The 1st Para Div. withdrew
For this third offensive against Cassino. Alexander engaged the bulk of the 8th Army and completely revised its strategy. This time the main effort would be directed against the right of the Germans, by the French colonial troops of June, who would execute a breakthrough followed by envelopment by the heights.
The attack on the city and the abbey would be the responsibility of the 2nd Polish corps of General W. Anders which would make its debut. There would be no more of those massive aerial bombardments that had so miserably failed in the previous two attempts.
The story of the last act will be short.
From May 11 to 17, the 1st Para Div repulsed all attacks directed against it, while in the south the German front crumbled spectacularly. No Allied soldier set foot on the top of the hill, where the abbey had been, before the paratroopers evacuated it during the night of May 17 to 18 in order to avoid the encirclement that was taking shape.
In the fortnight that followed, while the 10th and 14th Armies escaped destruction thanks to the Allies' obsession with Rome, the 1st Para Div. provided the rearguard for the 10th Army throughout the long retreat. to the "Gothic Line", severely countering at each opportunity the too hasty points of the 8th Army.
The best of the best
The superb conduct of the paratroopers at Cassino ranks the 1st Para Div. among the finest troops in all of military history.
They were tough fighters who knew their trade and were quick to exploit the opponent's mistakes. They proved to be the best, yet all the units they defeated at Cassino - 4th Div. Indian Corps, New Zealand Corps, 78th Div. British, 3rd Div. American and Polish 2nd Corps - were themselves elite troops.
Cassino's paratroopers fought a model defensive battle from which they emerged undefeated. But these men were irreplaceable and their losses - as they had already experienced after Crete - could not be compensated, certainly not in the twelve months of existence that remained to the Third Reich