Troops of US 141st Regiment and 143rd Regiment were able to cross the Rapido River, but timely German counterattacks by German 15th Panzergrenadier Division caused heavy casualties, and the Americans were eventually pushed back across the river by mid-morning on 21 Jan.

What was considered to be the main assault, conducted by US 36th Division, began shortly after sundown on. In response, German 29th Panzergrenadier Division and 90th Panzergrenadier Division were called in from the Rome, Italy area to reinforce the defenses, arriving on 21 Jan. Two days later, British 46th Infantry Division attacked near the junction of the Garigliano River and the Liri River. Ww2dbaseBritish X Corps, consisted of 56th Infantry Division and 5th Infantry Division, attacked first on, crossing the Garigliano River near the coast on a 20-mile-wide front. German troops established positions on the hill of Monte Cassino, which dominated over the valleys, but they had stayed out of the nearby historical Benedictine monastery per orders of Field Marshal Albert Kesselring.

The main German positions generally ran along the valleys created by the Rapido River, Liri River, and the Garigliano River. Ww2dbaseThe Allies reached the western end of the German Gustav Line in Italy in mid-Jan 1943.

Php rapido