My dad served in Italy, and during the winter of '43-44 he found himself in charge of numerous mules. Since he took his basic training in a Cavalry unit at Ft. Clark TX, I guess they figured he knew something about mules. But wrangling mules is a far cry from horses, they're very stubborn and way too smart. He said it was just crazy and it's a wonder nobody got killed from being kicked in the head. Some of the mules that were sold to the Army weren't even half-broke, and the pack staging areas sometimes looked like a Wild West show, with four or five guys on one end of a rope and a buck-wild mule on the other . . .
The photo of the guys trying to load the mule with a rope around his hocks looks all too familiar to me - many a horse I've had to lever up the ramp that way - the only thing missing is two guys with brooms to whack said mule on the rump (the rope interferes with the usual spectacular mule kicking). The other method is to have two husky guys link arms just above the hocks and LIFT the animal up the ramp . . . I wouldn't want to do that with a mule though.
As they moved up the Po Valley, dad's unit did find a lot of nice livestock running loose, just like in the post. (That color photo shows a mighty good looking Thoroughbred in the cooling sheet.) Dad got hold of a beautiful German warmblood who was trained in high level dressage. He named him "Jack", he came with two captured German soldiers who groomed and fed him! I think Jack eventually caught the colonel's eye, though . . . but in the meantime dad had a great time riding Jack around in preference to a jeep.
The article mentions an Italian civilian selling a Pariani saddle to the GIs - my husband has one and it's a wonderful saddle. We bought it used about 20 years ago and it's as good as new, we've replaced the billet straps and had a couple of places restitched but it will probably never wear out. It's too big for me but I've ridden in it and it's extremely comfortable.