14 April 2025 Garand Picture of the Day

[Mark in Rochester]

ALLIES SMASH GUSTAV LINE—FIRST PHOTOS, 5/18/1944. CASTLEFORTE, ITALY—This photo, one of the first originals to be received in the U.S. of the current smashing Allied offensive against the Germans in Italy, shows American-equipped French troops of the Fifth Army (right, and left foreground), rounding up Germans in Castleforte after the Allies had taken the town on the second day of the attack. The enemy troops were left to hold the town “at all costs,” but were no proof against the fury of the Fifth Army attack, which cracked the Gustav Line and is now pressing strongly against the Hitler Line—last line of German fortifications in Italy. This photo, taken May 13th and which was received in the U.S. today, (May 18th) is believed to have set a new record in the expediting of news pictures by the U.S. Army.