A TANK-INFANTRY TEAM entering Rome on 4 June. The burning vehicle is a German Tiger tank. The enemy had been evacuating the city for several days, but had left a strong rear guard equipped with tanks and artillery to hold the Allies in and below the city as long as possible. Since the streets of Rome were not suitable for conventional infantry attacks, small tank-infantry teams entered the city from several directions and by early morning of 5 June were in possession of the bridges across the Tiber.] [Illustration] [Illustration: ITALY INFANTRYMEN OF ONE OF THE TANK-INFANTRY TEAMS to enter Rome on 4 June. Soldier on left has a Browning automatic rifle. The one on right holds a bazooka (rocket launcher M1).] [Illustration: ITALY INFANTRY AWAITING SIGNAL TO ENTER ROME on 4 June. At this time the city was being cleared by small tank-infantry teams.] [Illustration: ITALY FIFTH ARMY ENTERING ROME on 5 June only to continue through the city in pursuit of the enemy retreating along the roads north of Rome. During this retreat the Germans were under constant bombing and strafing attacks by Allied air forces. The roads of retreat were littered with vehicles of all kinds. (3-inch gun motor carriage M10.)] [Illustration: ITALY GERMAN GRIZZLY BEAR on a street in Rome. This is a close-support weapon and mounts a short-barreled howitzer in a high, armored superstructure (15-cm Stu. H. 43 on Pz. Kpfw. IV chassis.)] [Illustration: ITALY INFANTRY IN PURSUIT OF THE ENEMY north of Rome. Note dead horse on left. Much of the German equipment was horse-drawn, limiting the speed of withdrawal. During the pursuit of the enemy from Rome to the Arno River whole divisions both American and French were gradually withdrawn from the Fifth Army to train for the coming invasion of southern France. Army strength dropped from 248,989 on 1 June to 153,323 on 1 August 1944. Three U. S. divisions, veterans of the Italian campaign, were sent to the Naples area for invasion training. (57-mm. antitank gun.)] SOUTHERN FRANCE [Illustration: SOUTHERN FRANCE] SECTION IV Southern France The offensive operation in southern France, originally scheduled to be executed simultaneously with the Normandy landings, was conceived with the aim of pushing northward from the southern coast, creating a diversion of enemy troops from the northern assault, and generally weakening the German Army in France. This operation was given the code name ANVIL. A serious shortage of landing craft delayed the invasion until 15 August 1944. Meanwhile preparations for such a landing served as a threat and held a large number of German forces on the southern coast. Craft, used first for the Normandy landings, were then rushed to the Mediterranean for use in mounting ANVIL.