Currency that was
legal tender in some Allied-occupied parts of Italy during World War II. The AM-lira was issued when soldiers could not be paid in the local currency and because paying them in
U.S. dollars posed the risk of high
inflation due to the fact that the dollar had a high
value at the time relative to most European
currencies. Military leaders declared Allied Military Currency legal tender and required local
retailers and others to accept it as
payment. Nevertheless, the AM-lira was subject to high inflation. It was issued between 1943 and 1945.