The ruins of Cassino

The central Italian town of Cassino was the scene of fierce fighting for four months in the first half of 1944. This photograph was taken on 18 May, the day the township and hilltop monastery finally fell to Polish and British forces, supported by New Zealand artillery. With its churned mud, water-filled shell craters and shattered tree stumps, the landscape recalled the devastation of First World War battlefields like Verdun, the Somme and Passchendaele. The struggle for Cassino claimed the lives of 343 New Zealand soldiers, including 58 Māori Battalion men.