino finally fractured after another Polish assault on May 17, 1944. On May 18, 1944, the 1st Independent Guards Brigade Group and the 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment undertook the 1st daylight patrol of Monte Cassino in months. The Polish II Corps undertook the final assault; under constant mortar and artillery fire, the fighting was hand-to-hand. Exhausted, there was a canvas to find enough men to raise a Polish flag over the ruins. The East Surreys and the 1st Independent Guards Brigade Group patrolled Monte Cassino in the open for the 1st time in months. They took 30 prisoners, most of whom were too wounded or shell shocked to move. United Kingdom Royal Army 2nd Lieutenant Donald A. Whicker (August 2, 1921 – July 12, 2013) of the Number 2 Army Film and Photographic Unit recalled in his memoir, Whicker’s War, “Everywhere the Germans were falling back towards the Alps and defeat; not with relief, but with anger. You would have to be very unlucky indeed to be killed or wounded at this stage of the war but, as in the ruins of Cassino, many suicidal last-ditch paratroops and fanatical [Schutzstaffel] SS still wanted to take us with them. Mines and booby traps also knew nothing of armistice negotiations or peace moves, and partisans with stolen guns were always a little uncertain whom they should shoot next, in a good cause.” The Nazi Germans abandoned their defensive lines and fell back, withdrawing to the Hitler line. The way to Rome was opened, which was liberated 2 weeks later. Sergeant Curtis (???? – ????) of Number 2 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit (AFPU) completed transfer from Algiers to Naples by February 8, 1944. War Office Publicity Officer Ronald E. Tritton (April 29, 1907 – December 4, 1990) reported to the War Publicity Directorate that Number 2 AFPU lacked suitable cameras and lenses, and many were old. Only 6-inch (152 millimeter) lenses were available to the British at Monte Cassino; they had to a borrow 17-inch (432 millimeter) lens from the Americans, the 1st instance of cooperation between Allied photographic services. The Unit was divided into 4 sections on April 13, 1944, with a lieutenant, 1 motion picture sergeant, 1 stills sergeant and 1 driver in each section. For the remainder of the Italian campaign, number 2 Army Film and Photo Unit in Italy would be divided into No.1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 Sections. Clearly this had an adverse effect on production of material, as the Unit was spread wider and thinner. The smaller lenses placed Number 2 APFU closer to exploding shells and bombs. Traveling in a jeep, Sergeant Robert C. W. Day (April 1924 – May 17, 1944) of Number 2 AFPU was killed by shell shrapnel to the spine, killing him instantly. Sergeant Wootten (???? – ????) was wounded. Sergeant Alan S. Johnson (???? – ????), traveling with them, was physically unhurt, and went on to photograph the June 1944 landing zone at Pegasus Bridge in Normandy. The next day, Sergeant Curtis joined the 1st Independent Guard Brigade and the East Surreys for their patrol of Cassino. AFPU had to continue their job of photographing the war. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0657.jpg |
| Image Size | 304.91 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 1188 x 1146 |
| Photographer | Curtis |
| Photographer Title | Number Two United Kingdom Royal Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | May 18, 1944 |
| Location | Monte Cassino |
| City | Cassino |
| State or Province | Lazio |
| Country | Italy |
| Archive | Imperial War Museum |
| Record Number | NA 14991 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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