Legacy of Sorrows

by Roberto Buonaccorsi

  LEGACY OF

  SORROWS

  LEGACY OF

  SORROWS

  The Witness

  The Devil’s Bridge

  ROBERTO

  BUONACCORSI

  Legacy of Sorrows

  The Witness – The Devil’s Bridges

  THAMES RIVER PRESS

  An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company Limited (WPC)

  Another imprint of WPC is Anthem Press (www.anthempress.com)

  First published in the United Kingdom in 2014 by

  THAMES RIVER PRESS

  75–76 Blackfriars Road

  London SE1 8HA

  www.thamesriverpress.com

  © Roberto Buonaccorsi 2014

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced

  in any form or by any means without written permission of the publisher.

  The moral rights of the author have been asserted in accordance

  with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 978-1-78308-241-4

  This title is also available as an eBook

  THE WITNESS

  Foreword

  Because of my husband’s Italian background, he finds it quite natural to write stories based on recent Italian history. This is one of them. His other book, The Devil’s Bridge, is also based on a true story from that time.

  I encouraged him to use his background and knowledge of those times to write these books which tell the story of events that should be written about lest we forget the horrors that war can visit on us.

  Elizabeth Kim Buonaccorsi

  Author’s Note

  This book is dedicated to the memory of the Italian civilians massacred in the mountain villages around Monte Sole by units of the 16th Waffen SS under the command of Major Walter Reder during the period of 29th September to 3rd October 1944.

  Even though this book is a work of fiction, it is based on historical facts and it highlights the brutality and savagery committed by the SS in the Italian campaign during the Second World War.

  The massacre of Marzabotto was the biggest massacre of civilians in the western European theatre of operations to take place during World War II.

  One thousand eight hundred and sixty three Italian civilians were murdered during this operation, including forty-five children under the age of two.

  To this day, the mountain villages still lie in ruins, uninhabited and overgrown with vegetation.

  Prologue

  Istill find it impossible to tell people what it feels like to lose all the members of your family in one day. It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it; I really don’t think that mere language can convey the intensity of these things. I lost my parents, my three brothers and my sister. I also lost my uncle and aunt, along with their son, my cousin. These were people that I loved and shared my life with on a daily basis. As if that was not enough, I witnessed my immediate family being murdered by the SS and my mother being raped before they killed her. I was also present when the women and children of Marzabotto, my home village, were herded into the local cemetery and mown down by machine gun.

  After the massacres, I lied about my age and joined the Partisan resistance in Bologna until the war ended in 1945. I still find it difficult to make friends with people. I suppose it’s a throwback to the horrors I witnessed when I saw the majority of my friends cut down in their prime.

  Even though I am an old man now, I was not always so. I was once thirteen. That was when my childhood ended on the green slopes of Monte Sole.

  When I close my eyes and day-dream, as all old men are prone to do, I can still see the flames reaching high into the blackness of the night sky. I can stand that. Flames are only flames. What I cannot stand are the screams of terror and the cries of the children pleading for mercy that still fill my mind, causing me to tremble as I did on that mountain so long ago.

  Some of the killers were Italians; followers of fascism and Mussolini, people who spoke our language and shared a common culture, religion and heritage with us. Whatever entered their mind and spirit that night belonged to the pits of hell. How could they have done this to their own people, to men women and children who had never harmed them?

  The other voices I heard that night were foreign, with harsh sounding clipped accents. I had never heard German spoken before and, after the killings ended, I was told that was it. Even to this day, when I hear a German voice I experience a myriad of emotions.

  I have been told that, as I am the last survivor of the massacres, I should commit to paper what I saw and experienced. I’ve tried before and failed. What words can you use to describe such things? The only way I can put myself back into that horror and come out the other side of it sane is to tell you the whole story of my life and, when I come to the black awful, shadow that lurks in the depths of my mind, I will remember the joyful and happy life that I had there on Monte Sole with all of my family and my young friends.

  Chapter 1

  My name is Bruno Verdi. My friends on the mountain call me Naso on account of my Roman nose. It was common for all of us to use nicknames instead of our given names, but never in front of our parents. I was born in the village of Marzabotto, which lies about 10 miles south of Bologna on the wooded slopes of Monte Sole. I live in a three-bedroom terraced house just outside the village with my with my parents Moreno and Carla and my three brothers, Ricco, Benito and Gianpiero, who we called Pippo. I also have a little sister, Lisa, who is not quite two years old yet and is my father’s undoubted favourite. My father is the village cobbler, and thankfully, there is enough work for him mending shoes and repairing other leather goods for the local people to provide for his family. Most people paid him in chickens and vegetables, so at least we always had shoes on our feet and food in our bellies.

