| Lionel Wigram |
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The village of Pizzoferrato lies in the neck of a narrow ridge which juts out from the downward sweep of a wooded hillside. A towering rock rises up at the extremity of the ridge and dominates the village and the whole valley beyond. This column of rock, about two hundred feet high, is precipitous all round; and access to its top is by a spiral ledge chiselled out of the stone face which, as it nears the plateau on the summit, passes through a small cluster of houses. The lowest of these buildings (the Third House) was a range of cottages, the next was the Second House, a farm building standing about thirty feet above the Third House. Above that again was the First House, a substantial affair clamped against the cliff face with five stories on the outer side and three on the inner. It followed a line of the cliff round eighty degrees, one end being almost adjacent to the topmost enclosure on the rock which consisted of a walled courtyard with a chapel (the main feature of the whole protuberance) standing on the skyline.
This little complex had been closely observed by the patriots over the last week. It was occupied by a force of between thirty and fifty Germans who were almost wholly isolated from the village below. They had a troop of artillery about a half mile north-east of the village and the remainder of that same company was in possession of Gamberale, a village about two miles away. Lionel dropped off the sappers near the enemy gun positions and told them not to move until they heard the main attack under way, and the to rush the sentries and sabotage the guns. He paused at the base of the rock and went forward with Guy and Lieutenant Excell to check the position. Everything conformed exactly to the model used in planning the operation.
Lionel an the British contingent surrounded the First House; Lieutenant Excell and his hand picked partisans the Second, and Guy's two platoons the Third. By 0445 all three parties reported they were in position. Guy then sent two men forward to the Third House which they reported unoccupied. He brought his two platoons up the rock and joined Excell's force surrounding the Second House.
Up to this point, although the moon was too bright for comfort, surprise appeared to have been maintained. As the whole force lay in an agony of silence ready to attack, a German sentry opened the gate to the First House and walked forward towards the point where Lionel lay. When he was about fifteen yards away Lionel leapt to his feet and shouted in German: 'You are surrounded by a large force. Put up your hands. We will treat you well. We are the British.'
The German sentry threw down his rifle, put up his hands, and walked steadily towards Lionel. Lionel went forward with two patriots to take him as prisoner. When they were a few yards apart, the sentry flung himself to the ground. A shot was fired from the ground floor window of the house which killed Lionel instantly. At his time the whole party opened fire. For half an hour the two upper Houses were subjected to a hail of fire from the attacking force. Lieutenant Excell forced an entry into the ground floor of the Second House, but the Germans barricaded themselves on the first floor. It was not possible to rush the First House because the small inward frontage was heavily mined and booby traps could be seen in the main doorway.
Suddenly the Germans opened fire. The effect was devastating: they had clearly marked the position of our men in the moonlight and had refrained from returning fire to achieve surprise and kill the maximum number in their first fusillade. Our party withdrew behind cover but kept up the exchange, with both sides shooting and taking cover as best they could.
At 0530 a party of about fifty Germans arrived at the base of the rock from Gamberale. The advanced up the causeway and attacked the partisan platoons in the rear, causing casualties. Lieutenant Excell was wounded and took no further part in the action, and at this point the Allied force began to disintegrate. The British and some partisans retreated yard by yard and rock by rock towards the chapel. The patriots lower down began to slip away over the edge of the Cliff. Nevertheless, the shooting continued remorselessly. As daylight gained strength, our men began to offer better targets to the Germans. After some hours the remaining British and patriot forces on the top of the rock decided to withdraw into the chapel, barricade the door and sit it out until the arrival of the British commandos, who were already well behind time.
It was in the chapel that the last horrifying chapter in this action played out. The British and Italian forces, now short of ammunition, leaderless and surrounded by wounded and dying comrades, found they were unable to fire outwards from the chapel's windows which were too high from the floor and for which there was no firestep. All exits were covered by German marksmen. The Germans blew in the windows and lobbed stick grenades through them. They also contrived a fire position from a ladder against one of the windows. By firing a Schmeisser from there they forced the men inside to cower against the back wall, where they were easy targets for grenades thrown through the rear windows. The last desperate defenders of the chapel gave up shortly after 1000 hours. Several of the patriots were lined up against the wall and had their brains blown out; the rest of the force was taken prisoner.
At 1000 hours the commandos arrived. Their guide had lost his way and then allowed the to run foul of several minefields. There was nothing they could do; the battle was over. Throughout the day sporadic firing continued as the patriots retreated down the rock and away across country. At 1800 hours a German party left Pizzoferrato for their battalion headquarters in Palena station, some ten miles away. They took with them the wounded Lieutenant Excell, twenty British prisoners, many also wounded, some severely, five patriots and over a score of civilians whom they suspected (some rightly some wrongly) of being partisans.
Many of the partisans stayed in covering positions below the rock for a second night and on the morning of the fourth, the day after the battle, they formed a patrol and found one remaining German in the town, whom they took prisoner. In the First house they found twenty dead Germans, The British casualties were five dead (including Lionel), one officer and twenty other ranks wounded and prisoners, thirteen partisans known to be killed (probably many more whose bodies were removed by local people), five prisoners and an indeterminate number of wounded. (Any wounded man who could walk or be transported was given shelter locally until he was well enough to return home). The partisan patrol reported Lionel had been buried where he fell, in front of the First House. A small white cross, with his name inscribed, had been erected over his grave. "
Source: Denis Forman To Reason Why, Chapter 14, Pages 182 -186.
Those of the Maiella Brigade Killed were:
| Nicolas Di Renzo, 24 years old of Pennadomo. | |
| Giuseppe Fantini, 18 years old of Torricella Peligna. | |
| Mario Silvestri, 22 years old of Pacentro. | |
| Lorenzo D'Angelo, 20 years old of Pennadomo. | |
| Mauro Small, 22 years old of Torricella Peligna. | |
| Luigi Di Francesco, 22 years old of Pennadomo. | |
| Gaetano Di Gregorio, 20 years old of Gessopalena. | |
| Giosia Di Luzio, 44 years old of Torricella Peligna. | |
| Angel Red, 21 years old and former soldier of Colledimacine. | |
| Alberto Pavia, 21 years old of S. Villa Maria. | |
| Alfonso Piccone, 21 years old of Torricella Peligna. | |
| Domenico Madonna, 22 years old of Blade of the Peligni. | |
| Nicholas De Rose, 27 years old of Casoli. |
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