WWII

World War II military action in and around Fallascoso

During World War II, The Allies encountered the German Army at Fallascoso. Fallascoso, and the surrounding territory that formed a triangle between Castel Di Sangro, Colledimezzo and Casoli was considered a very dangerous no-mans land. The Germans in this area were particularly aggressive. They employed the 'scorched earth' policy. In addition to destroying military objectives they destroyed most farms and buildings for miles around. In some villages not a single building remained. Their method was to close all the doors and windows and then explode a hand-grenade inside the house. This blows down all the walls and roof which usually sets fire to the ruins as well. This tactic was used on Nunzio Di Valerio's home in Fallascoso.

United States Army General Staff

The following was the order of Battle in and around Fallascoso from the winter of 1943 until the German Army was forced to retreat to northern Italy in the Spring of 1944.

The overall plan for the Allied Armies was to push the German Army under the command of Field Marshal Kesselring out of Italy after the Allies landed in Salerno on 9 Sep 1943. The American 5th army under the command Lt General Mark Clark was to advance along the Tyrrhenian Sea coast to Rome and then northward while the British 8th Army under the command of General Bernard Montgomery landed in Bari and was to advance northward on the Adriatic Coast of Italy to Pescara; from there the British 8th Army was to follow the road (highway 5) southwestward thru the mountains towards Rome, also the objective of the American 5th Army.

23 Sep1943: At 7:30 PM, POW Joe Frelinghuysen and fellow POW Dick Rossbach escaped from Camp 78 at Fonte d'Amore, near Sulmona and head for the Adriatic ultimately passing Fallascoso.

25 Sep1943: The German 10 Armored Division under the command of Kesselring was ordered by Hitler to hold the advancing Allies and for the German commander to set up defenses along a line from the Tyrrhenian sea south of Rome running thru Fallascoso to Ortona and onto the Adriatic. This line was know as the "Gustav Line". The Battle of Monte Cassino was the most famous battle along this Gustav Line. A lesser known battle along this Gustav Line took place at Pizzoferranto, just south of Fallascoso..

5 Oct 1943: James H. Doolittle assumes command of the Twelfth Air Force. Operating from the captured Foggia airfield. Curtis P-40 fighter bombers of the 64^th, 65^th, 66th Fighter squadrons of the 57^th HQ Fighter Group, attack German trucks in the Termoli-Vasto area.

13 Oct 1943: Italy declares war on Germany.

P-40 aircraft attack German troop and tank concentrations, trains, trucks and communication lines in the forward area, especially around Ortona and Campobasso

14 Oct 1943: The US 5th Army offensive was in progress on the Tyrrhenian coast. On the Adriatic coast, the Canadian 1st Division (part of the British 13th Corps, 8th Army ) captures Compobasso. Oct 15th they capture Vinchiaturo.

15 Oct 1943: German General Rommel meets with Field Marshal Kesselring at his headquarters in the home of Doctor and Signora Pollice in Gamberale south of Fallascoso.

17 Oct 1943: That afternoon POW Joe Frelinghuysen and fellow POW Dick Rossbach while hiding at the farm of Antonio and Rosa DiGiacomantonio near Fallascoso sees a flight of RAF Spitfires circling low over Fallascoso and Montenerodomo.

German soldiers of the 29th Mechanized Grenadier Division and all of the 305th Division controlled the area around Fallascoso. The German Headquarters of the 305th Rifle Battalion (approx.100 soldiers) under the command of Major Gerhard Pick was located in the home of Pietro Palmieri in nearby Palena. The soldiers of this Battalion frequently patrolled the surrounding villages on both sides of the Aventino river. (read a note from Joseph Cionni who lived in nearby Torricella Peligna)

21 Oct 1943: Germans raid Montenerodomo and a large number of the people flee to Antonio DiGiacomantonios farm near Fallascoso to hide from the Germans.

23 Oct 1943: Squadrons of the Royal Air Force of the Desert Air Force attack German vehicles and gun positions on a line from Vasto to Sulmona.

30 Oct 1943: In an order, Signed by General Albert Kesselring, Commanding officer of the German Armed Forces in Italy and addressed: To the towns of: Palombaro, Civitella Messer Raimondo (Selva), Fara San Martino, Lama dei Peligni (Corpisanti), Taranta Peligna, Palena and Lettopalena were to be evacuated by 12 noon on the 2 Nov 1943.

In part this order read:

"This town, because of the exigencies of war, must be destroyed. The residents are invited to quit the town by 12:00 p.m. on the day of November 2. The residents may take along only some necessary articles of clothing and must head towards Sulmona. Those found in town or in the surrounding mountains after this day and hour will be considered rebels and will be subjected to the treatment established by the laws of war of the German Army"

Domenico Triolo (vice commander of the Majella Brigade) was an eye witness to the burning of Civitella Messer Raimondo (Selva) and Lama dei Peligni (Corpisanti).

2 Nov 1943: The British 8th Army launches a full-scale attack from its bridgehead over the Trigno River south of Vasto.

3 Nov 1943: Germans continue to destroy Montenerodomo and 15 to 20 new refugees flee to Antonio DiGiacomantonios farm near Fallascoso.