  Pippo stuck his head round my bedroom door, ‘Are you not up yet Naso? Come on, it’s eight o’clock and we’ve got our football game today.’ I was lying daydreaming in bed when I suddenly remembered that we had a match with the boys from the other villages down in the meadow outside Marzabotto. ‘Sorry Pippo, I forgot. Give me two minutes,’ I said as I jumped out of bed and reached for my trousers. I hurriedly dressed in my oldest clothes, ran into the kitchen and grabbed a piece of bread off the plate on the table. Mum saw me and pretended to aim a slap at me. ‘Bruno, you’ll be late for your own funeral,’ she shouted to me as I ran out the door to join my waiting siblings. Pippo was my oldest brother at sixteen. Benito was fourteen and I was thirteen. Ricco was the youngest at twelve, and, as usual, was busy protesting to anyone who listened that he was fed up with wearing our old cast-off clothes.

  The other boys were all waiting on us to start the game. It was September 1944 and the war seemed a long way from us. We all knew that the Stella Rossa partisan brigade was not only active on the mountain, but also in charge of our whole region and were looked upon as the guardians of the area, so we all felt safe from the war raging in the towns and cities close by.

  The date was Thursday 28th September 1944 and little did I know that I would never play football with any of these boys again.

  Italy had won the last two world cups before the war; in 1934 and 1938 and, like all small boys, we wanted to emulate our heroes. We selected our two captains by popular vote and then got down to the serious business of selecting the teams. Pippo, who was one of the captains, always picked his three brothers, and the other team captain, Marco, who was from Monzuno, always chose his two brothers. By the time the bargaining, shouting and manipulation was over, there were usually two teams of about twenty boys each. Marzabotto had about twenty boys playing today and the nearby villages of M
onzuno and Grizzana supplied the rest. We ran around and played for hours with all the energy and enthusiasm of the young, happy and oblivious to the darkness that had descended on the outside world. Our only concern was to score a goal and if necessary, cheat to stop the other team winning.

  It was about midday when we eventually stopped playing. We were all exhausted with the exertions of the day and with the afternoon sun at its highest and fiercest we said ciao to our friends and slowly wound our way back home to our own villages. We knew that our families would want us to help them with a few of the chores that all country boys were used to.

  We had just arrived at our house that Mamma appeared at the door. ‘Pippo, go and help your Papà with the handcart and take some shoes and boots over to Monzuno. I’ve got a list here of people expecting a delivery. Make sure that old Graziano who runs the market stall doesn’t try to pay you with rotten vegetables like last time.’

  ‘Oh Mamma, can’t Benito go this time? I’m too tired to push the cart.’

  ‘No, Benito has his own chores to do, so get your lazy backside moving and get home in time for supper.’

  ‘What about our lunch Mamma?’ Mamma handed us all a salami panino, ‘Eat this as you do your work.’ Pippo sullenly headed over to his Papà’s workshop muttering to himself whilst taking a bite of his panino.

  Mamma carried on giving out her orders just like all Italian mamme were used to do. There was no doubting the fact that Mamma was in charge of the house and ran it like her own little empire.

  ‘Benito, go over to Aunt Lisa’s farm and give her a hand with some jobs. She promised to pay you with some fresh eggs, so don’t crush them or fall on the way back. Do you understand?’ Benito smiled at this. He always enjoyed going over to his Aunt’s farm. When all the work was finished, his Aunt Lisa would set the table for him and his Uncle Luigi, and give them a real man’s meal. It was so different, he thought, from his own house where he had to guard his plate and keep a wary eye on his food in case his thieving brothers tried to steal some. His Uncle Luigi would always give him a glass of his homemade red wine during the meal and sometimes a cigarette after he had finished. As Aunt Lisa was heavily pregnant with their second child and found the heavy farm work tiring, Mamma had offered the boys as help for her during this time.

  Mamma carried on with her orders. ‘Bruno, go and get the axe from the woodshed and chop up some wood for the stove. Don’t make the cuttings as big as last time, when they wouldn’t fit into the stove and I had to do it myself. Understand?’

  I felt my face going red at the sarcastic comments my brothers were shouting at me, so I moved quickly down the path to the woodshed.

  Mamma turned her attention to young Rico. Next to Lisa, he was her favourite and he knew it. ‘Rico, my little lamb, go to the edge of the woods and pick up some more kindle for the stove. There’s a bag in the kitchen with a shoulder strap you can use.’ She ruffled his hair as she spoke. Rico smiled, with the angelic smile he knew his Mamma loved. ‘Make sure you don’t carry too heavy a load,’ she said, ‘I don’t want to see you struggle.’

  ‘Okay Mamma, I’ll be back as soon as I can.’ He picked up the wood bag and headed for the door. As he stepped outside, I stuck out my leg and tripped him up. Rico fell to the ground, dropping his panino in the process, and crying as if the roof had fallen in on him. ‘Mamma, Bruno tripped me and I fell.’ He yelled out at the top of his voice. Mamma came running over and picked him up with one hand whilst, for the second time that day, aimed a slap at my head.

  ‘You get on with your chores, Bruno and leave your poor brother alone,’ she shouted in a shrill voice. Rico pulled a face at me from behind her back and made a rude gesture.

  Later on that night, the entire family, with the exception of Benito, gathered round the large kitchen table for supper. Papà sat in his usual place and coughed for silence. We all joined hands and waited for Papà to pray. ‘Thank you Lord for your provision, bless it to us now we pray. Keep us safe this night and through the next day. Amen.’ ‘Amen’ we all chorused, as we reached for the bread together, slapping each other’s hands aside.

