The 48th Highlanders Pipes and Drums plays behind graves at Piedmonte Cemetery, in late May 1944. Grave markers are shown of Pte Freeman, Sgt. D.K. Carswell, Pte A.J. McLaughlin, Pte B.F.A. Cadet, Pte. P.D. Burk.
The 48th Highlanders were at rest at Piedmonte d-Alife following their two-day breaching of the Adolph Hitler line on 22/23 May at the head of the Liri Valley near Pontecorvo. The 48th Highlanders were the first to breach the Hitler Line, despite being sent as a single battalion, without Armour, FOO for artillery or the engineers’ recce of the wire and mine fields, as a “subsidiary operation” prior to the Division’s two-brigade attack (Operation Chesterfield) at the Melo River, planned for several days later. The 48th success in creating a bridgehead enabled the 1st Brigade to follow up and complete the breaching through to Pontecorvo.
[Prior accession No. P1480]