The civilians were shocked and disorientated when they first saw the devastation of their precious little town that had been virtually razed to the ground. Many were eager to find out what was left of their homes, and searched amongst the rubble for any belongings that perhaps still remained. Some families found themselves totally destitute. The Allies wanted to relocate the homeless civilians to southern Italy, however this request was generally ignored. If their homes hadn’t been totally destroyed many families immediately began patching things up as best they could, such as rigging up a temporary roof under which to sleep.
The town had been devastated by the months of relentless shelling and bombing, leaving many areas of the town in ruins including Piazza Garibaldi, Via della Veduta, Piazza Veroli, Via Constantinopoli, Largo Trastevere, Via Giardino, Sant’ Anna, and the vie Grotte.
The buildings and sites destroyed included several churches and architectural monuments. The Church of Santa Maria and Chapel of San Marco were in ruins and the cemetery severely damaged. The roof and vaults of the Church of San Pietro had collapsed. A bomb had hit the cupola of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta and destroyed it, but the façade was still standing. The Chapel of the Congregation of San Carlo in Via Roma and the Church of Sant’Antonio di Padua near the Porta di Santa Maria were destroyed.
Several of Atina’s ancient palaces and important buildings were also severely damaged including the Palazzo della Propositura, the Palazzo Teodoro Mancini and the Asilo Infantile di Beatrice.
Then on the 29th May a massive flood of Allied troops, military convoys and tanks flowed into the Val di Comino, churning up the terrain and destroying the countryside. The huge bomb craters caused by explosions filled up with rainwater which caused mosquitoes to breed rapidly causing an epidemic of Malaria. There was always the fear of treading on one of the deadly land mines that the Germans had planted throughout the area. These terrible devices claimed many innocent victims. There were little or no incoming food supplies and most of the surrounding fields were barren and scared by bomb craters. Unexploded bombs, arms and ammunition littered the Val di Comino.
A temporary German cemetery was sited in the Capo di Chino district between Atina and Belmonte Castello. Here there were around 150 graves of German / Austrian soldiers who were killed in the Cassino area, most of them were aged between 18 and 20 years old. The bodies interred here were later transferred to the large German Cemetery in the village of Caira, which is situated three kilometres north of Cassino.