were removed from the bale and sent to the middle east to rest and recover. A few days
leave was granted to all ranks and Bill and his mates set o for Cairo and can be seen here
on camels in front of the great pyramids, Bill is in the back row, far le.
The nal night of their stay was spent in jail, most likely as a result of enjoying
themselves a lile too much. But aer ve months of gruelling bale in the Italian hills, they
had more than earned their beer.
By July they were well rested and had been brought up to full strength with
replacements, intense training took place for the bales to come and they were eventually
returned to Italy. By August they had moved to an area south of Rimini in preparaon for
what was to be called Operaon OLIVE, the assault on the next line of German defences
known as the ‘Gothic Line’. These stretched across the whole county from Pisa to Rimini,
using the Appenine mountains as a natural obstacle.
Lifestory 22