Rick Jacobs presents Battle of Monte Cassino

With promises Rome would quickly fall, Winston Churchill convinced the reluctant Americans to invade Italy in September 1943. After four months and thousands of casualties, the advance was mired in the mountains of central Italy; the road to Rome was blocked by the Gustav Line. Although the 1,500-year-old abbey of Monte Casino, dominating the terrain, was destroyed by a pitiless aerial bombardment, it took an army of Americans, Britons, New Zealanders, Free French, and Poles another five months to break through. Captain Rick Jacobs tells the story of the campaign from the beaches of Salerno to the liberation of Rome.

Lunchbox Lectures are free and open to the public on every first and third Wednesday of the month. For more information call 504-528-1944 x 463.

NOTICE: Andrew Higgins Drive is temporarily closed to vehicles and pedestrians between Camp Street and Magazine Street for the construction of a new “Founders Plaza” at The National WWII Museum. The Museum’s main entrance for the duration of construction is at 945 Magazine Street.