Partisan

….Well, there was also fear that they could come and pick us up from house to house, because true, the list of those who were young and had to go back to the Republic… otherwise what could we have done? With the cover of the night, the evening, with darkness, one went to sleep where there were families…families without boys that had been conscripted, and therefore where we were more secure. More so, in the area, after the 25^th of July, they had started setting free the Anti-Fascists who were in prison abroad or in border areas, and these were immediately more experienced and prepared in politics; for what was to become their future. They started contacting us the youths who used to hold gatherings in the stables by ourselves, and during that period in which the soldiers were running away, we retrieved some muskets and pistols, and so we had some arms. In the mean time we were actually getting ourselves organised: we set up Liberation Committees which represented all the parties that had declared themselves Anti-Fascist: directives from the government… nil! We started organising ourselves with the Committee for Upper Italy, and so in the first moments…We were the most prepared by the time we went up the mountains as a group; and in 8 to10 days, we were trained in what was the real use of arms, and in developing an action strategy for the zone. This of course was just for the beginning: for then we began to say, 'Why do we have to hide away and run for our lives whenever the Fascists and the Germans arrive? No!' We then decided that when they came, we too would attack them, whether this would be on the roads, in their barracks or wherever they would be. And our attacks always turned out to be quite successful in comparison with… in the area… As for rules, in as far as behaviour and our way of living was concerned, we had no barracks, barrack equipment, means or organisation: we were just living in the woods! Up in the mountains it was much easier, even though on the plains where I was - between the Biduna, the Livenza, the Piave, the Tagliamento, and the plains that arrived right down to the sea at Bibione - we faired well because the civilians were not afraid and were on our side. They gave you…they would offer you their food, provide you with a blanket for protecting yourself against the cold, and risked having themselves burnt to death or killed just to give help…to us…In the zone this was the period, the beginning… how do you say, of laying down the basis of what was to become the partisan movement. After forming the first groups, the zone created the Regional, Provincial and Zone Commands, and we started creating first the detachments; then the battalions, the brigades, divisions and zones… periods…. Larger zones, that is like the whole of Veneto; we had the Veneto Committee and we had that for Fruili as well, and each zone practised that type… but we didn't know… had to be shrewd! Then we started splitting up the formations: groups such as the detachments began roaming to a maximum of twenty to thirty kilometres from one zone to the other. Each night, you did not stay put in just one place and had to forget everything about your "warm bed" because it had become too dangerous - always had to keep going up and down.

In the beginning we had started off with bicycles - in the Fruili zone with motorbikes - but this did not work out: we had to walk following each other at a distance of twenty metres, and always along country tracks, close to embankments and sometimes on country roads; but never outside… We started working on the roads, and I will tell you why: the main roads were the Triestina, the Pontebana - two streams of road traffic that went from Yugoslavia to Austria carrying soldiers and heavy goods. Then there was the railway: the Mestre-Trieste-Yugoslavia-Austria, and the Mestre-Treviso-Udine and Tarvisio. Here there the fighting was fierce. It would be quite sufficient to narrate to you that once the Railway Department phoned us from Venice through our secret channel telling us that the Germans were carrying away the whole aviation field of Alitalia: engines and everything, including machinery and tools. We stopped them along the two lines that used to exist in Portogruaro - the Tagliamento came in quite handy! We blocked them and put them on fire. However there were also eight to ten wagons that were… drums of benzene; and the fire that was consequent ended up melting even the rails due to the heat that it produced…! Then we made the other train to travel on another… both of them together at full speed; took them away… One other time they called us from Trieste, and so together with other formations, this time it wasn't just mine alone, we managed to block it - and judging from its length there must have been at least fifty wagons filled up with all sorts of ammunition heading for the frontline; ammunitions…! They ranged right up to calibre 381… shells, launchers; for canons and all the… you wouldn't understand… all those plastic ballistite faggots, the ram-rods were those that… powder all over the place and enough to send… What were we supposed do? Where could we have dumped them? Fifty wagons of stuff…! Well, we got hold of a straw hut and spread straw all around in a radius of three kilometres; with a ballistite here… and we set it all on fire: the whole place was rocked by explosions up to eight o'clock in the evening! Everything was just blowing… And the people began ringing the Church bells convinced that the Americans had landed in Caorle! Just to tell you…

