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Note the spare cup on the smallpack.
hahah
At first I wondered if this was taken during an exercise in the UK when a few refreshments would be normal.
But the street doesnt look British and there is rubble in the background so it looks like it is in a battle zone - which reinforces how many of these battles raged around areas where civilians were still living and waiting for “the tide to pass”.
I love the old dear’s slippers!
Refreshing
No doubt it was staged. Any serious gunfire would have gone through the windows and those window barriers would not have stopped them.
And glass? Know what happens when a bullet hits glass? It’s real hard to get glass out of people.
Say, is that a key in her hand? And look at her shoes, or are they slippers?
Deaf
I don’t know if it was a staged pic or not. My guess that it’s France, and the Bren gunner is on the lookout. Perhaps the photog juast came along as the Bren man was there and the lady had come out of her house while there was a lull in battle. It is well known the folks in France came out with refreshments for their liberators. Whatever the facts, this is a good shot of a brave man ready to lay down a base of fire for his mates. I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of this weapon, that’s for sure.
Have you never been’ trying to drink from a glass in prone position? As well as difficult, it may be dangerous if you are in a operative situation… That’s why i think it was staged. But it doesn’t matter. It’s a nice and fun pic, anyway…
Best regards to everybody.
It may have been a staged photo but it was not uncommon for locals especially in newly liberated areas to show gratitude or at least support by providing food and drink for the soldiers.
He may simply be a sentry with a local giving him a drink instead of being specifically posed (or a posed shot of an actual earlier event).
I have been provided with drinks and even a bacon buttie while we were under fire serving on operations,
Would that be in Liverpool, during the soccer season? 
Or during the derby Roma-Lazio, in the same season. 
It may be more dangerous than an Operative Mission in Afghanistan… :army:
I agree with that interpretation.
I’d add that his pannikin (mug) is still attached to the left strap of his pack while his canteen isn’t visible, although it was probably concealed by his entrenching tool kit below his pack. He mightn’t have minded a glass of something.
He and the woman have cover from view, and given the apparent masonry probably cover from fire unless there are gaps on the other side, to his right and he’s in the only position to fire in an arc across the rubble to his front.
He’s in the normal position for a right hander firing prone.
The above, and the incongruous key in the woman’s hand, and everything else about it, says to me that it’s spontaneous rather than posed.
I agree with RS* on this, I think it’s spontaneous. The Tommie may not have been in an active combat situation and just may have been on watch for enemy activity during a lull in the fighting…
Or perhaps closing the back door when his troops were pushing from another direction.
Or all sorts of other possibilities which involve being in a static position for a long time which generated a bit of sympathy from a local.
You Britts are gonna have your tea come hell or high water! (Don’t get appoplectic, I’m just kidding!) Life goes on, doesn’t it? Staged or not, I’ll bet it was a welcomed change of pace.