In this picture of the Life’s photographer George Silk some American M4 Sherman tanks parked in a field of poppies during the Italian Campaign in August 1944. Note the soldier crouched in the middle of the flowers as a relax moment, but also the gun of the second Sherman traversed as if to counter a possible threat from the side. The date and the landscape suggest the Central Apennines likely during the first operations against the Gothic Line. A question for the armored vehicles expert: what is the purpose of the canvas or net over the tank’s tracks? Thanks. Victor Sierra

In a field of poppies

Italian Campaign, May 1944: an US Army self-propelled 105mm howitzer M-7 “Priest” had just left the town of Terracina, 130 km South of Rome, in front to Tyrrhenian coast, during the advance of the Allied troops towards Rome. Behind the “Priest”, an impressive work carried out by the Romans at the time of the Emperor Trajan, Imperator Caesar Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus Augustus (98-117 after Christ): the Taglio del Pisco Montano, a promontory cut for grind the road layout of the Via Appia (the “Regina Viarum” from Rome to Brindisi) so that the road may run along the sea avoiding the long and difficult trip in the middle of the mountains. In the Picco you can see the engraved signs with indications in Roman numerals showing the height reached progressively: total height 128 roman foot, in modern unit of measures 37.88 meters. Victor Sierra

At the foot of the Pisco Montano

Men of the 18th F.A reload rockets in Hurtgen Germany, 11/30/44.