In the same area, our squads also began fighting along the roads, launching attacks. In the mornings we would move to take up position because we had actually learnt from the error that had been committed by a formation, different from our own, as we carried out attacks on the roads. In fact when there was a column, the enemy would at first pretend they were running away, but would instead spread out and turn round so as to block you. Therefore we took to the tactics of retreating for about a kilometre or so after our attacks, such that when they closed in they were closing in on nothing since we ourselves had fallen back behind them! In one zone…

Actually, we weren't really the heroes the partisan movement has always bragged about. First of all, there was a strict code of conduct governing our relations with the civilian population - with the people - and against taking advantage of the fact that one was armed to compensate for one's lack of experience. The one hour of Political Education that we were given each day was based on… that is, it was meant to explain our activities, the problems of the day after, or in other words the possible perspectives when the war will have ended, so to say… after…

We wandered from place to place and had no phones; nothing! We had couriers; the couriers… It could be a boy, a woman or an old man: just anybody! And every evening, everyday within the twenty-four hour span, we had to deliver a daily report to our Command - which at first wasn't yet a brigade, even though it had always been a brigade - that in its turn would see to sending it to the higher Commands, and it went ahead like that…

The main difficulties we encountered were on the plains. In our home sector of the plains which was situated between Motta di Livenza and the outskirts of Portogruaro, there were, as a matter of fact, as many as twenty thousand men engaged in mop-up operations against us: to the extent that the Yugoslavian Command would in fact later on ask us how we managed to survive on the plains in that area, considered that our zone looked like… It had even become more dangerous due to the fact that Fascist Nationalism had recently acquired a new stronghold by totally shifting into the area surrounding Trieste, the entire zone… And so we kept pressing on them from both sides; us from one side and the Slovenians, the nationalists, from the other. Consequently, when they talk about the"Gladio"; it actually wasn't something that came into being after the war, but was born during the Resistance as "the events of Porsus…" Even in my own zone, commanders who had the same opinion like me were, in their good faith, replaced by others who were only pretending to be partisans, and in fact didn't hesitate in having them killed: they eliminated, that is to say, all the elements that they knew had left-wing ideas, even within the Resistance itself! It was a period… Well, how then did we survive by our own means and in zones…? We had picked out some higher lying areas where it was dry… bunkers as big as this room: three metres deep, boards, sheets, soil and plants above; and in the rear, a trench and a shrub. There was a trap door too, and it was through this that one "went inside"; one went inside, and so what happened? Someone had to stay outside just in case they were combing up the area with wolf-dogs… He would walk…There was… In those days it was… hard to obtain ammonia. We would spray some ammonia around the place… and so the dog… If anyone of you has a dog just try it: spray a bit of it… The dog scents it... and since it irritates its nostrils, it simply moves off the place without barking.

This is as far as hiding away was concerned. However, we also had other alternatives: our zone was in fact littered with small canals and ponds filled with algae. So we were always armed with a piece of tube, in case of necessity. At first it was difficult always having to carry this along with us, but with time we became accustomed. And so whenever there was danger, you dived under the water and placed yourself under a pile of bait pole, the poles… And you remained there beneath; for a period… This actually was something that was later on bound to come in handy for the Vietnamese: in fact whereas the French, and successively the Americans, would prefer walking along the roads… the field besides this was all but an immense body of water full of cottonwood branches that actually had nothing to do with a plantation: below the water surface that really was only half a metre deep, hid a Vietnamese with a tube, and completely camouflaged by the… how do you call it, the cottonwood tree. And so…

Then there was yet a further problem: on the plains, as we walked in the countryside, all families had dogs. Therefore as we passed by, "Woof-woof! Woof-woof!" And so you stopped, and just as soon as you did this they stopped barking too. Consequently we were constantly exposed to the risk of being located, and so what did we do? We distributed handbills begging them to keep their dogs indoors from 10.00 o'clock in the evening right up to 4.00 o'clock the following morning.

This was a period; that is, due to the fact that this was an area in which one could move with relative ease. And this was quite important because the situation on the left bank of the Tagliamento was in fact so dangerous that there even were skirmishes. Of course, to this day we are still continuing to pay for the propaganda that we then decided to do: the fact of having decreed, as far as this zone was concerned, that no one would be allowed free entry into the area. We had our formation deployed here, and therefore every outsider was compelled to notify us before hand and ask us for permission, and only then would he be entitled to receiving accommodation and finding refuge in the zone. Whenever there was a problem to resolve, we were all there together so that nobody would take advantage try to and impose their own ideas - the mentality of a different formation, for example. Everybody had precise rules to follow. This was the period.

