A Memorial to Liberators of Italy

In July of 1943, Allied Forces' troops, guns and transport are rushed ashore, ready for action, at the opening of the Allied invasion of the Italian island of Sicily.

During the invasion of Sicily by Allied forces, an American cargo ship, loaded with ammunition, explodes after being hit by a bomb from a German plane off Gela, on the southern coast of Sicily, on July 31, 1943

Canadian troops come up against snipers, with one dead soldier on the ground already, they cautiously move up a small street in Campochiaro, Italy, November 11, 1943.

Starting with the Invasion of Sicily in July of 1943, and culminating in the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion of Normandy, Allied forces took the fight to the Axis powers in many locations across Western Europe. The push into Italy began in Sicily, but soon made it to the Italian mainland, with landings in the south. The Italian government (having recently ousted Prime Minister Benito Mussolini) quickly signed an armistice with the Allies -- but German forces dug in and set up massive defensive lines across Italy, prepared to halt any armed push to the north. After several major offensives, the Allies broke through and captured Rome on June 4, 1944.

Artillery observers of the Fifth Army look over the German-held Italian town of San Vittore, on November 1, 1943, before an artillery barrage to dislodge the Germans.

The town of Cassino on May, 1944, one day after the city's capture by the Allies. The devastation is evidence of the brutal fighting in this siege.

A U.S. reconnaissance unit searches for enemy snipers in Messina, Sicily, on August 1943.

The Allies used a portable, “Bailey bridge,” assembled atop the surviving piers of Santa Trinita (dubbed "The Most Beautiful Bridge in the World"), to successfully cross the Arno. The bridge had been destroyed by retreating German troops by order of Hitler.

A Napolitana woman kisses a U.S. soldier's hand as the troops advance from Naples toward northern Italy - October 10, 1943

M/Sgt Laron E. Golden, 1st Armored Division, shares his Christmas package with Italian children in San Benedetto, Italy - December 1944

U.S. soldiers marching past the Roman Colosseum, leading the retreating German army out of Rome - June 5, 1944

Italy's Liberation Day on April 25 is a national Italian holiday commemorating the end of the second world war and the end of Nazi occupation of the country

An old Roman Nonna kisses an American G.I. in gratitude.