Two American officers enjoy a hometown newspaper that somebody mailed them. For most front-line soldiers in World War II, their knowledge of the world around them was restricted to a few thousand yards around their current position.

Hometown newspaper

A group of American soldiers hitch a ride into battle on an M4 Sherman tank covered with sandbags for extra protection.   National Archives

Hitching a ride 

U.S. Army medics run from the field with a wounded soldier as artillery smoke rounds cover their presence from German observation. The typical batallion aid station was normally no more than five hundred yards behind the front lines.