Vercelli psychiatric hospital massacre

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Vercelli psychiatric hospital massacre
Vercelli psychiatric hospital
LocationVercelli and its province, Italy
DateMay 12-13, 1945
Attack type
Summary executions
VictimsFascist militia of the GNR and Black Brigades (51 to 65, depending on sources)[1]
PerpetratorsPartisans of the 182nd Garibaldi Brigade "Pietro Camana"
MotiveRetaliation[2][3]

The massacre at the Vercelli Psychiatric Hospital was the summary execution - by partisans of the 182nd Garibaldi Brigade "Pietro Camana" - of a group of Italian Social Republic (RSI) militiamen taken from the Novara stadium, then used as a concentration camp.[4] According to the various sources, the militiamen killed were between fifty-one and sixty-five.[1] The massacre took place partly in the town of Vercelli and partly in the town of Greggio between May 12 and 13, 1945. The memory of the event was for decades handed down almost solely by veterans of the CSR: only in more recent years have some historians taken up the subject, which is now reconstructed sufficiently comprehensively in its general outlines, although differing in some details depending on the sources.

Sources[edit]

The first historiographical treatment of the Vercelli massacre was provided by Domenico Roccia - a partisan and representative of the Action Party to the purge commission set up by the local CLN - who in his 1949 work Il Giellismo Vercellese published the names of the victims, as well as excerpts from the diary of a lieutenant of the Black Brigades "Bruno Ponzecchi" detained at the Novara Stadium.[5]

Thereafter, for years, the subject was not covered by historians. Thus, news about the events remained reported in police, judicial and parliamentary sources, as well as in journalistic articles: some of them still dating back to the late 1940s,[6] while others were written on the occasion of the various requests for authorization to proceed against the former partisan commanders accused of the massacre, who in the meantime had become deputies.[7] They were also mentioned by the journalist and writer Giampaolo Pansa in his La Resistenza in Piemonte: guida bibliografica 1943-1963 published in 1965,[8] and the journalist-historian Giorgio Pisanò, a veteran of the RSI, in Storia della guerra civile in Italia of 1972.[9]

In 1991, historian and ex-partisan Claudio Pavone wrote about it in his A Civil War.[2] In 1996, the Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society of Vercelli "Cino Moscatelli"[10] sent to print the third volume of a work by Cesare Bermani on the history of the Garibaldi Brigades in Valsesia, within which what is called "the incident of Vercelli" was reconstructed.[11]

Giampaolo Pansa in 2003 reported the episode in a few pages of his Il sangue dei vinti, expressly citing as his sources the aforementioned Bermani and Pierangelo Pavesi, a journalist close to the reductive associations of the RSI who in 2002 had published the first edition of La Colonna Morsero. The following year, journalist and writer Raffaello Uboldi wrote about the Vercelli massacre in the essay 25 aprile 1945. I giorni dell'odio e della libertà, calling the episode the "massacre of the Vercelli Psychiatric Hospital."[12]

Historical context[edit]

The war of liberation in the province of Vercelli[edit]

In the province of Vercelli,[13][14] the first partisan action in the liberation war was the attack launched on Dec. 2, 1943 against a garrison of blackshirts in Varallo, following which the fascists reported their first casualty in the area.[15] On December 10, a second fascist was killed, engaged with his unit in repressing a strike in Tollegno. The next day, however, the commissioner of the Republican Fascist Party in Ponzone di Trivero, Bruno Ponzecchi, was killed by partisans.[16] These partisan actions preceded and were accompanied by general strikes by workers in the Biellese and Valsesia areas.[17]

On December 19, the Tagliamento Legion was flocked to Vercelli, which through the posting of notices threatened the shooting of ten hostages for every RSI soldier or German soldier killed. The threat was first implemented in Borgosesia on December 22, following the previous day's killing of two militiamen from the 63rd "M" Battalion.[18] The Tagliamento was also guilty of massacres, fires and looting from its first days of activity in the province.[19]

The partisan war in the Vercelli area was characterized by the presence of multiple partisan units in the area, which engaged not only in classic local guerrilla actions, but also in mountain and lowland open field combat operations, with some local successes alternating with defeats.[20] In addition to this, the partisan forces attempted to liberate some areas of the province, coming to constitute real enclaves within the territory controlled by the republican fascists and the Germans: this is the case, for example, of the Republic of Valsesia and Valsessera, which were free between June and July 1944 and then - the latter - from March 1945. The last reprisal perpetrated by the fascists in the province took place on March 9, 1945 in Salussola with the shooting of twenty or twenty-one partisans, in response to a partisan ambush conducted on March 6 in the same locality and resulting in the death of four fascists.[21][22]

The last month of the war in the Vercelli area[edit]

By mid-April 1945, the Germans and fascists had in the Biella and Vercelli areas about 4,500 men, whom the partisans were opposing in the area militarily called "Biellese" - also including Vercelli and its environs - six Garibaldi brigades, a Giustizia e Libertà brigade, a police brigade[23] and two SAP brigades.[24] On April 18 in Biella there were a few isolated strike actions: despite a prompt reaction from the fascist authorities in the area - led by the head of the province[25] Michele Morsero - the next day the strike became widespread, expanding also to the Mosso Valley and Valsessera - already a free zone since the previous March - where a massive popular demonstration took place, during which partisan commanders Francesco Moranino and Cino Moscatelli spoke. The abstention from work lasted until April 20, eventually slowly resuming.[26]

Meanwhile, on April 19, Germans and fascists had unleashed a final offensive against the partisan formations, with the aim of opening an escape route and blocking preparations for insurrection. The concentric attack, from Biella and Ivrea, involved the 75th "Maffei" Brigade, the 76th and 183rd Brigades of the 7th Garibaldi "Aosta" Division and a unit of the 182nd "Camana" Brigade. After fierce clashes, at dawn on April 24, the Germans left Biella, paralyzed by the insurrectionary strike, while the fascists remained in the city until, following lengthy negotiations with the partisan command, they were allowed to leave: a fascist column composed of the "Pontida" and "Montebello" battalions of the National Republican Guard and some units of the Black Brigades then moved in the direction of Vercelli between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. On April 25, Biella paid tribute to the partisans in the liberated city.[27]

The partisan forces then decided to converge on Vercelli, passing mainly through the localities of Cavaglià and Santhià (liberated on the evening of the 25th): the first sporadic clashes on the outskirts of the capital took place that same evening. Meanwhile, in Vercelli were concentrated from various localities in the area, in addition to a garrison of 500 Germans, the remaining forces of the RSI: various divisions of the Black Brigades, soldiers of the "Monterosa" and "Littorio" divisions, grenadiers, militiamen of the "Muti" Legion and the Republican National Guard, as well as various survivors of various garrisons, for a total of about 2,500 men. Along with them, some had their own families.[28]

On the morning of the 26th, negotiations took place between the partisan commands and Morsero: the latter proposed not to fight in the city, but the proposal was rejected to the sender with an ultimatum: capitulation of the fascists or departure from Vercelli by 3 p.m. In the afternoon, the Fascist column - comprising some 2,000 soldiers and 200 women as well as children - left the city. Also on the afternoon of the 26th, the German garrison in Vercelli surrendered:[29] the city was liberated. Attacked repeatedly by partisans, the column stopped near the town of Castellazzo Novarese, surrendering on the morning of April 28.[30]

The massacre of Santhià[edit]

