COMMENT ON BOMBING

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 121, 17 February 1944, Page 5

COMMENT ON BOMBING

“Every Catholic Will Understand”

LONDON, February 15. The German military authorities removed the world-famous library from Cassino .Monastery a few months ago and handed it over to the Vatican authorities, says the German radio. No German soldier since then has entered the buildings, it stated. The destruction of the monastery is an act of revenge for the Allied failure tp take Cassino. Because there were no German troops m or round the monastery, no one was able to extinguish the fire, for which reason the building could not be saved, the radio added. . ~ _ Mr. ‘Roosevelt, addressing Ins Press conference in Washington, declared that the Allies shelled the monastery because there were German artillery emplacements there. The President at the same time released the text of the orders issued by General Eisenhower in December, which declared: “We are bound to respect the monuments of an historic nation as far as war allows, but if we have to ehoose between destroying a famous building and sacrificing our own men then the buildings must go.” The Most Rev. Michael Curley, Archbishop of Baltimore and Washington, regretting the necessity for bombing the monastery, said: “I am sure every Catholic throughout the world will understand it. The Germans evidently took advantage of the American attitude against the idea and took possession ot a sacred place in order to carry out their nefarious warfare.”