| Original caption: “British Sniper in action with his Tommy Gun inside a house in Cupa, located a few miles southeast of Garigliano River.” This British soldier wears a shoulder tab of the Queen’s Royal Regiment and is firing an M1928 Thompson submachine gun. It is unlikely he is a sniper, as a Thompson has an effective range of about a 150 yards (a 130 meters). Cupa is a hamlet in Sessa Aurunca, Province of Caserta, Campania and has a few 100 residents. Cupa is situated near the town of Sessa Aurunca, as well as near the hamlet Sant’Agata and the peak Monte Ofelio. Cupa is about 4 1/2 miles (7.2 kilometers) from the Garigliano River. The 131st Infantry (Surrey) Brigade consisted of 1st Line / 5th Battalion; 1st Line, 6th Battalion; and 1st Line, 7th Battalion of The Queen’s Royal Regiment (West Surrey). 3 other battalions joined the Queen’s Royal Regiment as the lorried (truck-borne mobile) infantry of the United Kingdom Royal Army 7th Armored Division, the famed “Desert Rats” after the Battle of El Alamein in November 1942. The 169th Infantry (Queen’s) Brigade consisted of 2nd Line / 5th Battalion; 2nd Line, 6th (Bermondsey) Battalion; and 2nd Line, 7th (Southwark) Battalion of The Queen’s Royal Regiment (West Surrey) from November 28, 1940. The 169th Brigade was attached to the 56th (London) Infantry Division. The 56th Division landed at Salerno on September 9, 1943, against light but increasingly stiffening Nazi German and Fascist Italian resistance. part of British X Corps but now under command of the United States 5th Army under General Mark W. Clark (May 1, 1896 – April 17, 1984), saw heavy and confused fighting over the next few weeks and mounting casualties. Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring (November 30, 1885 – July 16, 1960) — German Kommandantin Italy — ordered his forces to retreat to the Barbara Line on October 12, 1943, after the 5th Army crossed the Volturno River, breaching the Volturno defensive line. The Barbara Line was breached in early November and Kesselring’s forces fell back to the Bernhardt Line, and then to the Winter Line, which included the heavily fortified Gustav Line. The mountainous terrain, coupled with torrential rains and mudslides, left the men without blankets. Italian porters and even mules could not traverse the peaks, especially under fire. When food did arrive, by the time it got to the 169th Infantry, it was sometimes inedible. As the 56th Division was ground down, it became clear that it had to be rotated out of the line for rest and refit. The Brigades slowly began to turn their equipment over the 1st Canadian Division and withdraw to Vico Equense, outside of Naples, as division reserve. However, the Brigades still engaged the Naxi Germans, took prisoners, and sustained casualties. Contact with American units was enjoyed; the war diary for the 2nd Line / 6th Battalion relates, “Period of great liaison between all ranks of United States and ourselves everyone becomes terrific pals and frequently there is a general swap round of rations.” The 56th Division continued fighting on the Winter Line until mid-February 1944, when the 56th Division was extracted from the front line and landed at Anzio on February 16, 1944, where 2nd Line / 7th Battalion would suffer half their number captured in the Battle of the Caves to rescue the United States Army 2nd Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment. 131st Brigade was sent to England to participate in the Normandy landings in June 1944, and would fight their way across Western Europe. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0628.jpg |
| Image Size | 562.84 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2356 x 2904 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Signal Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | November 15, 1943 |
| Location | Cupa |
| City | Caserta |
| State or Province | Campania |
| Country | Italy |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NLR-PHOCO-A-65688(7) |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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