The province of Vercelli was later traversed by another strong column, consisting of German units retreating from Liguria, Turin and the Aosta Valley, which on April 28 occupied the towns of Cigliano and Tronzano Vercellese: on the 29th it reached Borgo d'Ale, Cavaglià and Salussola, later entering Santhià in the evening. Between April 29 and 30, the Germans attacked some farmsteads occupied by partisans, at the same time committing a series of atrocities against civilians. At the end of the fighting there were forty-eight dead: twenty-one partisans and twenty-seven civilians.[31] The subsequent attack by the Allied air force against the German forces prompted the commander of the column, General Hans Schlemmer, to accept the proposed surrender into the hands of the Allies. The Santhià massacre is considered by some to be the trigger for the subsequent Vercelli massacre.[2][3]

German surrender[edit]

The Allies arrived in Vercelli on May 2. On the same day the German surrender in the area was signed, effective at 00:00 on May 3. The signer of the surrender document was Colonel Hans-Georg Faulmüller, chief of staff of the German 75th Army Corps. For the Allies, Captain Patrick Amoore of the Allied mission to the partisan command in the area and U.S. Colonel John Breit were present. For the partisans, present were: Felice Mautino "Monti," Domenico Bricarello "Walter" and Primo Corbelletti "Timo," representing the Ivrea, Biella and Aosta commands; for the Ivrea CLN, engineer Giulio Borello.[3] According to a May 4 report, 61,000 Germans and 12,000 fascists had surrendered.[32]

The "Morsero Column"[edit]

Establishment[edit]

Between April 23 and 26, 1945, the armed forces of the Italian Social Republic still in arms flocked to Vercelli from the various garrisons of the province, placing themselves under the command of provincial chief Michele Morsero. They were also joined by the "Pontida" assault battalion of the National Republican Guard (GNR) that arrived from Biella. The militiamen were also joined by civilians with their families,[33] forming the so-called "Morsero Column" consisting of more than 2,000 people.[29] The intention was to reach Novara and then head for the Valtellina redoubt.

The column consisted of the remnants of the following units:

  • 604th GNR Provincial Command in Vercelli, commanded by Colonel Giovanni Fracassi;[34]
  • XXXVI BN "Mussolini" from Lucca;
  • CXV "Montebello" battalion;
  • I grenadier battalion "Ruggine";
  • I assault battalion "Ruggine";
  • I rock-climbing battalion "Ruggine";
  • III assault battalion "Pontida."[35]

The column set out around 3 p.m. on April 26, 1945, under the command of Morsero and GNR Colonel Fracassi. As it left the city, it was subjected to heavy rifle fire near the bridge over the Sesia River, which was answered in a disorderly manner. For the rest of the day the column moved smoothly in the direction of Novara to Biandrate, where it was engaged in a new exchange of rifle fire with partisans. Early in the morning, after spending the night on the march, the column reached Castellazzo Novarese.

The surrender[edit]

The column arrived in Castellazzo Novarese on the morning of April 27 and was quartered there in the local castle, which the partisans of the 82nd "Osella" Brigade surrounded and attacked several times, losing two men in the fighting.[36] It was then decided to send some officers to meet with the partisans to discuss a free transit to Oleggio, where the Ticino would be crossed. Negotiations were set to begin at 12 p.m. Having established a truce at the suggestion of lawyer Leoni, frantic negotiations were then begun in the course of which the partisans demanded the surrender of the column.

In order to evaluate the partisan demand, at 4:00 p.m. the commands of the column convened a council of war, which met in the Sala della Consulta at the town hall, in which in addition to Prefect Morsero all the highest ranking officers participated. The partisan delegates were admitted to the council hall and proposed to escort a delegation of republican officers to Novara, so that they would verify the surrender of the city garrison and meet with representatives of the National Liberation Committee.[37] They then went to Novara Captain Angelo Nessi (of the "Ruggine") and Captain Paolo Pasqualini (of the "Pontida"), who, having returned to Castellazzo Novarese, communicated the proposals of the CLN: surrender with the honor of arms, the right for officers to keep their service weapon, and safe-conducts for the troops authorizing their return to their families or to the desired location.[38][39]

Morsero and Colonel Fracassi finally decided to accept the surrender conditions, challenged, however, by the officers,[40] who did not trust the partisans and were convinced they could hold out until the Allies arrived.[41] The same surrender conditions were accepted in the same hours by a nearby German garrison.[42] On the following day, April 28, the surrender of the column to partisan forces and the handing over of weapons, many of which were previously rendered unserviceable, took place. Prefect Morsero was picked up by the partisans and transferred to Vercelli, where he was imprisoned. The prisoners, separated from the women and children, were instead taken to Novara and locked up by the partisans in the Viale Alcarotti stadium, in those days used as a concentration camp.[43] During the transfer, despite the terms of the surrender even the officers were deprived of their weapons, which had been kept up to that point.[44]

The entrance to the Novara Stadium on Alcarotti Street. In the center, the market.

A total of 1,500/1,800 prisoners were concentrated inside the Novara stadium, living under improvised tents within sight of the covered market on the opposite side, which had become a sort of gallery where citizens and onlookers gathered to make hostile comments.[45] Hygienic conditions became increasingly precarious, and immediately the round-ups began: every day a few fascist officers were taken away for interrogation, and some of them were summarily tried and executed.[46][47]

SAF women[edit]

That evening the women of the Female Auxiliary Service, about three hundred of them, were separated from the other soldiers and taken to the "Negroni" kindergarten and the "Ferrandi" school; later they were taken to the "Tamburini" barracks.[48] Several sources say that Monsignor Leone Ossola, apostolic administrator of the Novara diocese, intervened in their defense.[49] According to the reports of historian Anna Lisa Carlotti, Silvio Bertoldi, Luciano Garibaldi and Pavesi - who reports on the point the testimony of Ossola's assistant, Don Carlo Brugo - the partisans allegedly decided to make the auxiliaries parade naked through the streets of the city, but this did not happen because of the cleric's opposition.[50] They were later transferred to the prison camp in Scandicci, on the outskirts of Florence.[49]

The massacre[edit]

The first withdrawals of prisoners from the Novara camp and first killings[edit]

From the Novara stadium, several groups of prisoners were on several occasions taken by partisans and transported to other facilities; the largest takeover ended with the massacre at the psychiatric hospital.

Taking of prisoners from the Novara camp.[51] The pictures depict the May 3, 1945 round-ups: all those picked up were to be shot the same day. In a white jacket can be recognized the political secretary of the PFR of Biella Antonio Giraudi.

On May 1, the most prominent figures of the fallen fascist regime, such as former Vercelli federal and commander of the "Bruno Ponzecchi" Black Brigade Gaspare Bertozzi, and Colonel Fracassi were taken: they were all beaten and wounded.[52] The same evening Fracassi was picked up again, this time by American agents who transferred him to the Coltano concentration camp. Later - as reported in the diary of a lieutenant of the Black Brigade "Bruno Ponzecchi" edited by Domenico Roccia - about forty officers of the Vercelli Military Command were filed in, taken from the Novara camp and transported to Vercelli at the "Conte di Torino" barracks.[53] Once inside they were beaten and locked up in the building's detention rooms,[54] while the partisans confiscated all their property and belongings.[55] Some were maimed or died as a result of the violence, others were transferred and later executed, while the survivors on May 13 were transported to Coltano.[56]

Head of the province of Vercelli Michele Morsero in front of the firing squad, May 2, 1945

Also on May 1, Michele Morsero, who had previously been imprisoned in Vercelli, was taken to Novara to be tried by a war tribunal, which, however, declared itself incompetent and sent him back. He was then brought before the war tribunal in Vercelli on May 2, where at about 12:30 p.m. he was sentenced to death, being shot shortly thereafter outside the city's Billiemme cemetery[57] along with five other fascists including the city's podestà Angelo Mazzucco.[58]

On May 3, twelve fascist soldiers were taken from the Novara stadium with a forged order from the Partisan Grouping Command, then shot and thrown into the Cavour Canal.[59] On the same day the Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories headed by U.S. Captain Fred De Angelis was installed in Novara.[60] On May 8 more bodies of fascist soldiers were fished out of the Quintino Sella Canal,[61] a branch of the Cavour Canal.