Could you give me a better description of the area in which you used to take refuge…

Well, our nucleus - just as our detachment, and even our battalion - was in the beginning under the Ippolito Nievo (B), which actually consisted of two brigades of the Badotti, Pordenone and Piancavallo Division. By then the… Ippolito Nievo (A) operated up in the mountains and the Ippolito Nievo (B) on the plains. We ourselves were actually part of the latter; all those belonging to my zone, situated between Arano Veretro, Pra Maggiore and Portogruaro, that strip of land stretching from up there, right down to the sea.

Then with the change of Command, we became the Venice Brigade, and so we passed under the Command of the Provincial Committee of Venice. But nevertheless, our area of operation was still between Azzano X near Pordenone, Motta di Livenza, even though there also was another good formation there, Portogruaro, Concordia, Sestino di Livenza and the whole of that zone going right up to the sea.

Excuse me…! At the beginning there weren't really any brigades but the "liberated" battalions that were actually pilgrims from Sestino. We ourselves were in fact a battalion. However, it soon become a general rule that a brigade had to have at least 200 men, patriots or fighting partisans that they would be. The same rule applied to the other formations too - and these eventually had to resort to counting even their fallen heroes: those who had been hanged. There were as many as four brigades concentrated in just one zone, and we were all identical in collaboration and in principle. For example in Azzano X, at the first come-together of the AIBA that is the gathering of the livestock, cows, cattle. We blocked the whole town, took hold of the Germans, disarmed them and sent them away, thus allowing the farmers to recover and drive back home the livestock they had actually been ordered to take to the town square so that it could be loaded onto German trucks and carried away. Furthermore, we also talked them into accepting one condition: in fact when they finished rounding up all the livestock, they had to deliver them to us, even though this did not of course mean that… What we really did then was to take control of the place, find a butcher and, depending on how many family groups there were, have him slaughter two animals. The population… the meat was divided, and so was the wine and the other things, according to the size of the families: distributed and paid not by black market standards, given the presence of were speculators, but by the controlled price system; and this is how we went ahead. We had very good relationships with everybody: with the priests, the doctors; in short, we did fairly well in our activities… For example: one day after lunch near Portogruaro, San Stino, where there was an IBE squad, a convoy happened to be passing by - there must have been from eight to ten cars and two motorbikes. They opened fire on it, and one car with the driver hit went and crashed against a plane-tree - there were hundreds of plane-trees by the roadside. And as for the first aid team; well, we relieved the personnel and drove all the way up to Trieste. The local newspaper of Trieste "Il Piccolo", however, without having obtained the true story of what had really happened, went ahead and published an article the following day, and what did it say? That the person who crashed onto the plane tree was in fact one of the Captains of the "Black Brigades" who was also contemporarily the Commander of the Partisan Brigade; a spy who had successfully infiltrated himself, that is to say. And as the paper did the talking,… people saw the photograph and said, 'Isn't this the person we have been searching for months in order to know how, where, and everything?' The GAP, which actually was the Assault Group based in Monfalcone, then obviously had to strike at the hospital of Trieste, and thus the poor man was liquidated ! A policeman, who happened to be there too, and the guy's own mother who was sitting by the bedside were also condemned to the same fate. "What are you doing here…?" and with this one simply went inside, opened up, and that was it… It wasn't new: it had happened several times over!

In any case, talking about our battles it was always… a matter of courage. And what else did I want to say? Well, when we arrived in Portogruaro, that was during the liberation process, we actually did not revenge on anyone - and in fact to this day some people still scream at me, 'It is all your fault! Portogruaro is still full of Fascists!' But, if I may ask, who says we should have done the same things that they did? After the war, we had laid down our arms, and they had gone to prison. It wouldn't have made any sense killing them… They passed through my very hands… those who were in the army went to Algeria as prisoners and those who had been incriminated had to the face the courts. Unfortunately after this story, Togliati's amnesty went into effect, and "Fascist" magistrates then let them all out of prison. This really is the main problem! However, there is yet another - which had just came to my mind but has now disappeared… Okay, I got it…! Let me first take a drink…

