On the 3rd of September 1943, the Allies invaded the Italian mainland, the invasion coinciding with an armistice made with the Italians who then re-entered the war on the Allied side. Allied objectives were to draw German troops from the Russian front and more particularly from France, where an offensive was planned for the following year.

Progress through southern Italy was rapid despite stiff resistance, but by the end of October, the Allies were facing the German winter defensive position known as the Gustav Line, which stretched from the river Garigliano in the west to the Sangro in the east.

By the 4th of November, the Allied force that had fought its way up the Adriatic coast was preparing to attack the Sangro river positions. A bridgehead had been established by the 24th and by nightfall on the 30th, the whole ridge overlooking the river was in Allied hands.

Alexander Steedman would have lost his life in the subsequent advance from the Sangro River.

The site of the Sangro River War Cemetery was selected by the 5th Corps and into it were brought the graves of men who had died in the fierce fighting on the Adriatic sector of the front in November-December 1943, and during the static period that followed. In addition, the cemetery contains the graves of a number of escaped prisoners of war who died while trying to reach the Allied lines. The cemetery contains 2,617 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.

Within the cemetery will be found the Sangro River Cremation Memorial, one of three memorials erected in Italy to officers and men of the Indian forces whose remains were cremated in accordance with their faith - the other two cremation memorials are in Forli Indian Army War Cemetery and Rimini Gurkha War Cemetery. The memorial at Sangro River commemorates more than 500 servicemen.

On the 5th of January 1944, the Perthshire Advertiser reported:

“FORMER PERTH TEACHER KILLED

“A former member of the teaching staff of the Caledonian Road School, Perth, Lieut, A. S. Steedman, Cameronians, attached to the Essex Regiment, has been killed in action.

"He was the only son of the late Mr. W. Steedman, New Zealand, and of Mrs. Steedman, 318 High Street, Perth, and was unmarried.

“Lieut. Steedman, who was a keen rugby player, was a graduate of Edinburgh University.”