British troops resting after six days fighting, 1944

A group of jocular British soldiers from the infantry battalion, 1st Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, sit resting in front of Rio Gagliano in Italy. The man sitting in the centre with the cigarette is Michael James Neary. The men take a rest after six days spent attacking the strongly defended German positions on Mounts Camino and Maggiore, fighting through thick mud and unceasing rain. The Illustrated London News, who printed this picture in January 1944, compared the Second World War Tommy to the previous generation who fought in the Great War and remarks in the caption on the similarities of character - with an irrepressible spirit he is prone to cynicism and grumbling but is nevertheless an indominatable fighter

Bernhardt Briton Brits Camino Exhausted Maggiore Mounts Muddy Spirited Stoic Tired Tommies

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