Well, when the Allies finally arrived, it was as if I had been left alone on the trestle of the town hall. Generals and Colonels were suddenly nowhere to be seen, and I eventually had to send for them when I needed help. And at long last when they did reappear, it was only to explain to me how they had had quite a success fighting in the Libyan War, but had no experience whatsoever as far as ambushes or guerrilla warfare was concerned. They came dressed in uniform, ready to command their own kind of warfare! Well, I simply called in my men from the "Garibaldi" Group and said, 'Take them away, let them change, and then escort them home to Portogruaro.' The Allies and First Governor acknowledged my gesture; 'isn't he a good guy!', they said. They then organised a ceremony in my honour and nominated me for the award of a gold medal!

Later on I will also explain to you the issue regarding the elections of 1948 - even though this was something that took place afterwards during the election campaign and therefore has nothing to do with this… So, what was I saying… ? I don’t remember anymore…. Yes, I was talking about a lot of things… Let me see; I seem to have had recalled another interesting detail… Sure! It's about when I was wounded, on the 18^th of November 1944. A bullet from a musket had actually reduced me to an awful state and left my trachea hanging outside like when you slaughter a pig…! The Zone Commander himself came to visit me in hospital, and, as it were, preparations were then made to have me picked up by either the patrol boat or the submarine that sometimes landed at a point located between Jesolo and Caorle. This was in fact part of a permanent arrangement that was meant to provide the necessary cover-up for survivors from eventual plane crashes, or to important persons or documents that needed protection. If such necessity arose, the local fishermen would then transport such items or persons in their boats and carry them away to safety. This then was the route that I too should have used to escape, had it not been for an unexpected setback caused by the blowing-up of the bridge, and my departure therefore had to be delayed by one more day. However, at 8.00 o'clock the following morning - and by this time my wife too was at the hospital… we suddenly realised that the hospital had been surrounded; totally blocked! The only thing that could be done within the little time we still had at our disposal was to testify that I had been accidentally wounded. To this effect, I was then provided with documents as a railway worker, as well as with a story of how all this had happened: I became nothing more than "an innocent pedestrian who had unknowingly found himself caught up in a cross-fire" and, guess what? They got fooled alright! As a matter of fact… they had already hanged nine people in Bressaglia, and I… they were actually aware… but knew nothing about who the people-in-charge in the zone were, or who it was that did the work… And at the end; well, at the end they took me to a place near Pordenone in order to interrogate me - and it was really by sheer fortune that I then found myself in a detachment that had Germans and Italians together… There also was an Austrian lieutenant there - this was when they led me down into a cellar with an iron gate, where the carbon heater was located, and locked me inside. This guy spoke in German to the interpreter, who then turned to me and said, 'The lieutenant is asking whether you need a blanket…' and, as a matter of fact… this guy instead was at once… You could see he was trying to look after your needs… and that he must have gone places and was probably a partisan collaborator… He must have been in contact with our people in the zone - and in fact, he very soon asked me how come they hadn't hanged me yet.

So, why was it that they hadn't hanged me then? Well, it was simply because of the parish priest of Praves Domini, who - and this is what the Germans didn't know - was actually the person-in-charge of the local "Liberation Committee"… It was Christmas season, and of course the Germans, as is their habit, were quite keen on not missing any occasion for merry making that would come along. As a matter of fact they surely would have hanged me without much ado if it hadn't been for the irresistible proposal made by this priest: 'Say, why don't we make merry all of us together? Come on, it's a happy season! This guy here is wounded: put him… get him back to health… just let him receive some treatment before you can decide whether he is guilty or not,' he had said: and in the meantime, time slowly slipped away.

It must have been quite a long time, for I eventually found myself in the company of a young man, the mayor's son, who had been thrown into the same hole with me. In the morning of the day following his arrival, I couldn't help noticing he was trembling and could see that he was scared to death: he could definitely hear the shouting outside as they came for him! Finding myself at a loss about what to do to cheer him up, I said, 'Look, it can't be but the barking of the dogs' - what else could I have said?

After lunch-time, when they had finally finished with him, and therefore brought him down again, he was such a pitiful sight to see… something similar to a raw meat-ball…!

