Gary Lineker films documentary to discover why his grandfather and thousands of other heroic WW2 troops who fought at the Battle of Monte Cassino were dubbed 'D-Day Dodgers' Lineker's grandfather Stanley Abbs served in the Royal Army Medical Corps The bloody campaign in Italy lasted five months and finished just before D-Day Victory cleared the way for the Allies to march on Rome and liberate the capitalBy Jennifer Ruby Senior Showbusiness Correspondent For The Daily Mail Published: 00:06 BST, 19 June 2019 | Updated: 00:41 BST, 19 June 2019 Viewcomments Gary Lineker wants to discover why troops at the Battle of Monte Cassino - which included his grandfather - were unfairly treated as 'second class veterans' They were cruelly branded the 'D-Day Dodgers' – mocked for fighting in Italy and so avoiding the Normandy landings. Now Gary Lineker will attempt to discover why his grandfather and thousands of other servicemen were unfairly treated as 'second class veterans'. The Match of the Day host, 58, will front a new documentary, which will examine the heroic efforts of troops at the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy. The bloody campaign lasted five months and finished in mid-May 1944 – weeks before the Normandy landings in June which helped to end the war. The victory cleared the way for the Allies to march on Rome and liberate the capital. Lineker's grandfather Stanley Abbs served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in Italy. Monte Cassino saw four brutal assaults by the Allies – including famous actions by the New Zealanders and the Poles – against the Nazis' Winter Line. They are estimated to have suffered 55,000 casualties while the Germans had 20,000 troops killed or wounded. Lineker said: 'My grandfather never talked to me about the war, but I've since discovered a little about what happened to him and his colleagues. 'This made me curious to discover more. Seventy-five years on, it's important that we don't forget the lessons and horrors of war.' While the soldiers who fought in Normandy returned home as heroes, those who went into battle at Monte Cassino were ridiculed in a comment widely attributed to Tory MP Nancy Astor. The American-born former socialite and first woman MP to take her seat in Parliament is thought to have used the term 'D-Day Dodgers' but there are no public records of her doing so. In the BBC1 documentary, Lineker will ask why 'the veterans of the D-Day landings in Normandy have gone down in history as heroes... but men like my grandfather were treated by some as second-class veterans and told they had it easy.' The presenter said he would uncover the 'heroic, deeply personal and harrowing stories' of all of the men who fought. Two years of hell at Monte Cassino to win the battle for Italy The Allies were locked in a titanic struggle in Italy for almost two years. Winston Churchill had referred to the country as 'the soft underbelly of Europe', but it included some of the hardest fighting of the war. The campaign began on July 10, 1943, when almost 2,600 ships landed 180,000 troops in Sicily. The Allies pushed on to the mainland through Salerno, and later Anzio. But German opposition remained fierce and the Nazis destroyed bridges, rail lines and roads as they retreated north. Their winter defensive position stretched from coast to coast. Featuring hidden machine gun nests amid the mountains, this allowed the Nazis to dominate the valleys below. Monte Cassino was a lynchpin of these defensive positions. Finally, in May 1944 an Allied offensive saw the hilltop abbey captured and Rome followed shortly afterwards. The BBC's Charlotte Moore said: 'This is a fascinating chance to explore the war through his grandfather's unique experiences. This documentary will show how individuals' lives can be changed forever by global conflicts and yet when they return home their sacrifice is too easily forgotten.' Commissioning editor Abigail Priddle said: 'So many of us have that sense of curiosity about what our grandparents did in the war. 'Following in his grandfather's footsteps, Gary will learn more about how his family contributed to the Allies' success in World War II and allow us all to get a greater understanding of how this conflict shaped a generation.' Troops who fought at Monte Cassino strongly resented the D-Day Dodgers insult. A ballad attributed to an officer in Italy 1944 included the verse: 'If you look around the mountains, in the wind and rain, 'You'll find the scattered crosses, some which bear no name. 'Heartbreak and toil and suffering gone, 'The boys beneath them slumber on. 'For we're the D-Day dodgers out here in Italy.' Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site dailymail and under his responsibility