REPAIRING PONTON TREADWAY BRIDGE over the Arno at Pontedera. The supply situation of Fifth Army troops at the Gothic Line was made difficult by fall rains which raised the Arno River to flood level and washed out most of the bridges between Florence and Pontedera.] [Illustration: ITALY MACHINE GUNNERS FIRING AT GERMANS in the Monticelli area near Il Giogo Pass. Note flash hider attached to front of machine gun. The Americans occupied Firenzuola on 21 September. (.30-caliber Browning machine gun M1917A1, a development of the M1917 which proved its worth in World War I.)] [Illustration: ITALY AMERICAN ENGINEERS CONSTRUCTING A BYPASS in the Firenzuola area during the pursuit of the Germans. The combat engineers, prepared to bulldoze a bypass or to install temporary bridges, followed closely behind the leading elements of the infantry and armor. (Jeep; crawler type diesel tractor with angledozer.)] [Illustration: ITALY BAILEY BRIDGE in the Firenzuola area. This is the same site as the scene of the bulldozer constructing a bypass, the picture being taken two days later. The Bailey bridge was particularly suitable for operations in the mountains of Italy where sudden rains would swell the rivers and wash out ponton bridges.] [Illustration: ITALY AMERICAN ARTILLERYMEN firing captured German 150-mm. gun near Lucca. Note small amount of smoke. German ammunition was charged with smokeless, flash-less powder which in both night and day fighting helped the enemy tremendously in concealing his fire positions. All U. S. guns, from the rifle to the large howitzer, left telltale puffs of smoke during daytime or showed relatively large and brilliant muzzle flashes at night.] [Illustration: ITALY A GROUP OF ARMORED VEHICLES at a salvage yard of a heavy maintenance company in Italy. (1, 2, and 3, light tanks M5; 4, medium tank M4; 5, gun motor carriage M10; 6, medium tank M4. A tractor and tank recovery trailer are partially visible, upper right.)] [Illustration: ITALY SOLDIERS IN THE APENNINES receiving an issue of woolen underwear, September 1944. Some of the peaks in the northern Apennines rise to well over 5,000 feet and the weather is unpleasantly cold in winter. Fall rains, often turning to sleet, start in September and the higher peaks are usually snow-covered by late October. Highway 65, the main axis of advance, runs mostly on top of the mountain ridges. Here the cold is particularly severe. There is nothing to break the winter winds and part of the road is so high that it is often cloud-covered.] [Illustration: ITALY