Meanwhile, the first Allied troops began to flow into Novara, and on May 13 they also began to garrison the stadium, taking over from the partisans in the surveillance of prisoners.[45] Between May 16 and 18 the prisoners from Novara were picked up by the Allies, who used fourteen trucks for transport: nine left from the stadium, five from the Tamburini barracks. The men were transported mainly to Bologna and from there sorted to various places, including Coltano, while the women (loaded on two trucks) were taken to Milan, at the disposal of the Fifth Army for clearing rubble and other work.[45]

The transfer to the psychiatric hospital and summary executions[edit]

The bridge of Greggio

On May 12, a group of partisans from the 182nd Garibaldi Brigade "Pietro Camana" left for Novara in a bus and a truck, equipped with a list of 170 names of fascist prisoners to be picked up.[62] Arriving on the spot, they called by roll call the fascists on the list: they identified a total of 75, loaded them onto the vehicles and took them to Vercelli,[63] locking them up inside the local psychiatric hospital after forcing the hospital staff out.[64] There they were violently beaten[64] and divided into groups. Between the afternoon of May 12 and the early hours of May 13, the majority of the prisoners were executed, as follows:

  • Eleven were transported to the nearby hamlet of Larizzate, shot and summarily buried in an anti-aircraft defense trench.[65]
  • According to the Turin prosecutor's reconstruction, close to ten prisoners were bound with wire, laid on the ground in the hospital square and crushed under the wheels of two trucks, used "like two steam rollers."[66] Cesare Bermani reconstructs the specific episode dubiously: the prisoners "would have been tied with iron wire, laid on the ground and crushed under the wheels of two trucks."[4] For Uboldi, on the other hand, twenty prisoners were "slaughtered" inside the psychiatric hospital and later "the bodies [were] brought to the square in front of the hospital and a truck [passed] over them repeatedly [...]."[67] The bodies of these prisoners were never found.[68]
  • Other prisoners were reportedly defenestrated or killed at random, always on the premises or in the hospital garden.[69]

The bulk of the prisoners were taken to Greggio, a town in the province of Vercelli, and were killed in the middle of the night on the Cavour Canal bridge at the headlights of two trucks. The number of victims reported by sources varied from a minimum of 20 to a maximum of 50.[70] Their bodies were thrown into the water:[71] some were found only after several days and in some cases several kilometers downstream from the place where they were killed.[72]

According to the Turin Prosecutor's Office, a dozen prisoners were transported from the Vercelli psychiatric hospital to the local judicial prison, later contributing to the reconstruction of the events with their testimony.[64][73]

The victims[edit]

The exact number of victims is unknown. The Vercelli Police Headquarters indicated fifty-one by name,[74] but the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office in 1949 hypothesized that it was "legitimate" to believe that their number "considerably exceeds" this figure, taking into account "that in the waters of the Cavour canal, at the Veveri locks, about fifty corpses were fished out in the second half of 1945 [. ..]; that of the 75 picked up in Novara little more than a dozen had their lives saved; that other fascist soldiers captured outside the Novara concentration camp died on the same night of May 12."[64] The issue has been addressed in recent times only by associations of veterans of the Italian Social Republic or by authors from related political areas: the number in such cases rises to about sixty-five victims.[75]

The fifty-one names given by the Vercelli police headquarters[76] are as follows:

Name Surname Place of birth Date of birth Unit Rank
Antonino Amodio Taranto June 7, 1914 Black Brigades Lieutenant
Pietro Ballabio Sant'Ambrogio Olona (VA) November 6, 1917 GNR Brigadier
Casimiro Battaglia Montagnana (MO) July 24, 1906 GNR Soldier
Alessandro Biagioni[77] Castelnuovo di Garfagnana (LU) ND GNR Brigadier
Luigi Biagioni Potenza ND GNR Soldier
Giovanni Cappio Barazzone[78] Croce Mosso (VC) August 16, 1901 GNR Soldier
Costantino[79] Castaldi Graglia (VC) ND GNR Soldier (former traffic policeman)
Nicola Cesare[80] ND ND ND ND
Giuseppe Coggiola Trino (VC) January 12, 1899 GNR Soldier
Mario Dagna Rivarolo Ligure 1913 GNR Major
Luigi Del Vecchio Terlizzi (BA) September 23, 1928 Black Brigades Member of a Fascist squad
Giustino Fangini[81] ND 1908 GNR Soldier
Alberto Ferrari[82] Biella May 21, 1921 Black Brigades Member of a Fascist squad
Danilo Ferro Oderzo (TV) 1917 GNR Lieutenant
Renato Gallo Valle San Nicolao (BI) ND GNR Soldier
Giulio Ghezzi Ussita (MC) April 28, 1923 GNR Second Lieutenant
Domenico Giunta PortoMajor (FE) May 31, 1912 Black Brigades Marshal
Giuseppe Goldin Vercelli 1926 GNR Soldier
Pietro Graglietto Salussola (BI) March 23, 1891 Black Brigades Marshal
Bruno Laione Biella May 5, 1920 GNR Brigadier
Domenico Lorenzoni Rieti 1909 GNR Captain
Marcello Maddetti[83] ND ND GNR Soldier
Ennio Marchi Vezzano sul Crostolo (RE) December 18, 1897 Black Brigades Captain
Raffaello Morescalchi Viareggio (LU) ND GNR Major
Costanzo Marola Vercelli August 10, 1905 GNR Adjutant
Gino Mati Castelnuovo Val di Cecina (PI) April 24, 1899 GNR Major
Alfredo Mazzocchi ND ND ND ND
Vittorio Melkar[84] ND ND GNR Soldier
Walter Mezzedini[85] ND ND GNR Soldier
Giovanni Milano[86] ND ND GNR Soldier
Alberto Perfetti Rovito (CS) August 20, 1901 GNR Lieutenant Colonel
Emilio Petrini (o Petrucci) ND ND GNR Soldier
Giovanni Picco ND ND GNR Soldier
Pietro Polisano Napoli August 30, 1898 GNR Adjutant
Giovanni Profumo ND ND GNR Soldier
Olimpio Ramella Biella December 18, 1885 GNR Soldier
Dario (detto Leo) Raviglione Zimone (VC) January 27, 1920 GNR Lieutenant
Paolo Rebucci Modena January 1, 1925 GNR Second Lieutenant
Antonio Scarabello ND ND ND ND
Giuseppe Scarantino[87] Caltanissetta 1929 GNR Soldier
Aldo Secchi Induno Olona (VA) November 13, 1926 GNR Second Lieutenant
Mario Serralunga Valdengo (BI) 1902 Black Brigades Member of a Fascist squad
Luca Signorelli San Martino in Rio (RE) March 28, 1892 GNR Major
Livio[88] Stefanucci Fabrica di Roma August 15, 1900 GNR Captain
Giovanni Battista[89] Terrile Genova June 28, 1907 GNR Adjutant
Giovanni Testa Camagna Monferrato (AL) 1900 GNR Captain
Adolfo Valfrè Mombercelli (AT) ND GNR Lieutenant Colonel
Giovanni Vicari Langhirano (PR) November 25, 1899 GNR Major
Fiorello Vivi ND ND GNR Soldier
Alfredo Zannoni Greve in Chianti (FI) July 24, 1924 GNR Second Lieutenant
Pietro Zanotti ND ND GNR Soldier

Alleged perpetrators, prosecution and political controversy[edit]

Despite the fact that investigations into the case had begun since 1946,[90] the judicial proceedings for the killing of the Vercelli prisoners never reached the trial stage:[91] as a result, there is no conviction for the May 12-13 massacre.

