Cassino '44 Quotes

“Zellner had already lost three-quarters of his men in the six weeks of fighting since their arrival.”
― James Holland, Cassino '44: The Brutal Battle for Rome

“My problems get no less worrisome as the days go on,’ he added. ‘However, things will work out, and I am waiting for the day when I can lead my Fifth Army into a victory.”
― James Holland, Cassino '44: The Brutal Battle for Rome

“Our daily prayer is a curse on those guilty of the war. But they don’t die. Innocent people do.”
― James Holland, Cassino '44: The Brutal Battle for Rome

“Lucas’s unwillingness to listen to Clark and to adopt anything other than a deeply unimaginative and defensive mindset had led to unnecessary loss of life, numerous casualties, an entirely avoidable tactical defeat and a missed opportunity to strike back hard at the enemy.”
― James Holland, Cassino '44: The Brutal Battle for Rome

“No operational appreciation,’10 he noted, ‘no orders, no intention, no objective, no nothing.”
― James Holland, Cassino '44: The Brutal Battle for Rome

“It was reassuring that even in these desperate moments, commanders in the Guards Brigade were not losing their sense of humour.”
― James Holland, Cassino '44: The Brutal Battle for Rome

“Macmillan was fascinated to observe Alexander’s technique of suggestion rather than directly ordering. ‘These are put forward with modesty and simplicity,’18 he noted. ‘But they are always so clear and lucid that they carry conviction.”
― James Holland, Cassino '44: The Brutal Battle for Rome

“There were solutions to all of these conundrums, but Walker was no longer able to see them for all the knots he’d tied himself into.”
― James Holland, Cassino '44: The Brutal Battle for Rome

“Divisional commanders played very important roles, however. They set the tone, and the culture. The attitude of the commander – aggressive or cautious, spick-and-span or casual – filtered down through the staff to the regiments, the battalions, companies, platoons and squads.”
― James Holland, Cassino '44: The Brutal Battle for Rome

“Virgil, ‘Facilis est descensus Averno’ – ‘easy is the descent into Hell’.”
― James Holland, Cassino '44: The Brutal Battle for Rome