The thunder of the guns could be heard in Rome, 170 miles away . . . Having survived the horrors of the Eastern Front, the 27th Penal Regiment are posted to Italy. Hitler has ordered that every position must be held to the last, and every lost position recaptured by counter-attack. Monte Cassino - a major look-out post on the German defensive line - is under attack. In the face of overwhelming Allied firepower, Sven Hassel and his comrades are ordered to hold the fortress at all costs... Monte Cassino is a classic Sven Hassel novel, a no-holds-barred account of frontline combat. Sven Hassel based his unflinching narrative on his experiences in the German army. He ended World War Two in a prisoner of war camp, where he wrote his first novel Legion of the Damned.