On June 24, 1949, Ciaccia, the prosecutor general of the Court of Turin, sent to the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Gronchi, through Minister of Grace and Justice Grassi, a request for authorization to proceed to trial against Deputies Moranino and Ortona, both from the Italian Communist Party, in connection with the massacre. The crime alleged was that of continued aggravated murder.[92] The indictment made express reference to a "mass slaughter" carried out "with cruelty" of "51 Fascist militiamen" who "having surrendered to the forces of the Resistance [...] had definitively ceased to constitute an obstacle or hindrance to the conclusion of the struggle against fascism."[64]

According to the prosecutor's accusatory hypothesis, the massacre was to be attributed to elements of the 182nd Garibaldi Brigade under the orders of Giulio Casolaro (commander) and Giovanni Baltaro (political commissar), while the instigators would have been two partisan leaders known by the conventional names of "Lungo" (Silvio Ortona) and "Gemisto" (Francesco Moranino), respectively in the Biella and Vercelli area commands.[93] The total number of defendants amounted to twenty-seven in the state.[64]

  • Silvio Ortona in a photo from 1947
    Silvio Ortona in a photo from 1947

Also according to the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office, Ortona in the course of the investigation allegedly "explicitly admitted to having given on behalf of the Biella zone command the order to take and kill the prisoners," while "Moranino is referred to by his chief of staff Attila (Colombo Remo), as the one who in his capacity as commander of the Vercelli square wrote and signed with the aforementioned Attila and the deputy commander "Spartano" the order to hand over the same prisoners to the forces of the 182nd Garibaldi Brigade."[93]

Prior to the application for authorization to proceed, there had been discussion of the judicial proceedings opened against the perpetrators of the Vercelli massacre during the session of the Chamber of Deputies on February 25, 1949.[94] The discussion focused almost exclusively on the very recent case of the mild conviction of Junio Valerio Borghese, which had allowed the former commander of the Tenth MAS to be immediately released from prison, triggering reactions from many deputies. On that occasion, Luigi Longo (PCI) asserted that the dead of Vercelli were allegedly "fascist raiders, torturers and bandits," and that their killing would be justified by "insurrectional directives," which provided for saving the lives only of those among the Nazi-fascists who surrendered "if they were not personally guilty of serious crimes against the national liberation movement."[95]

In particular, Longo accused the Fascists killed in Vercelli of having "carried out massacres, destruction of farmsteads and monuments," specifically citing the murder of three people in Occhieppo[96] having crushed "their victims against the wall with the bumper of their cars." the execution of the entire Command of the 76th Garibaldi Brigade; the killing of the priests of Torrazzo (mistakenly called "Porrazzo" by Longo) and Sala Biellese; participation in the massacre of Santhià on April 29/30, 1945; the massacre of several partisans in Salussola, Buronzo and Biella and along the Milan-Turin highway. "The execution of all of them," Longo concluded, "was in accordance with the directives of the General Command."[97] However, subsequent historiographical studies brought to light that, among the crimes reported by Longo, the Santhià massacre, the killing of the command of the 76th Garibaldi Brigade, and the Buronzo (or Garella) massacre had been perpetrated by German troops.[98] In addition to this, the November 15, 1944 murder of Don Francesco Cabrio in Torrazzo was the work of "Littorio" Division second lieutenant Gian Francesco del Corto, who was not included among the victims of the Vercelli massacre.[99] Finally, the parish priest of Sala Biellese - Don Tabarolo - was reported to have died as a result of a grenade blast during a battle between Nazi-Fascists and partisans on February 1, 1945.[100] On the other hand, the Salussola massacre (March 8 and 9, 1945),[101] in which twenty to twenty-one partisans were shot,[21] was immediately attributed to the CXV "Montebello" battalion of the GNR, whose remains were actually part of the Morsero column.[102]

On May 16, 1950, the Turin prosecutor, Andriano, sent to the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, through the Minister of Grace and Justice, Piccioni, a supplement to the previous request for authorization to proceed, requesting the arrest of the deputies "to avoid any exceptions that could compromise and hinder the normal course of the investigation."[103] The House, however, did not discuss the request for authorization to proceed, which consequently lapsed in 1953, at the end of the 1st legislature.

With the start of the 2nd legislature, on August 17, 1953, Turin Attorney General Nigro forwarded, through Minister of Grace and Justice Azara, a new application for authorization to proceed and for the arrest of the two deputies.[104] Nigro supplemented the application on November 12, 1954, revoking the request for arrest[105] as a result of the amnesty that had intervened in the meantime in December 1953.[106] On July 8, 1957, the Trial Authorization Board expressed by a majority vote a favorable opinion on the authorization to proceed to trial, "no element having surfaced, on the basis of which one can speak of political persecution" against Ortona and Moranino.[107] The request, however, was not discussed in the courtroom by the end of the legislature. For the same type of offenses and in relation to the same fact, on July 11, 1957, Trombi, the Prosecutor General of Turin, presented to the Chamber of Deputies, through Minister of Grace and Justice Gonella, a further request for authorization to proceed against Communist deputy Giovanni Baltaro, believed by the prosecution to be "a co-conspirator of Moranino and Ortona."[108] This application does not appear to have been discussed either in the junta for authorization to proceed or in the courtroom.

Finally, on May 9, 1961, Judge Giuseppe Ottello, president of the Investigating Chamber of the Court of Appeals of Turin, acquitted the defendants involved "due to the political nature of the crime" and issued a ruling that Francesco Moranino, who was still a fugitive at the time, was not to be prosecuted, albeit only for insufficient evidence, thus revoking the arrest warrant issued against him. The court had occasion to emphasize how there were, highlighted by the trial results, "serious doubts about Moranino's responsibility from the point of view of a determination to the crime, which was certainly carried out by others."[109]

According to press reports on the occasion of Silvio Ortona's death (March 6, 2005), the former partisan commander was "one of the rare persons capable of assuming political responsibility for an event, the Opn massacre[110] of which, in truth, he was neither a direct nor indirect witness."[111]

Remembrance[edit]

Two monuments were erected in memory of the fallen: a memorial by the bridge over the Cavour Canal in Greggio, and a granite memorial stone on the clearing in front of the Vercelli Psychiatric Hospital. Both monuments bear the same epitaph; the Vercelli memorial stele also bears a dedication to the fallen soldiers.