  We had all completed our primary schooling and, in liking with the other children on the mountain, we had left school at the age of twelve. Secondary education was not something that mountain people usually entered into. We had our farms, livestock, olive groves and vines to look after, so secondary education was just a frivolous luxury that we couldn’t afford and we considered unnecessary to our way of life.

  After dinner was over, Papà sat with us round the table that night and had a glass of his home-made wine. These were the times that I enjoyed most of all, our family discussions. Papà told us the story of Mussolini and how the great man had let his people down. At first, when he had come to power, all the Italian people adored him, except for the communists and the Mafia who he hunted down with a vengeance. He was the Duce: the leader. He provided work for his people and restored the international standing of a young nation not long unified. Then, as time went on, he made mistakes. Bad mistakes that brought the hated Germans and the war to Italy. Now, the people in the towns were hungry and furious at him for deserting them for his safe haven in Lake Garda, protected by the detested tedeschi, the Germans.

  I told Papà that I remembered having to give the fascist salute in school at the start of the morning lessons. The teacher would shout out: ‘Eia, Eia’ and we would all answer in unison, ‘Alalà’. I asked ‘Papà, what did that mean?’ He smiled, a sad smile, before answering, ‘It didn’t mean anything, just gibberish and nonsense. Much the same as fascism itself.’ Benito spoke up, ‘If we aren’t fascists now Papà, will I have to change my name?’ Papà looked up at him and said, ‘Benito was a name to be proud of before Mussolini came to power, and it will still be a name to be proud of after he has gone.’

  I asked him, ‘Papà, when will the Germans leave Italy? Daniello Petroni in the village said he heard his father say that the Germans are doing rastrellamenti1 in the villages below Monte Sole and killing anyone they find. Is that true?’

  Papà took his time to answer me. He drummed his fingers on the kitchen table, and said, ‘The Germans have taken up defensive positions on a line just south of Monte Sole. The Allies are attacking it as we speak and will eventually break through. The Germans have thrown all they have into the line to defend it and cannot allow the partisans to attack them in the rear. They can’t fight two fronts at once. I think they will have to do more rastrellamenti in the area to stop the partisans. They may eventually come here.’

  The room was silent until Pippo said. ‘Are we in danger Papà?’

  Papà raised his two hands palm up in a gesture that said ‘I don’t know.’ ‘We should be safe on Monte Sole with the Stella Rossa watching and protecting the area. If there is any sign of the Germans coming up the mountain, then we will go into the woods and hide until they leave. With the Allies on their tail, the Nazis will not want to hang about and be captured.’ With a grave look on his face he then said, ‘If they do come and you have time, run into the woods and hide up a tree until they have left. Is that understood?’ We all looked at each other with uncertainty. We had never seen Papàso serious before. Pippo stood up and said, ‘If they come, Papà, I’ll just throw Rico at them. He could fart for Italy and they would run at the first smell.’ We all laughed at this, whilst Rico playfully aimed a kick at his elder brother.

  Before long, it was time for bed. It was my turn to help Aunt Lisa and Uncle Luigi with the milking on the farm tomorrow, so I had to leave the house at 4.30am. Pippo was learning how to cobble boots with Papà in the workshop. Papà had great hopes that he would take over his business in due course.

  Benito and Rico had the task of fixing some roof tiles that had come loose the week before during a high wind. They were pleased with this as it wouldn’t take long and they could catch up with the football in the meadow.

  We all said goodnight to each other. Mamma and Papà shared a room with baby
Lisa, Pippo and Benito shared a room at the back of the house and I shared one with Rico.

  Soon the house was quiet.

  Footnote

  1 House-to-house searches, looking for enemies of the dictatorship.

  Chapter 2

  September 28th 1944

  Major Reder was proud of his position and growing reputation in the SS. He now commanded a Battalion of his own. The 16th Waffen SS Panzer Grenadiers. His expertise lay, so his superiors told him, in the clearance, and if possible the extermination, of large bands of Italian partisans, the Communist militias that were now the scourge of the Wehrmacht. They didn’t fight you like real soldiers; they attacked you by ambush or by the sabotage of transport links. They had no honour and deserved to die the most violent deaths. The SS in particular viewed this type of warfare as the work of civilian criminal gangs who had no right becoming involved in armed conflict against them.

  Reder first came across this type of warfare in Russia. The German Army was successful there in combating this kind of terror by employing ruthless tactics against them.

  Unfortunately, he had lost his left arm in Russia during the fighting there in 1943, and after a period of convalescing back home, he was sent to Italy to help with the growing menace of the partisans there.

  He had just returned from Tuscany where, in August, units under his command had ‘cleared’ the area of partisans in the village of Sant’Anna. They had entered the village after completely surrounding it, and had left again three hours later leaving over five hundred of the villagers dead. They had murdered, raped, and mutilated men, women and children, in the worst ways imaginable. In the list of the slaughtered was a twenty-day-old baby that was taken from its dead mothers arms by the SS and used as a football. In another incident, a seven-month pregnant woman was shot and her unborn baby cut from her womb and butchered.