Wehrkreis XI, including the WK XI Unterführer course. In August 1943, the 71st Infantry Division was transferred to Carinthia with the assignment to help disarm the Italian troops in the Treviso - Gorizia - Trieste and Fiume areas during Operation Achse. This was followed by coastal protection and partisan fighting in the Monfalcone and Fiume areas. Participation in the Battle of Monte Cassino from January to May 1944 was also significant. Here the IR 211 defended a 4km long section of the front in the town of Cassino and fought in hand-to-hand combat with New Zealand units for possession of the station under the command of Colonel Barnbeck. IR 194 was used in front of the US beachhead of Anzio-Nettuno until mid-February 1944. In May 1944 Major Knuht and the IR 211 fought in the Third Battle of Monte Cassino for the foothills of Monti Aurunci, at Castelforte and Esperia. The correlation of forces consisted of 6 heavily exhausted battalions of the 71. ID against 4 full-fledged divisions of the Free French Expeditionary Corps, under General Alphonse Juin, that included Moroccan mountain troops. The German resistance collapsed due to the Allied pressure and the infiltration and flanking maneuver of the French forces on the Garigliano River. General Mark W. Clark described in his memoires how the French broke through the Gustav Line in May 1944:Meantime, the French forces had crossed the Garigliano (River) and moved forward into the mountainous terrain lying south of the Liri River. It was not easy. As always, the German veterans reacted strongly and there was bitter fighting. The French surprised the enemy and quickly seized key terrain including Mounts Faito Cerasola and high ground near Castelforte. The 1st Motorized Division helped the 2nd Moroccan Division take key Mount Girofano and then advanced rapidly north to S. Apollinare and S. Ambrogio In spite of the stiffening enemy resistance, the 2nd Moroccan Division penetrated the Gustav Line in less than two day’s fighting. The next 48 hours on the French front were decisive. The knife-wielding Goumiers swarmed over the hills, particularly at night, and General Juin’s entire force showed an aggressiveness hour after hour that the Germans could not withstand. Cerasola, San Giogrio, Mt. D’Oro, Ausonia and Esperia were seized in one of the most brilliant and daring advances of the war in Italy, and by May 16 the French Expeditionary Corps had thrust forward some ten