MOBILE FIELD ARTILLERY MAINTENANCE UNIT near the front. These units were used a great deal during the winter. Artillery off the main roads could be moved only with difficulty after the rains started and repairs that were normally made in shops behind the front had to be done in the field. The first two vehicles shown above are tank recovery vehicles M32, and are modifications of the M4 designed primarily for recovery of tanks from battlefields. The fixed turret replaces the customary tank turret. Third vehicle is weapons carrier, ¾-ton 4 x 4 truck.
ITALY
BRITISH ANTIAIRCRAFT GUNNERS protecting U. S. engineers constructing a Bailey bridge on Highway 64 crossing the Reno River. This was in preparation for an attack on Monte Belvedere west of the highway. The 3,600-foot mountain was taken on 24 November 1944 by elements of a U. S. Negro infantry regiment and members of British and U. S. antiaircraft units serving as infantry. The enemy counterattacked for five days and the Allies had to give up the position. During the fall and winter of 1944 most U. S. and British antiaircraft units were being trained for infantry duty as rapidly as training and the issuance of appropriate weapons would permit. (The gun shown is the 40-mm. automatic antiaircraft type, originally made in Sweden and used by the Allies and the enemy. The gun could be towed at 50 miles per hour and transferred from traveling to firing position in 25 seconds.)
ITALY
PATROL ACTIVITY, December 1944. During the relatively quiet period of the first half of December, both sides sent patrols to probe the front lines and bring back prisoners. When the cold weather set in, winter clothing was issued, including the reversible, hooded coat known as the parka shown above. One side was the conventional olive drab, the other side white for camouflage in snow. New type shoepacs, combination wool sweaters and cotton field jackets, and sleeping bags left the troops better prepared for inclement weather than they were during the previous winter, but there would be no possibility of keeping dry at the front during an attack when the rain lasted for days on end.
ITALY