Memorial stone of the massacre at the OPN (Vercelli) and the memorial at the Cavour Bridge (Greggio)

Reductionist associations commemorate the massacre each year with a mass at the Novara camp and commemorations at the sites where it took place.[112]

Historical evaluation[edit]

Claudio Pavone expressly called the Vercelli massacre a "reprisal": "When, between April 28 and 29, 1945, the Germans trying to break through to the east operated massacres of partisans and civilians in the Santhià area, the partisans shot an equal number of fascists in reprisal in Vercelli."[2]

Cesare Bermani has thus characterized the facts: "The Vercelli incident, if indeed it took place in the manner indicated by the police documents, would seem to confirm, even in the forms of retaliation, the logic of the 'eye for an eye,' with introjection at times of behavior already assumed by the enemy, which is present in every civil war."[4]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b The Vercelli police headquarters published a list of 51 names of fascists killed: this is the number found, for example, in Uboldi, p. 324. Bermani, p. 330, reports instead the number of 62 fascists taken from the Novara concentration camp, suggesting that all were eliminated. Sixty-five, on the other hand, are the victims listed in Pansa 2003, p. 83, based on what was reported to the author by researcher Pierangelo Pavesi.
  2. ^ a b c d Pavone, p. 492.
  3. ^ a b c Piero Ambrosio, L'insurrezione in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenni Archived 2021-09-16 at the Wayback Machine, from the website of the Institute for the History of Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli.
  4. ^ a b c Bermani, p. 330
  5. ^ Roccia, pp. 218-224
  6. ^ Bermani, p. 330, quotes an article from Il Tempo of November 22, 1949.
  7. ^ Examples include: "Richiesta di autorizzazione a procedere contro i deputati Moranino e Ortona". La Stampa. 22 November 1949. p. 1.; "Autorizzazione a procedere centro gli on.li Moranino e Ortona". La Stampa. 7 October 1955. p. 7.
  8. ^ Pansa in his bibliographical guide catalogs a fair number of journalistic sources including articles from Il Popolo Nuovo of Turin and La Verità of Vercelli. In the chapter titled The Liberation of Vercelli he cites an article by Tino Morbelli titled Unveiled the Mystery of the Psychiatric Hospital, (La Verità, Vercelli, June 8, 1946, pp. 1-2), adding that in it were "the names of the 64 Republican fascists shot at the Vercelli hospital after the liberation and the list of the escapees." See Pansa 1965, p. 127
  9. ^ Giorgio Pisanò, Storia della guerra civile in Italia, Milano, FPE, 1972, p. 1640: [...] no trial was ever brought against Moranino and Ortona who were also responsible, among other things, for the appalling massacre at the Vercelli psychiatric hospital, where, seventy fascists were slaughtered with unprecedented cruelty under the wheels of moving trucks in the building's courtyard." The number of seventy dead is believed to be undocumented - as is all the data on fascists killed in the province of Vercelli provided by Pisanò - by Piero Ambrosio, L'insurrezione in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenni Archived 2021-09-16 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit., nota 42 Archived 2010-04-21 at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ^ Following the creation of the province of Biella, the Institute changed its name by adding the name Biella as well.
  11. ^ Bermani, pp. 329-330
  12. ^ Uboldi, p. 324
  13. ^ Today the territory is divided between the provinces of Biella and Vercelli.
  14. ^ The paragraph is a summary by Piero Ambrosio, La Resistenza in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenni Archived 2011-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, from the website of the Institute for the History of Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli.
  15. ^ Piero Ambrosio, La provincia di Vercelli durante la Rsi. Cenni storici Archived 2008-04-13 at the Wayback Machine, from the website of the Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli: "On December 2, a division of black shirts sent to Varallo, to garrison an area that was becoming "crucial," had been attacked shortly after its arrival and the fascists had on that occasion their first fallen soldier in the province, Militia squad leader Leandro Guida."
  16. ^ Piero Ambrosio, La provincia di Vercelli durante la Rsi. Cenni storici Archived 2008-04-13 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.: "On the evening of the 11th, the local fascist commissar, Bruno Ponzecchi, the first fallen fascist in the area, had been killed by partisans in Ponzone."
  17. ^ Piero Ambrosio, La Resistenza in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenni Archived 2011-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.: "The first real action of war took place in Varallo where, on December 2, Garibaldians from the "Gramsci" detachment, commanded by Cino Moscatelli, attacked a contingent of black shirts encamped in the Town Hall: the fascists had one dead, the partisans some wounded. A few days later, on December 10, the Biella Garibaldians attacked fascists who were deporting some workers guilty of organizing a strike at the Tollegno Spinning Mill. These actions were the premise of a decisive intervention by the partisans in support of the strikes that began to develop in Valsessera from December 15, and which resulted in the general strike of the workers of the Biella and Valsesia areas."
  18. ^ Piero Ambrosio, La provincia di Vercelli durante la Rsi. Cenni storici Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.: "Finally, the threat contained in the notice: 'the killing of a soldier of the Republican National Guard or any other agent of the public force or a Germanic soldier will cost the lives of 10 local individuals' was implemented following the killing in Borgosesia on December 21 of (not one but) two soldiers of the 63rd battalion." Also part of the unit was the writer Carlo Mazzantini (father of writer Margaret), who will recall the whole affair in his A cercar la bella morte, Venice, Marsilio 1995, pp. 74 ff.
  19. ^ Piero Ambrosio, La Resistenza in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenni Archived 2011-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.: "Partisan actions and strikes drew the attention of the "authorities" of the Republic of Salò to what was happening in these areas. [...] was sent to Vercelli, and later to Valsesia and Biella, the 63rd "Tagliamento" battalion, which was responsible for heinous massacres, fires, looting from the first days of its activity in our province."
  20. ^ As an example among the defeats is the so-called "Caporetto of Alagna" (July 1944), when the partisan forces liberated Valsesia and Valsassera for a short time, only to be beaten at Alagna, at the foot of Monte Rosa. On Piero Ambrosio, La Resistenza in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenni Archived 2011-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.
  21. ^ a b Piero Ambrosio, La Resistenza in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenni Archived 2011-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.: "On March 9, the last massacre perpetrated by the fascists took place in Salussola: after horrendous torture, twenty-one partisans were shot. In response, the Biella Cln ordered a general strike of protest [...] which was carried out imposingly in all the factories." Other sources state instead that the partisans killed were twenty; see for example L'eccidio di Salussola: 8 e 9 marzo 1945, from the Salussola village website/portal.
  22. ^ Piero Ambrosio (edited by), Verso la vittoria. I bollettini militari delle formazioni partigiane della provincia di Vercelli (gennaio-aprile 1945) Archived 2015-07-24 at the Wayback Machine from "L'impegno", a. V, no. 1, March 1985, Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli," Cit. (from partisan bulletin): "On March 6 an enemy column moving between Zimone and Salussola is attacked by a patrol of the Gl brigade... 4 dead and 2 wounded, 3 prisoners, 2 trucks, a machine gun, 7 muskets, pistols and hand grenades. Following this brilliant attack the enemy vented its wrath with the ferocious Salussola shootings." Frequent partisan actions around Salussola, mainly by the 75th Garibaldi "Maffei" brigade and the local GL brigade, from early 1945 inflicted important and frequent losses among the fascist units.
  23. ^ The partisan police brigade was unique to the Biella region: it was formed in January 1944, with the main task of ensuring internal order for the other brigades operating in the area, prosecuting crimes committed by partisans, and maintaining relations with the civilian population (see "The partisan police brigade in the Biella region. Interview by Gladys Motta with Ezio Peraldo," in l'impegno, year V, no. 4, December 1985).
  24. ^ The entire historical framework of the paragraph is taken for summary from Ambrosio, pp. 475-488
  25. ^ Prefects had assumed this new name in the Italian Social Republic in November 1943.
  26. ^ Ambrosio, pp. 475-479, "On the 20th, at 10:30 a.m., the prefectural commissioner of Biella telephoned the head of the province, reporting that work had resumed 'slowly, but almost normally,' although misunderstandings had occurred: a tramload of workers had been sent back at a roadblock; other workers had found the entrance to the plant closed because the officer in charge of the roadblock, who kept the key in his pocket, was absent, and had therefore been sent home; workers residing in areas where there had been roundup actions were under curfew until 6 a.m. on the 21st; several plants were at a standstill due to lack of power; and finally, others had been unable to resume work because insufficient workers had shown up."
  27. ^ Ambrosio, pp. 481-483
  28. ^ Ambrosio, pp. 482-484
  29. ^ a b Massimo Rendina, Dizionario della Resistenza italiana, Editori Riuniti, Roma, 1995, ISBN 88-359-4007-9, p. 203.
  30. ^ According to Ambrosio, p. 483, the Morsero column surrendered at 7 a.m. on April 29, but other sources agree in reporting the date as April 28.
  31. ^ Saccheggio di Santhià da parte delle truppe tedesche. Eccidio della Popolazione, Relazione del Sindaco di Santhià del 12 maggio 1945.
