Sherman tank, with two white wooden grave markers to the right; the graves are marked with ammunition shells, Italy, 1943

Photograph by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, Italy, 1943.

This Mark 2 M4A1 Sherman tank with its rounded cast hull was knocked out on the heights overlooking Termoli on 6 October 1943. The crew members killed and buried nearby were Corporal D W H Daniels, aged 22, and Trooper J A Taylor, aged 20. The tank commander, Corporal Michael Carter, later died of his wounds, also aged just 20. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records Carter's burial at the Bari War Cemetery. Taylor is buried at the Sangro River War Cemetery and Daniels is commemorated on the Cassino Memorial.

Following the Allied invasion of Italy the Germans had set up a series of defensive lines across the country. The Volturno Line was the southernmost of these and included the RIver Biferno. The Biferno flows west to east into the Adriatic Sea just south of the town of Termoli. Control of the small but strategically valuable port of Termoli became the objective for both sides in October 1943.

Operation DEVON involved a force of commandos and other special forces landing from the sea. It successfully secured the port on the night of 2/3 October 1943, allowing Allied infantry units to ford the Biferno River and secure a bridgehead while engineers attempted to repair or replace bridges that the Germans had destroyed or damaged as they retreated.

The Allied position around Termoli quickly became isolated as flooding made the Biferno crossing hazardous, leaving the defenders desperately short of armour as the German 16th Panzer Division counterattacked.

On the night of the 4 October as Royal Engineers attempted to repair the main road bridge across the Biferno, a number of 'C' Squadron, 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) tanks, commanded by Major Bobby Gale, successfully forded the river but the weight of the Sherman tanks soon made the ford unusable and at least one tank foundered in mid-stream.

As the isolated Allied forces in Termoli desperately tried to hold on to the town and the high ground which overlooked the river crossing, 'C' Squadron's tanks went into action defending the main road into the town. The Allies held out and the key bridge over the Biferno was repaired with sections of Bailey Bridge. This allowed Allied reinforcements, including the rest of the Sharpshooters to enter the battle on the afternoon of 5 October. The following day saw more Allied reinforcements arriving and the Germans were forced to retreat.

From an album containing 242 photographs compiled by Major W H J Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters).