Rovetta massacre
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Rovetta massacre is the name given to the summary execution of 43 Italian soldiers that took place in
Rovetta Rovetta ( Bergamasque: or ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about northeast of Bergamo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 3,611 and ...
on the night of 27–28 April 1945. The soldiers were of the 1ª Divisione d'Assalto "M" della Legione Tagliamento, part of the National Republican Guard of the Italian Social Republic.


The surrender

At the end of October 1943, the 1ª Divisione d'Assalto "M" Tagliamento was transferred to Brescia, more particularly to Val Camonica, with orders to defend the lines of communication of the
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
and the construction sites of the
Organisation Todt Organisation Todt (OT; ) was a civil and military engineering organisation in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, named for its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior Nazi. The organisation was responsible for a huge range of engineering pr ...
, and to engage groups of partisans. Territorial contiguity meant that its presence also extended to the Province of Bergamo. On 26 April 1945 a group from the military garrison on the route known as the Cantoniera della Presolana commanded by Sub-lieutenant Roberto Panzanelli heard over the radio that the Nazi Fascist regime had surrendered; they accordingly decided to abandon their garrison and head for Bergamo. They set off along the valley, led by Alessandro Franceschetti carrying a white flag; he was the hotelkeeper with whom they had been billeted on the Pass of Presolana. Upon reaching Rovetta they decided to lay down their arms and surrender to the local
National Liberation Committee The National Liberation Committee ( it, Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale, CLN) was a political umbrella organization and the main representative of the Italian resistance movement fighting against Nazi Germany’s forces during the German occup ...
(NLC); the latter agreed that they be treated as prisoners of war with all the attendant safeguards. Sub-lieutenant Panzanelli signed a document to this effect and had it countersigned by the parish priest, Don Bravi, a member of the NLC of Maggiore Pacifico, and others. This committee was self-proclaimed, but its guarantees were worthless – a fact unbeknown to Panzanelli. The soldiers laid down their arms and were moved to the village school pending transfer to the jurisdiction of the Italian state or to the armies of the allied forces.


Execution by firing squad

On 28 April a group of partisans belonging to the 53ª Brigata Garibaldi Tredici Martiri, the Brigata Camozzi and the Brigate Fiamme Verdi arrived in the village and took the soldiers from the school to a point near the local cemetery. On the way, one of the prisoners, Fernando Caciolo, managed to escape and hide, finally taking refuge in the house of the priest, Don Bravi, where he stayed for three months before returning to his home village, Anagni. Sub-lieutenant Panzanelli offered up the signed documents showing their guarantee of status as prisoners of war, but it was torn up and trampled underfoot. At the cemetery two firing squads were formed and 43 of the prisoners, all between 15 and 22 years of age, were shot. Three men were spared on account of their youth. One of the men, 20-year-old Giuseppe Mancini, the last to be shot, was forced to take part in the execution of his comrades. It later became known that Mancini was the son of
Edvige Mussolini Edvige Mussolini (; Predappio, 10 November 1888 - Rome, 20 May 1952) was the younger sister of Arnaldo and Benito Mussolini. Biography Edvige was the daughter of Alessandro Mussolini, a blacksmith and activist, first anarchist and later sociali ...
, the sister of Benito Mussolini.


The victims

The following is a list of the victims, alphabetically by surname, with their ages and towns: * Fernando Andrisano, 22, Brindisi * Antonio Aversa, 19, Ceccano * Vincenzo Balsamo, 17, Ficulle * Carlo Banci, 15, Roma * Fiorino Bettineschi, 18, Borno * Alfredo Bulgarelli, 17, Forli * Bartolomeo Valerio Gazzaniga, 21, Varenna * Carlo Cavagna, 19, Roma * Fernando Cristini, 21, Corana * Silvano Dell'Armi, 16, Roma * Bruno Dilzeni, 20, Carpendolo * Romano Ferlan, 18, Fiume * Antonio Fontana, 20, Ghibellina * Vincenzo Fontana, 19, Roma * Giuseppe Foresti, 18, Credano * Bruno Fraia, 19, Fiume * Ferruccio Gallozzi, 19, Roma * Francesco Garofalo, 19, Latina * Giovanni Gerra, 18, San Venzano * Mario Giorgi, 16, Tolmezzo * Balilla Grippaudo, 20, Roma * Franco Lagna, 17, Collegno * Enrico Marino, 20, Tonco * Giuseppe Mancini, 20, Premilcuore * Giovanni Martinelli, 20, Dosolo * Roberto Panzanelli, 22, Ficulle * Stefano Pennacchio, 18, Roma * Mario Pielucci, 17, Roma * Guido Piovaticci, 17, Roma * Alfredo Pizzitutti, 17, Gibellina * Alvaro Porcarelli, 20, Matelica * Vittorio Rampini, 19, Rome * Giuseppe Randi, 18, Sulmona * Mario Randi, 16, Sulmona * Sergio Rasi, 17, Roma * Ettore Solari, 20, La Spezia * Bruno Taffurelli, 21 * Italo Terranera, 19, Rome * Pietro Uccellini, 19, San Venzano * Luigi Umena, 20, Ficulle * Carlo Villa, 19, Monza * Aldo Zarrelli, 19, Tivoli * Franco Zolli, 16, Roma


Responsibility for the massacre

The responsibility for the massacre was attributed to Slovenian-born Paolo Poduje, known by the code name of Moicano, a member of the
Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
(SOE). It was he who gave the order for the soldiers to be removed from the school and executed. The identity of Moicano remained unknown for many decades, but witness statements and documents produced at the subsequent trial showed that he had been parachuted to near Pizzo Formico at the beginning of April 1945 as a captain in the Intelligence Corps under the command of
Count Manfred Beckett Czernin Count Manfred Beckett Czernin, (18 January 1913 – 6 October 1962) was a Royal Air Force pilot and later an operative with the Special Operations Executive in the Second World War. Early life Czernin was born to the fourth son of Count Ott ...
. His task was to make contact with partisan groups in the area, in particular with the group known as
Giustizia e Libertà Giustizia e Libertà (; en, Justice and Freedom) was an Italian anti-fascist resistance movement, active from 1929 to 1945.James D. Wilkinson (1981). ''The Intellectual Resistance Movement in Europe''. Harvard University Press. p. 224. The mov ...
. Theories that Poduje was responsible for the summary execution at Rovetta were confirmed when Moicano admitted at the beginning of the 21st century that he had indeed ordered the shooting of soldiers of the Italian Social Republic.


The trial

The Italian public prosecutor at Bergamo opened criminal proceedings in 1946. However, in 1951 it was concluded that no one could be found guilty as the summary execution was deemed not to have been a crime but an act of war. This decision was based on the fact that the official occupation of the Province of Bergamo ceased on 1 May 1945. Poduje died July 8, 1999.


See also

*
National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy The Committee of National Liberation for Northern Italy (, CLNAI) was set up in February 1944 by partisans behind German lines in the Italian Social Republic, a German puppet state in Northern Italy. It enjoyed the loyalty of most anti-fascist gr ...
*
National Republican Guard (Italy) The Italian National Republican Guard (''Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana'', or GNR) was a gendarmerie force of the Italian Social Republic created by decree on December 8, 1943, replacing the Carabinieri and the National Security Volunteer Mili ...


Sources

* Angelo Bendotti e Elisabetta Ruffini, ''Gli ultimi fuochi: 28 April 1945, a Rovetta'', Bergamo, Il filo di Arianna (2008). * Giuliano Fiorani, ''Onore – Una strage: perché?'', Grafica MA.RO (2005). * Lodovico Galli, ''L'eccidio di Rovetta: 28 April 1945 una spietata rappresaglia nella Bergamasca'', Montichiari, Zanetto (1994), p. 185. * Massimo Lucioli e Davide Sabatini, ''Rovetta 1945'', Settimo Sigillo (2001). * Nazareno Marinoni, ''La terrazza sul cortile. I fatti di Rovetta del 28 April 1945 nei ricordi di un bambino'', Bergamo, Il filo di Arianna (2005). * Carlo Mazzantini, ''I Balilla andarono a Salò'', Venezia, Marsilio (1997). * Gianpaolo Pansa, ''
Il sangue dei vinti ''Blood of the Losers'' ( it, Il sangue dei vinti, also known as ''The Blood of the Victims'') is a 2008 Italian war drama film directed by Michele Soavi. It is based on a book by Giampaolo Pansa. Plot Cast * Michele Placido as Franco Doglia ...
'', Milano, Sperling & Kupfer editore (2003), pp. 193–206. * Grazia Spada, ''Il Moicano e i fatti di Rovetta'', Milano, Medusa Edizioni (2008).


References

{{Authority control 1945 in Italy April 1945 events in Europe Massacres in 1945 Massacres in the Italian Social Republic Massacres in Italy World War II massacres Italian resistance movement Mass murder in 1945