New Zealand Soldiers Drinks Tea in Cassino

Image size: 1600 x 1065 pixel. 397 KB
Date: Wednesday, 5 April 1944
Place: Cassino, Frosinone, Italy
Photographer: George Frederick Kaye

New Zealand soldiers belonging to the 22nd Battalion / 2 New Zealand Expeditionary Force, take a break during a lull in the fighting and drink tea during the bloody battle for Cassino, Italy, 5 April 1944. In 1943 the Allies took Sicily and began to land into Italy. They met little and patchy opposition throughout most of their advance northward but small pockets of fierce German and Italian resisters still remained here and there. Just a few miles outside of Rome now, the Allies were preparing for the final push into the heart of Italy. In early 1944 they began to advance and then some hit shocking happen. The radios lit up with a chaotic rabble basically all about the same issue: We have hit heavy resistance and are taking heavy casualties. What the Allies had just hit in Italy was what would soon become deadliest sector on that front, the Gustav Line. The Gustav Line was a line of fortifications in the mountains that stretched from west to east Italy. It was the last large obstacle blocking Rome from the Allies and it had to be broken through. For months and months Allied soldiers fought through the mountains, taking thousands of casualties every week, and seemingly making no gains. As casualties mounted the Allies knew they had to try something new, land a small American force at Anzio as a distraction to the Germans. As soon as the Americans landed they would charge towards Rome since they landed in Anzio which is behind the Gustav Line and in theory this would distract the Germans. The American commander at Anzio instead landed and waited a full 9 days to prepare which was more than enough time for the Germans to regroup and hold off the Americans. Now you have the invasion forces bleeding out and not even crawling towards Rome, in other words; the situation was not looking good. Finally, after months of hard fighting, the Germans began to ran out of supplies and pulled back to the Italian Alps in the northern area of Italy. The Americans at Anzio broke through the German defenses and pushed on, and the Allies at Cassino finally, after months of ferocious fighting, advanced towards Rome.

Source :
Courtesy Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand
http://historyinphotos.blogspot.co.id/2015/04/george-frederick-kaye.html

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22nd Marines Get Coffee Aboard USS Middleton (APA-25) After Battle of Engebi

Image size: 1409 x 1600 pixel. 575 KB
Date: Saturday, 19 February 1944
Place: USS Arthur Middleton, off Engebi, Eniwetok Atoll, Marshalls Islands
Photographer: Ray R. Platnick

Left, USMC Private First Class Faris "Bob" M. Tuohy (1924- ) of the 3rd Battalion, independent 22nd Marine Regiment, take a sip of well-earned coffee with his fellow Marines in the mess aboard USS Arthur Middleton (APA-25) after surviving the two-day fight for Engebi in Eniwetok Atoll. The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 22nd Marines secured the island, killing 736 Japanese soldiers and Korean laborers. Only nineteen surrendered. This photo was passed by American censors and widely distributed, one of the few wartime releases to show the psychological effects of war. At right, Private First Class Stephen Garboski (1921-1944) of Ringoes, New Jersey, also recuperates with coffee. On Guam in July 1944, Garboski was one of 1,147 men of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade (which by then included the 22nd Marines) killed in action. Tuohy states he was a victim of friendly fire when USAAF aircraft attacked Marine positions. Tuohy also believes the man in the center was killed by the Japanese on Okinawa. 

Source:

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) 

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1681