Old soldiers recalled their dead comrades during a moving service

The Duke of Kent joined 300 British veterans to mark the end of the battle, which claimed 200,000 soldiers' lives.

He laid wreaths at Monday's service, along with representatives of many other Commonwealth countries whose young men are buried there.

It took four months for Allied troops to dislodge a German rearguard from the hilltop near Cassino in Italy.

In a series of battles Allied troops advancing on Rome attacked retreating German forces dug in at the abbey on top of the hill.

Survivors have talked about fighting a World War I battle in the second world war David Willey

The BBC's David Willey in Cassino said that the war graves of more than 4,000 British and Commonwealth servicemen stretch in every direction from the site.

He said: "You realise just what a slaughter it was.

"Some of the survivors have talked about fighting a World War I battle in the second world war.

"It really was one of the major events of the Italian campaign."

After the service he spoke to Norman Quinlan, 85, who had travelled across the world from his home in New Plymouth, New Zealand, to be there, and for whom many memories had been stirred.

Mr Quinlan said: "I came back 10 years ago for the 50th anniversary - very nostalgic feelings.

"But you catch up with your mates and they are still young fellows. That's what comes up to you when you are standing in front of a headstone - that young face hits you. They haven't grown old at all.

"So they are unlucky being where they are but they haven't grown old like the rest of us."

Kenneth Constable from Kent was there to see where he had fought as a young member of a polyglot army.

Veterans paraded through the streets of Monte Cassino

Second generation

By the time the battle began in February 1944, Italy's fascist leader Benito Mussolini had been ousted and Italy had switched sides but the Germans were doggedly resisting attempts by the Allies to drive them out.

This year's commemorations took place in the shadow of the reconstructed abbey, which was destroyed by Allied bombing.

It may be the last major battle anniversary to be attended by survivors, many of whom are now in their 80s or 90s.

British veteran Jack Reid was at Cassino on Monday on what was also his 80th birthday.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he had turned 20 during the campaign.

"There's a big difference between today and yesterday, he said.

Mike Ashmore from Auckland, New Zealand, was representing his 84-year-old father, who was unable to join the country's delegation at the commemorations.

"It's very important that the second generation come and show their respect for what those veterans did," he said.

Bitterness

Author Matthew Parker, who interviewed veterans for his 2003 book Monte Cassino, said the battle had been overshadowed by the D-Day landings in Normandy, which remain the focus of Britain's war commemorations this year.

He said: "It's remembered with great bitterness by people who fought there. Not only because it was incredibly bloody and incredibly hard, but because it's really been forgotten by a lot of people."

Parker said conditions were grim, with some soldiers having to be to be carried down from the hilltop after their limbs seized up in the freezing temperatures.

Effectively the whole place had gone mad. I only met one person who wasn't wounded or didn't have some kind of psychological damage Matthew Parker Author, Monte Cassino

He said: "Either you were in the soggy valleys in a foxhole filled with water or you were up in the mountains with the snowstorms.

"They can't actually describe it without breaking down in tears. It was an absolutely ghastly place."

Comic Spike Milligan fought at Monte Cassino before being evacuated as a psychiatric casualty after being wounded.

Parker said: "They [psychiatrists] found that all of the frontline soldiers were displaying symptoms, such as shaking, like the ones they were treating in the mental wards.

"Effectively the whole place had gone mad. I only met one person who wasn't wounded or didn't have some kind of psychological damage."