The Guardistallo massacre was a

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

act of reprisal that took place close to

Guardistallo Guardistallo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pisa in the Italian region Tuscany, located about southwest of Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of It ...

, in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

. On 29 June 1944, 57 people were killed and buried in a mass grave. One of the victims died from wounds suffered in the same occasion a few days afterward. The cause of the massacre was suspected at the time to be a belief by German forces that Italian partisans had been hiding an American pilot who had been shot down in the area. A photoreconnaissance pilot from the 3rd Photorecon Group, 12th Air Force had, in fact, been downed by antiaircraft fire in the proceeding days and hidden by a resistance cell. He was successfully returned to Allied forces and survived the war.

References

Massacres in Italy 1944 in Italy History of Tuscany World War II massacres Mass murder in 1944 Massacres committed by Nazi Germany Nazi war crimes in Italy {{massacre-stub