  32. ^ Ambrosio, pp. 486-487. The figures for surrendered Germans and fascists are contained in a report signed by partisan commander Felice Mautino "Monti," cited in L'insurrezione in Piemonte, Franco Angeli, Milano 1987, pp. 363-364.
  33. ^ Pavesi, p. 34; For Piero Ambrosio, L'insurrezione in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenni Archived 2021-09-16 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit., nota 28 Archived 2010-04-21 at the Wayback Machine, the column would have consisted of "2,000 soldiers and two hundred women and children."
  34. ^ "Giovanni Fracassi (1900), a Gnr colonel in charge of the Op company, was accused of rounding up in the Borgo d'Ale and Strambino areas, arresting and killing partisans (captured in the Biellese, Olcenengo, Arborio, and Trino areas), capturing in the Crescentino area four hundred draft dodgers, and allowing the Political Investigation Bureau persecution, abuse, and torture. He constituted extraordinary tribunals of the Gnr, in which the partisans Burzio, Cassetta, Dejana, Dreussi, Mosca, Orlando and Pluda were shot." The quote is taken from Marilena Vittone, Un processo a collaborazionisti vercellesi tra amnistia e giustizia penale Archived 2009-06-12 at the Wayback Machine, from the Website of the Institute for the History of Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli, originally published in "L'impegno," a. XXVIII, no. 1, June 2008.
  35. ^ The "Montebello" battalion, the three "Ruggine" battalions and the "Pontida" battalion were part of the GNR. On the subject Piero Ambrosio, Le forze armate della Rsi in provincia di Vercelli. La Guardia nazionale repubblicana Archived 2014-06-06 at the Wayback Machine, from the website of the Institute for the History of Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli.
  36. ^ Pavesi, p. 78
  37. ^ Rock, p. 221: "The parliamentarians were finally admitted to the hall of the War Council to which they brought the news of the surrender of Novara, Alexandria and Genoa. After an hour a committee of Republican officers left in partisan cars with the parliamentarians, carrying white flags, for Novara to ascertain whether the news of the city's surrender answered the truth."
  38. ^ Pavesi, p. 82: "Officers Nessi and Pasqualini, finally returning from Novara, set out the conditions of the partisans: honor of arms, officers are allowed to keep their pistols; safe conduct for the troops; treatment of prisoners as provided by international conventions."
  39. ^ Roccia, p. 221: "News of the decision spread in the evening: 'surrender with the honor of arms, issuance to all of a document authorizing return to their families or desired location.'"
  40. ^ Pavesi, p. 83: "Thus the last council of war takes place: Colonel Fracassi and Prefect Morsero propose to accept the conditions of surrender; the young officers are of the opposite opinion and would like to rebel."
  41. ^ Pavesi, p. 168, quote from Carlo Riboldazzi, partisan commander of a battalion of the Garibaldi Brigades: "Personally, I never understood the surrender of the fascists, which was very strange; they could very well have resisted; I saw the weapons they had! They could have stood there quietly and waited for the Allies to arrive; instead, no, they surrendered."
  42. ^ Pavesi, p. 85, quote from Carlo Riboldazzi, partisan commander of a battalion of the Garibaldi Brigades: "I ask for pure and simple surrender, except for the honor of arms. Flat refusal. I invent divisions that must transit, threaten carpet bombing, hint at the possibility of civilian casualties and consequent war crime. The captain hesitates, the security company officer sulks [...]. All resistance falls. Surrender is agreed upon; they ask for guarantees, honor of arms, a lot of things. I promise, even though I know I will only be able to keep my promises in part. I have a big credit with the Germans because of broken promises. Signed the surrender, the document will disappear after a few days [...]."
  43. ^ Pansa 2003, p. 81; Bermani, p. 329. According to Bermani, in Novara, fascists taken prisoner at the end of hostilities were also locked up inside the Tamburini barracks. This barracks had been one of the headquarters of the Republican National Guard. Archived 2011-01-22 at the Wayback Machine.
  44. ^ Pavesi, p. 106, quoting from the book La mia guerra (My War) by Gabriello Ciapetti, a GNR non-commissioned officer from the Carabinieri: "A partisan came up to me and in a tough face said, 'You, go to your colonel and get your gun belt!' I hesitated to move, but the partisan dealt me a stomp in the shins shouting again, 'Move!,' I stammered something to Colonel Fracassi who had already guessed what was happening and handed me the gun belt."
  45. ^ a b c Bermani, p. 329
  46. ^ Pansa 2003, p. 81: "[...] the round-ups began immediately. Every day, some fascist officer was led out of the camp for questioning. Sometimes he returned, beaten badly, sometimes not. One who did not return was Lieutenant Carlo Cecora, who had commanded the Gnr garrison in Vallemosso, in the Biella area. From Novara they took him to Vercelli, then to Biella and then to Vallemosso. Here they dragged him through the streets tied to a wagon and finally shot him, on May 2." Cecora's abduction was ordered by Francesco Moranino (Gemisto), as also testified by partisan commander Annibale Giachetti (Danda), Once upon a time. the Resistance. Partisans and Population in the Biella and Vercelli Area, Vercelli, Istituto per la storia della Resistenza e della società contemporanea nelle province di Biella e Vercelli "Cino Moscatelli," 2000, p. 201.
  47. ^ Roccia, p. 222: "Names were called with orders to report immediately to the entrance of the enclosure. The Federal Bertozzi, Gadina, Verro, Zarino, Veghi Adamo and his brother, Martinotti, Dogliotti, De Majda, Fracassi, Mariani, Deangeli, Fossati, etc. We got up and set out accompanied by the darkest presentiments. One by one we entered an office where we were interrogated by three bourgeois; biographical data, quick investigation. [...] We remained locked up until 12 noon in the large locker room. Lieutenant Martinotti was caught writing a note that he hoped to send by some means to his wife, describing - with colorful phrases - the situation in which he found himself. He was hit by violent blows."
  48. ^ Pavesi, p. 111: "Most of the prisoners are concentrated at the Stadium; the women at the Negroni Asylum in the San Martino neighborhood and at the Ferrandi school first and then at the Tamburini barracks, formerly of the GNR."
  49. ^ a b Silvio Bertoldi, Soldati a Salò. L'ultimo esercito di Mussolini, Rizzoli, Milano, 1995, ISBN 88-17-84413-6, p. 272: "In Vercelli three hundred auxiliaries attempted to fall back to the Valtellina, but on crossing the Sesia they were blocked, driven to Castellazzo Novarese, then to Novara and locked up in the Tamburini barracks. They wanted to parade them naked through the streets of the city; only the Bishop's indignant intervention saved them. He saved them from shame, not from their fate: some were shot, only the luckiest ones ended up in the concentration camp in Scandicci, near Florence." The shooting is not confirmed by other sources. Auxiliary Alda Paoletti states in one of her memoirs (Pavesi, pp. 112-113) that the danger of being shot would have been averted by the intervention of Monsignor Ossola: "On April 30 a priest came to hear our confessions, saying to do it well because it could be the last confession of our lives. In fact, the next day, May 1, we were to be shot. The partisans who had been watching us day and night, however, told us that the bishop of Novara had intervened against Moscatelli, threatening to be in front of us at the time of the shooting to precede us in death [...]."
  50. ^ Anna Lisa Carlotti, Italia 1939-1945. Storia e memoria, Vita e Pensiero, Milano, 1996, ISBN 88-343-2458-7, pp. 365-366: "Numerous were the cases of rape. Many of these girls never had the courage to speak (except to their companions at the time of the events) and it is very difficult to interview them. A great many were shaved bare and paraded amidst the shouts of the people through the streets of the city. In Novara the bishop opposed the idea of parading them naked. The partisans had to 'settle for shaving them bare.'" Several testimonies are quoted in this book, including that of Velia Mirri, born in 1927, who summarizes the events of those days as follows: "from April 28, to May 16 [I was] a prisoner of Moscatelli's partisans in Novara, first at the Ferrandi barracks and at the Tamburini barracks, and that is an experience to forget. Later, from May 16 to November 28, '45, I was a prisoner of the Americans who then in September surrendered our group of prisoners to the Italian authorities." (p. 446); Silvio Bertoldi, op. cit., p. 272; Luciano Garibaldi, Le soldatesse di Mussolini, Mursia, Milano, 1995, ISBN 88-425-1876-X, p. 86: "In Novara, however, the bishop succeeded in preventing the plan to parade naked all the captured auxiliaries, about three hundred of them, through the streets of the city"; Pavesi, p. 113, thus quotes from the memoirs of Monsignor Carlo Brugo, Bishop Ossola's assistant: "The partisans wanted to parade the captive Auxiliaries naked through Novara, but Bishop Monsignor Ossola, having learned of what was being planned, went to the partisan command and threatened to parade them naked as well, along with the captives, after which the partisans gave up implementing their plan."
  51. ^ La didascalia delle tre foto di prelevamento prigionieri dal campo di Novara recita: "Novara, fine aprile, primi giorni di maggio. Un gruppo di prigionieri fascisti raccolti nello stadio comunale vengono prelevati", in Novara Ieri-Oggi – Annali dell'Istituto Storico della Resistenza della provincia di Novara, dicembre 1996, nn. 4-5, p. 240.
  52. ^ Pavesi, p. 126
  53. ^ Roccia, p. 222: "On the morning at dawn, we were called to roll call. Forty officers from the Military Command in Vercelli. They told us they were taking us to Vercelli because 'the population had claimed the right to judge us.'"
  54. ^ Roccia, p. 223: "As soon as we crossed the threshold of the entrance we were beaten on the head by musket blows administered by a partisan, then passing on the way between two wings of partisans we were repeatedly hit by kicks, punches, blows from the stirrups. Eventually we counted ourselves: in the square and gloomy space we were forty-one. We looked at each other in faces now made grotesque by the bruises and blood dripping from the wounds."
