Editing Battle of Monte Cassino (section)

===II Corps in the mountains north of Cassino===
[[File:Cassino1stNorth en.svg|thumb|left|First Battle: Northern Sector 24 January – 11 February 1944]]
It became the task of the U.S. 34th Division (joined temporarily by the [[142nd Infantry Regiment (United States)|142nd Infantry Regiment]] of the 36th Division, which had been held in reserve and unused during the Rapido crossing) to fight southward along the linked hilltops towards the intersecting ridge on the south end of which was Monastery Hill. They could then break through down into the Liri valley behind the Gustav Line defences. It was very tough going: the mountains were rocky, strewn with boulders and cut by ravines and gullies. Digging [[Defensive fighting position|foxholes]] on the rocky ground was out of the question and each feature was exposed to fire from surrounding high points. The ravines were no better since the [[gorse]] growing there, far from giving cover, had been sown with mines, booby-traps and hidden barbed wire by the defenders. The Germans had had three months to prepare their defensive positions using dynamite and to stockpile ammunition and stores. There was no natural shelter, and the weather was wet and freezing cold.

By early February, American infantry had captured a strategic point near the hamlet of San Onofrio, less than {{convert|1|mi}} from the abbey and by 7 February a battalion had reached Point 445, a round-topped hill immediately below the monastery and no more than {{convert|400|yd}} away. An American squad managed a reconnaissance right up against the cliff-like abbey walls, with the monks observing German and American patrols exchanging fire. However, attempts to take Monte Cassino were broken by overwhelming machine gun fire from the slopes below the monastery. Despite their fierce fighting, the 34th Division never managed to take the final redoubts on Hill 593 (known to the Germans as Calvary Mount), held by the 3rd Battalion of the [[2nd Parachute Regiment (Germany)|2nd Parachute Regiment]], part of the [[1st Parachute Division (Germany)|1st Parachute Division]], the dominating point of the ridge to the monastery.