Personnel of No. 92 Squadron RAF struggle to free one of their Supermarine Spitfire Mark VIIIs from the mud on the waterlogged landing ground at Canne, Apulia, Italy, 1944. At Canne, in area of famous Hannibal’s victory over Romans, August 216 bC, were also based Italian and Yugoslav air units embedded in Balkan Air Force. Victor Sierra

Hard work 

Italy, end 1943. Attempts being made to free a Douglas Dakota of No. 267 Squadron RAF Detachment, bogged down in the mud at Catania, Sicily, following the heavy Autumn rains. Victor Sierra

After the Autumn rains

Supplies for the RAF wings operating from Grottaglie, Puglia, Italy, 1944, are unloaded from a Douglas Dakota of No. 216 Group RAF, using a commandeered Italian Fiat truck. In the foreground a South African Air Force officer lights a cigarette beside the wreckage of an Italian Fiat CR.42. Victor Sierra