  55. ^ Roccia, p. 223: "On top of a small table in the corner of the cell a blanket was spread out and on it piled watches, wallets, banknotes, fountain pens and anything else that could be carried in clothing or concealed on the body. At that critical juncture we lost about 150,000 liras, all personal documents and even shoelaces."
  56. ^ Roccia, p. 223: "Federal Bertozzi's face and head were completely bruised. Among the most badly bruised was Gadina who, under the blows received on his head and face had totally lost his sight; Dogliotti was so badly bruised that he looked like a mask. Major Scunz of the GNR accused the loss of teeth and had a deformed mouth and face. Even more serious was the condition of Lieutenant Cecora: when he was thrown into the room he fell, never to get up again; he was breathing laboriously, his face unrecognizable, encrusted with blood and mud, his mouth bent in the contraction of a grimace of pain. The parish priest of St. Christopher's came, who undertook to return the next morning to impart Communion to us, the execution having been postponed. Toward evening the cell door opened and was thrown inside Lt. Col. Benasso Mario, who as a result of his wounds [...] had a fractured leg and therefore could not stand." Roccia states that those who were not killed at the Conte barracks in Turin, "after various vicissitudes" were sent on May 13 to concentration camps (including that of Coltano). Among those named, Lieutenant Benasso was picked up and transported outside Vercelli and - according to Roccia - "his fate is unknown." Lieutenant Cecora and Captain Pastoretti were executed in Vallemosso and Crevacuore, respectively.
  57. ^ Pansa 2003, p. 82
  58. ^ The others were Vice-President Emilio Aquilini, the two vice-federals Giraudi and Sandri, and Professor Grovi of the Opera Nazionale Balilla. Names in Pansa 2003, p. 82 and Pavesi, p. 145
  59. ^ Bermani, p. 329, states that that was one of the "faits accomplis of the period following the insurrection."
  60. ^ Cronologia degli avvenimenti di Novara durante la seconda guerra mondiale Archived 2006-09-20 at the Wayback Machine taken from the website of the Historical Institute of Resistance and Contemporary Society in Novarese and Verbano Cusio Ossola "Piero Fornara."
  61. ^ Corriere di Novara, May 8, 1945; Pansa 2003, p. 83
  62. ^ The event is described in the same terms in both Bermani, p. 330, and Pansa 2003, p. 83. The latter additionally reports the listing of 170 names.
  63. ^ The detailed reconstruction of the events is reported by the Application for authorization to proceed to trial against Congressmen Moranino and Ortona, presented to the Chamber of Deputies by the Attorney General of the Court of Turin Ciaccia on June 24, 1949. The number of 75 prisoners taken is contained in that document and also confirmed by Pansa 2003, p. 83; according to Bermani, p. 330, there were 62 Fascists loaded onto the wagons; according instead to Uboldi, p. 324, from Novara were taken "about seventy Fascist soldiers."
  64. ^ a b c d e f "Application for authorization to proceed [...] against Moranino and Ortona." (1949), cit., p. 2.
  65. ^ The reconstruction of the fate of these eleven prisoners is taken from "Application for authorization to proceed [...] against Moranino and Ortona" (1949), cit., p. 2, from Bermani, p. 330 and from Uboldi, p. 325.
  66. ^ The quoted sentence is from Il Tempo of November 22, 1949, cited in Bermani, p. 330. Identical reconstruction in "Application for authorization to proceed [...] against Moranino and Ortona" (1949), cited in Bermani, p. 2.
  67. ^ Uboldi, p. 324: "[...] the bodies are brought to the square in front of the hospital and a truck repeatedly runs over them until they are reduced to a gruesome tangle of bone, flesh and blood."
  68. ^ Uboldi, p. 325; Walter Camurati, Senza esito gli scavi all'ex Opn, in La Stampa, 30 maggio 1996, p. 36; F.Co., I fucilati dell'ex Opn meritano sepoltura, in La Stampa, October 25, 1998, p. 38.
  69. ^ This fact is reported by Bermani, p. 330 and Pansa 2003, p. 83.
  70. ^ Pansa 2003, p. 83; "Application for authorization to proceed [...] against Moranino and Ortona" (1949), cit., p. 2; for Uboldi, p. 325, there were exactly 20 militiamen killed in Greggio. For Roccia, p. 224 ff. there were 25 named plus 24 unidentified.
  71. ^ Bermani, p. 330; Pansa 2003, p. 83; "Application for authorization to proceed [...] against Moranino and Ortona" (1949), cit., p. 2.
  72. ^ Rock, p. 224ff; Uboldi, p. 325.
  73. ^ For Uboldi, p. 325, the fascists who were spared were twenty-four.
  74. ^ Pansa 2003, p. 83; "Application for authorization to proceed [...] against Moranino and Ortona" (1949), cit., p. 2.
  75. ^ Pansa 2003, p. 84, notes how Pierangelo Pavesi reached that number based on research after the release of his book.
  76. ^ The list is also reported in a blurb titled Gli uccisi in La Stampa, May 30, 1996, p. 36, with some variations in a dozen among first or last names, as reported in the following notes.
  77. ^ Biagione.
  78. ^ Cappio.
  79. ^ Costante.
  80. ^ In the La Stampa article first and last name are reversed: Cesare Nicola.
  81. ^ Francini.
  82. ^ Ferraris.
  83. ^ Mazzetti.
  84. ^ Mercar.
  85. ^ Mazzedini.
  86. ^ Gianni Milani.
  87. ^ Uboldi, p. 325, reports him as "Giuseppe Scarantina, aged sixteen."
  88. ^ Lilio.
  89. ^ Battista.
  90. ^ The date is taken from the authorizations to proceed against the two deputies, who are accused by the Turin prosecutor's office of being the instigators of the killings.
  91. ^ Uboldi, p. 324: "Silvio Ortona, the commander of the 2nd "Garibaldi" brigade, never appeared in a courtroom, even though more than one suspicion hangs over him for the massacre of the Vercelli psychiatric hospital and the Cavour Canal in Greggio."
  92. ^ "Application for Authorization to Proceed [...] against Moranino and Ortona" (1949), cited above, p. 1.
  93. ^ a b "Application for Authorization to Proceed [...] against Moranino and Ortona" (1949), cited above, p. 3.
  94. ^ Seduta di venerdì 25 febbraio 1949, in Atti Parlamentari. Camera dei Deputati, pp. 6507 ss.
  95. ^ Seduta di venerdì 25 febbraio 1949, cit., pp. 6522-6523. Part of Longo's speech is also given in Bermani, p. 330.
  96. ^ Longo did not specify in his speech whether it was the locality of Occhieppo Superiore or Occhieppo Inferiore: in these two localities, however, there are no records of this murder.
  97. ^ Sitting of Friday, February 25, 1949, cited above, p. 6523.
  98. ^ On the former see the conclusions of Ezio Manfredi, Dalle Alpi occidentali a Santhià. La strage dell'aprile 1945 e la resa del 75º Corpo d'armata Archived 2009-09-26 at the Wayback Machine, in l'impegno, n. 3, Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli, December 2001, which also finds it "unlikely that" the Germans "were guided" to some farmsteads where partisans were "by a spy from the village." On the second episode, see Mario Vaira, "Walter Fillak, Commander Martin.", in Canavèis. Natura, arte, storia e tradizioni del Canavese e delle Valli del Lanzo, Autunno 2008 – Inverno 2009, Cumbe Edizioni 2008, for whom German units captured the partisans "due to the denunciation of a spy," just as only Germans condemned and executed them. On the Buronzo massacre of March 15, 1945, a German reprisal for a partisan attack three days earlier, see Itinerari della resistenza biellese Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, from the website of the Historical Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society of the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli.
  99. ^ See in this regard the biography of Don Cabrio found on the ANPI website.
  100. ^ Piero Germano, from the ANPI website. On the battle of Sala Biellese, see the historical reconstruction in Piero Germano, La battaglia di Sala Biellese. 1º febbraio 1945 Archived 2007-10-28 at the Wayback Machine, from the website of the Institute for the History of Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli, originally published in L'Impegno, a. II, no. 4, December 1982.
  101. ^ L'eccidio di Salussola: 8 e 9 marzo 1945, from the Salussola village website/portal.
  102. ^ Pierfrancesco Manca, Guerra civile e guerra di popolo nel Biellese Archived 2007-10-27 at the Wayback Machine from the website of the Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli, originally in "L'Impegno," a. XX, no. 3, December 2000 and a. XXI, no. 1, April 2001: "On March 9, 1945, the command of the 5th "Garibaldi" division addressed a curious request to the command of the 115th "Montebello" battalion of the GNR: "Following today's execution in Salussola, we have taken steps to denounce your department and the Italian government as 'war criminals.' In case the execution was not your doing, please specify to us the department and officers responsible for the appropriate corrections.""
  103. ^ «Domanda di autorizzazione a procedere in giudizio contro i deputati Moranino e Ortona», doc. II, no. 144-bis, June 23, 1950.
  104. ^ «Domanda di autorizzazione a procedere in giudizio contro i deputati Moranino e Ortona», doc. II, no. 137, August 17, 1953.
  105. ^ «Domanda di autorizzazione a procedere in giudizio contro i deputati Moranino e Ortona», doc. II, No. 137-bis, November 12, 1954.
  106. ^ The so-called "Azara amnesty," named after Antonio Azara: Presidential Decree No. 922 of December 19, 1953.
  107. ^ «Relazione della giunta per le autorizzazioni a procedere sulla domanda di autorizzazione a procedere in giudizio contro i deputati Moranino e Ortona», Doc. II, Nos. 137 and 137-bis A, July 8, 1957.
  108. ^ «Domanda di autorizzazione a procedere in giudizio contro il deputato Baltaro», Doc. II, No. 137-ter, July 11, 1957.
  109. ^ State Archives of Vercelli, Prefecture-Cabinet (II deposit, bundle no. 66) S.I. of the Court of Appeals of Turin, "Judgment in the criminal case against Moranino Francesco (...) and others," Turin, May 9, 1961
  110. ^ Opn stands for "Ospedale Neuro Psichiatrico" (Neuro Psychiatric Hospital).
  111. ^ Donata Belossi, Il partigiano-ebreo che amava Cogne, in La Stampa, March 11, 2005, p. 45.
  112. ^ Mario Cassano, «Vercelli, il 12 maggio 1945», article and photo documentation in Acta, bimonthly scientific information cultural journal of the Historical Institute of the CSR Foundation, Year XXII, No. 2 (66) May-July 2008, pp. 12-13.

