INFANTRYMAN TURNED MULE SKINNER.
SICILY
PACK MULE. The interior and northern coast of Sicily were mountainous and had few roads fit for vehicles. Mules often had to be used to bring supplies to troops in forward areas.
SICILY
FIELD BAKERY. The men in the picture above are using a British oven which was built into a trailer. Field ovens of U. S. troops were separate units and not built in trailer form. In some instances U. S. troops obtained the British type oven when previously stationed in the British Isles. Others obtained them in America. Every attempt was made to vary the rations of the troops, and fresh bread was baked when possible.
SICILY
FLYING FORTRESS DURING BOMBING OF MESSINA. In the first two weeks of August the enemy started to withdraw to Italy across the narrow Strait of Messina under heavy bombing attacks. By concentrating antiaircraft guns in and around Messina as a means of combating these attacks, the Germans managed to ferry across thousands of their first-line armored and airborne troops, but much of their heavy equipment was left behind. U. S. patrols entered the city from the west on 16 August 1943 while British units entered from the south on the same day. The campaign had lasted thirty-nine days.