CREW OF A HEAVY BOMBER before taking off on a mission. During the first few months after the landings, the Allied air forces were handicapped in their operations from North African bases through lack of suitable airfields. The lack of all-weather facilities such as hard-surfaced runways, taxiways, and hard-stands was particularly serious in the rainy winter season of 1942–43. In the area from the Atlantic coast of Morocco to the Tunisian border, there were only four air bases with any kind of hard-surfaced runways: Port-Lyautey, north of Casablanca; Tafaraoui, near Oran; Maison Blanche at Algiers; and the Bone airfield on the coast near the Tunisian border. (B-24.)] [Illustration: ALGERIA DIGGING OUT A MIRED FLYING FORTRESS from the mud of a North African bomber base.] [Illustration] [Illustration: ITALY BOMBING THE RAILROAD YARDS IN ROME on 19 July 1943. Note bombs bursting in railroad area at top of picture. More than 500 heavy and medium bombers from bases in North Africa took part in the first bombing of Rome. The heavy bombers concentrated on the yards in the city and suburbs while the medium bombers attacked airfields on the outskirts. Every precaution was taken to bomb only targets of military significance. The crews had been especially selected and carefully briefed and trained for this mission, with the result that few bombs fell outside the target area.] [Illustration: IRAN THE PORT OF KHORRAMSHAHR, one of two Iranian ports operated by the United States, the other being Bandar Shahpur. These ports served for entry of lend-lease supplies en route to the USSR. By the fall of 1942, ports, highways, and railroads in Iran were sufficiently ready to handle increased traffic over the route through the Persian Gulf. The U. S. Army also operated the lighterage port of the Cheybassi in Iraq.] [Illustration: IRAN THE PORT OF BANDAR SHAHPUR on the Persian Gulf. The voyage from New York around South Africa to the Persian Gulf ports averaged 70 days. When the Mediterranean route became available in 1943, the time was shortened to 42 days. This port, built on swampy land where the river Jarrahi empties into the gulf, has a semitropical climate. Both here and at Khorramshahr much of the work was done at night, and even then the temperature was around a hundred degrees Fahrenheit from March until October. The area is subject to torrential rains in winter. Docking space at both ports was often insufficient to accommodate all ships waiting to be unloaded, which necessitated the use of lighters.] [Illustration: IRAN