Bibliography[edit]

Parliamentary acts[edit]

In chronological order.

Books and essays[edit]

  • Ambrosio, Piero (1987). "Biellese e Vercellese". L'insurrezione in Piemonte. Milan: FrancoAngeli.
  • Bermani, Cesare (1996). Pagine di guerriglia. L'esperienza dei garibaldini della Valsesia (Nuova Edizione 1996-2000, Vol. III ed.). Borgosesia: Istituto per la Storia della Resistenza e della società contemporanea nelle provincie di Biella e Vercelli "Cino Moscatelli".
  • Pansa, Giampaolo (1965). La Resistenza in Piemonte. Guida bibliografica 1943-1963. Turin: Giappichelli Editore.
  • Pansa, Giampaolo (2003). Il sangue dei vinti. Milan: Sperling & Kupfer. ISBN 88-200-3566-9.
  • Pavesi, Pierangelo (2007). La Colonna Morsero. Copiano (PV): Grafica Ma. Ro. Editrice. ISBN 88-901807-8-1.
  • Pavone, Claudio (1991). Una guerra civile. Saggio storico sulla moralità nella Resistenza. Turin: Bollati Boringhieri. ISBN 88-339-0629-9.
  • Roccia, Domenico (1949). Il Giellismo Vercellese. Vercelli: Tip. Ed. La Sesia.
  • Uboldi, Raffaello (2004). 25 aprile 1945. I giorni dell'odio e della libertà. Milan: Mondadori. ISBN 88-04-52677-7.

Articles[edit]

  • Donata Belossi, Il partigiano-ebreo che amava Cogne, in La Stampa, March 11, 2005, p. 45.

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