Several paratroopers are injured in the jump, including Oberjäger Karl Christiansen, a former infantry Fähnrich who detests the war and was demoted for refusing to execute a captured enemy soldier.

They receive the order to occupy and secure the area of Monte Cassino, including the nearby town, but not the monastery at the top of the hill, which is meant to shelter the evacuated townspeople and historical art treasures from the surrounding communities.

Upon learning about the art treasures stored in the abbey, Oberstleutnant Julius Schlegel, about to be sent back home to Austria for heart issues, decides on his own initiative to save the priceless artifacts, and after much arguing convinces the abbot to permit their evacuation to Rome into the custody of the Vatican.

Planning to intercept the convoy, local resistance member Fausto asks his friend Gina to retrieve a submachine gun from its hiding place in her house, which is occupied by Reiter.

Most of the civilian survivors - excluding Inge, Gina (forcibly made Reiter's mistress) and several wounded and children - evacuate the ruins, which are then used by the German paratroopers as a fortified position.