In December 1944 Bawden was in Rome with the artists Edward Ardizzone and William Coldstream, and at his own request spent Christmas just outside Ravenna drawing the men of the Basuta Pioneer Company. Ravenna had suffered serious bomb damage during the battle of the Gothic Line and was liberated by Italian partisans in early December. The weather was appalling and Bawden wrote home 'All the drawings you will receive have been done with cold fingers. Sometimes, as I may have told you, I pee’d into my enamelled mug & then cupped my hands around it to try & receive back some of the heat I had lost.

This work was presented to the Collection by the War Artists' Advisory Committee.

Further reading:
Meirion and Susie Harries, The War Artists, Michael Jospeh in association with the Imperial War Museum and the Tate Gallery, London 1983