Indian mule team preparing to cross the Sangro River to supply forward tanks, Italy, 1943...

An Indian mule team preparing to cross the Sangro River to supply forward tanks, Italy, 1943. Photograph by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, Italy, 1943. The Allies hoped to breach the German defences of the Gustav Line by attacking its eastern margins and crossing the Sangro with the hope of initiating an advance to Rome. Elements of 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) first crossed the river on 22 November 1943. The Sharpshooters War Diary for 1943 records tanks being heavily bogged down in the Sangro area and on the 23-25 November the entry reads, ‘Supplies to those tanks across the river delivered by mules’. From an album containing 242 photographs compiled by Major W H J Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters).