March 1944 would see the Irish Brigade, along with the rest of 78th Division, in full readiness to exploit any breakthrough of the Allied Armies into and along the Liri Valley. In preparation for this, the brigade spent the first part of the month taking part in extensive river training exercises on the Volturno river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While there, the Faughs commemorated their Regimental Day of Barrosa on 5th March and, when it became clear than the rest of the New Zealand Corps had failed in their frontal assaults on Cassino town and Monte Cassino itself, the whole brigade was able to celebrate St Patrick\u2019s Day in raucous fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This period of relatively benign activity came to an end on 23rd March when the Faughs and Irish Rifles took up positions near to the Gari river, opposite San Angelo in Theodice. Here, they stayed for three days before, following two days of further rest, the whole Irish Brigade started to prepare to move onto the Cassino massif itself to relieve French forces on the summit of Monte Castellone and on its lower slopes in the village of Caira. By the end of March, the brigade had started to take up positions across the Rapido river on the slopes of Monte Castellone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n