A few more days went by, and his conditions got a little bit better. I therefore said to him 'Look here, this place…' The building wasn't actually meant to be a barrack: the room in which we were locked up was of course in the basement, but the structure above us was a school building that had hurriedly been adapted to be used as a barrack by them. Whenever we needed to go to the toilet, we would knock and they would come and escort us to the toilet. Well, I got into the daily habit of always choosing to go to the last door: inside this toilet there was in fact a door that opened up onto a small balcony, with a window that faced… only three metres away was the fence, and a sentinel on this side. And so I said to the young man, 'You know… we could ask to go to the toilet, and if you agree, the two of us could then fix the lousy German… otherwise…' Well, he started shedding tears, trembling all over, and saying, 'You must be crazy! Hasn't it occurred to you that they would then use this kill us?' In a bid to calm him down I simply said, 'You are right.' What else could I have done?

Another … eight days went by, and one morning I heard a car… a truck in movement. A marshal who was with them, from Friuli by origin, came up to me and said, 'Dress yourself up because you are leaving.' However, just the day before this, when the boy, another guy who was the commander of some Slovenian battalion and I were together, the interpreter, a Venetian who was always half drunk, had mockingly said, 'One of these days they will hang a Captain.' Now, I happened to be the commander of a battalion, and so was the other guy; who therefore was this Captain? I kept quiet, took things easy, and in a flash drew up my conclusion… I asked, 'Can someone please accompany me to the toilet; I could use some washing-up?' He summoned a German with a "tambu" across his shoulders… There were six toilets with wash-basins in zinc. I opened the tap in the first toilet to its maximum so that it could make enough noise, and then headed straight for the last toilet in which there was a window. In a moment I had finished easing myself and said, "to hell with the washing-up: after all, what did I need it for!" I Opened the window - it was quite difficult because I still had everything unbuttoned! I clambered up, and jumped down on the other side. 'Who goes there?!' the sentry had heard the thud. They fired a rocket and it lit up like the sun! Conclusive action: I succeeded in throwing myself under the wire netting, and next to this there happened to be one of those public wash basins provided by the Commune; it was high, and made of cement. By the time the burst arrived I was already behind… Bare-footed, I headed across the street and the snow covered fields. Along the railway lines running from one town to the other they had also laid… how do you say it… telephone cables. These however were at ground surface, beside the rails… What then did I do? I pulled a cable that was loose, placed it on a rail and snapped it into two using a stone. I was convinced I would have been able to flee before they caught up with me; but instead, my dear, I came to a place near the River Roncon… I hadn’t any ammonia with me; I just didn't have anything!

Then I remembered that sometimes we kept ready a pass, a small flat boat, on this river. I found it and scrambled onto it. I drifted along, delighted by the water which was flowing slowly. I went downstream for two kilometres, making sure the boat was barely submerged, blade thin…! In the meantime, they lost time in trying to find me, and even if they had dogs, these were somehow bound to eventually lose track of me… And I was halfway between my uncle's house and that belonging to others from my family - there was a bunker here as well, but I hadn't the time to go and fetch… I simply left the place.

After two days I came up again, and in order to get things ready, I immediately put myself in contact with the formation. Thereafter, I withdrew into the reassuring shelter of the bunker: lovely and peaceful - even though you wouldn't actually be able to imagine how hot it could become down there during the night! There was absolutely no need of any heating! I would therefore wake up at two o'clock in the morning, pick up my machine-gun and some hand-grenades and, accompanied by two big dogs, come out once in a while in order to get two or three hours of fresh air to breath before going back under.

And so what activities did I do during the day? Well, apart from the fact that it even would have been something quite dangerous to do, the power lines of the area were simply too distant for me to try tapping electricity. I therefore asked them to bring me some candles, and, once underground in my bunker, I constructed a huge wedge as a candle place. I was then able to read using the candle-light. My candle, however, was positioned right under the roots of the tree that sprouted above me, and it must have been either my body heat or that which was produced by the candle: the fact is that people, who actually had to walk past the tree at a distance of three hundred metres, couldn't help asking themselves in astonishment as to why all the other trees were still leafless, whereas this particular one had them on already… It even actually was already in full blossom…!

Well, in the period that followed I was caught up in a series of clashes: first with the English at; the next time it was with the Slovenians; and, to wind up, even with the Carabinieri… I was always at war…