<p>Military leaders had been nurturing a plan for a massive air assault heavy enough to break the stalemate at either Anzio or Cassino. Bad weather had held up such a strike, but it promised to clear around mid-March. Cassino was the chosen target.
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<p>Some airmen, notably Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker, commanding the recently organized Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF), argued unexpectedly against the big strike. They pointed out that such an assault could actually be a hindrance to forward movement of troops, especially armor, but they were argued down.
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<p>The entire tactical force of 12AF was flung into the battle order, along with almost 300 B-17s and B-24s from the 15AF. They dropped 1,000 tons of 1,000-lb demolition bombs against Cassino. The blasts shattered every building, ripped the earth beneath and between them, blew bricks and stones and mortar and wood into a fine powder, and left a lunar landscape where the town had stood.
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<p>The infantry took over an hour to move into town through the rubble, and the Germans met them. Eight days later, with the battle still unresolved and the air forces grounded by foul weather, the Allied ground forces pulled back to regroup. Weather was the best Axis ally; 'sunny Italy' was a hollow joke. Rain, mud and a raw winter slowed the advance to a crawl.
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<p>From September 1943 through all of 1944, flying weather was rarely good. Even Italy's usually beautiful spring and fall months were marred by long periods of unfavorable weather. Air operations often were cancelled. Once airborne, bombers often failed to find their targets under the thick cloud cover, and fighters and bombers missed rendezvous points. And because war in Italy was a war that depended on air support, it hurt not to have it.
