Italian Campaign, November-December 1943: Men of 99 Medium Battery, 74 Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery struggle to bring a 5.5 inch medium field gun into action through thick mud during the battle of the Monte Camino. The battle, began on November 1944 with the first attacks against the Gustav Line, was fought between 3 and 9 December 1943. The photo give an idea of the conditions wherein was fought, especially during the autumn and winter, the Italian Campaign which cost to Allies over 335,000 men, KIA, MIA and wounded. Monte Camino, behind the artillery’s towing in the photo, is a mount (960 meters sea level) of Southern Apennines, on the Campania’s Far North, Caserta’s Province. Victor Sierra

At the feet of Monte Camino

Major Martin was a homeless man, who died of pneumonia and was then used as a weapon of deceit by the British in Operation Mincemeat. The body was disguised as a dead Royal Marines Officer and left to be found in the sea off the Spanish coast, with a briefcase full of top secret files chained to his wrist. When the body was brought to Madrid, those documents indicated that the Allies were preparing an invasion in Sardinia. However, this was all a trick to persuade the Germans into thinking that the Allies were going to invade Sardinia, instead of Sicily. The trick miraculously worked, and the Germans pulled thousands of troops from Sicily to defend Sardinia. Thousands of Allied troops owed their lives to the deception of Major Martin. 
more info on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat

Major Martin

Nettuno, Italy, Spring 1944: the Supermarine Spitfire, MK118, FT-F, No. 43 Squadron RAF, is refueled from one of the Squadron's fuel tenders, alongside an USAAF’s North American P-51C Mustang. Coming from Naples sector, the No 43 Squadron was deployed at Nettuno, on the landing strip built after the Anzio’s Allied landing, from May to June 1944. Victor Sierra