11 Nov 1943: United States and Royal Air Force light bombers attack German troop and gun concentrations in Palena near Fallascoso.

12 Nov 1943: NATBF B-25 light bombers attack railway facilities between Palena and Atino. Royal Air Force of the Desert Air Force carry out patrols and reconnaissance over Fallascoso and the surrounding villages.

14 Nov 1943: Troops of the 8th Indian Division, supported by the 2nd New Zealand Division capture Perano from the German 76th panzer Corps to the northeast of Fallascoso.

17 Nov 1943: During appalling weather the 19th Indian Brigade troops of the British 8th Army advanced towards Fallascoso from Atessa by wading across the swollen Sangro river. The river flow was so strong that many of the wounded troops on the Fallascoso side of the Sangro could not return to their base camps on the east side of the Sangro and died of exposure. The object of this assault was to take the high ground between the Sangro and Aventino rivers which was occupied by the German Army

The British 13th Corps began an assault towards Fallascoso from Castel di Sangro in the south against the German 1st Parachute Division. This action was really a diversionary operation to conceal the British 8th Army's main attack on Orsogna and Ortona to the northeast of Fallascoso.

20 Nov 1943: The 2nd New Zealand Division of the British 8th follow the19th Indian Brigade across the Sangro river. Elsewhere on the river Sangro the British 5th Corps operations were postponed since temporary bridges were not yet built due to the prevailing weather conditions.

21 Nov 1943: The 78th Division began bridge-building across the Sangro in preparation for the main attack.

27 Nov 1943: Curtis P-40 aircraft of the Twelfth Air Force bomb and strafe buildings, trucks, roads and German Targets of opportunity from Torricella Peligna to Casoli.

28 Nov 1943: The 8th Indian Division crosses the Sangro river as far north as Mozzogrogna.

Nov 1943: Together, thirteen men from Gamberale are shot by German soldiers disguised as British Solders. See Heroes of Gamberale.

5 Dec 1943: At the comune of Casoli, Ettore Troilo, a lawyer from Torricella Peligna formed the Banda Patrioti della Maiella (Brigata Majella/ Maiella Volunteer Corps).

6 Dec 1943: Three Hundred sons of Abruzzi making up the band of Patriots of the Maiella Brigade gathered on the banks of the Sangro to join the fighting with the British 5th Army and later the 2nd Polish Army to push the Germans north and out of Italy.

16 Dec1943: A-36 aircraft attack gun emplacements and German troop concentrations all along the British Eight Army front South and East of Chieti.

On New Year's evening a huge snow storm covered all of Abruzzo. In some places the snow was more than 6 feet and continued falling for days adding to the misery of all.

10 Jan 1944: Patriots of the Maiella Brigade joined the battle at Civitella Messer Raimondo, northwest of Fallascoso.

15 Jan 1944: A Germans patrol (most likely under the command of Major Pick) arrived at Santa Agata, rounded up all the men, women and children in the vicinity and locked them in the largest room on a farm and set fire to it. They shot those who tried to escape by putting a rifle in their mouths. Between 40 and 50 villagers were reported killed. (Click here to see photo of the farmhouse where the murders occured).

09 Jan 1944: Curtis P-40 and A-36 aircraft attack German tanks and trucks at Palena.

20 Jan 1944: British Commanders discussed the merits to attack the German garrison at Torricella Peligna which had become the keystone of the German chain of command. The British Army longed to liquidate this particular garrison. Even a night attack would have to be mounted on a battalion size scale with at least two companies. 30 to 50 Germans were in ideal defensive positions, manning the topmost buildings on a high comb of rock jutting out from the main part of town. All approaches including those to Fallascoso were mined and booby-trapped and a surprise attack would be impossible and the projected casualties would be heavy.

21 Jan 1944: Nicoletta Di Luzio, Age 16, Daughter of Domenico Di Luzio along with her mother and siblings and other persons – all from Torricella Peligna were locked in a house in S. Agata. German Soldiers threw hand grenades down the chimney and into the house. After the explosions, the solders came back into the demolished house and put straw all over the dead and dying and poured petrol over the straw and set on fire. Overwhelmed with smoke, Nicoletta and her brother tried to escape from the burning building when the Germans shot and killed her brother Leonardo and she was shot in the back. She pretended to be dead while lying next to a dead women. The Soldiers then touched the old women and me with a cigarette lighter to make sure we were dead. It is believed the German soldiers were of an Alpine regiment garrisoned at Torricella Peligna and they were taking revenge because three of their men were killed the night before.

Doctor Pietro Tilli treated Nicoletta in Gessoplena. She had deep wounds in both shoulders, torn forehead, a burn on her neck under her right ear. Doctor Tilli also treated Domenico Di Luzio, age 10, son of Antonio Di Luzio and Giuseppa Friend – all from Torricella Peligna.

(Click here to see the 1 Feb 2002 interview of Nicoletta Di Luzio)

23 Jan 1944: Details furnished to the British Commander by a patriot eyewitness at Pennadomo just east of Fallascoso: "22 German troops visited town at 0700 hrs and remained all day, leaving at 1830 hrs. Armament 5 Spandaus (brand new) remainder all Schmeissers, except 4. Mostly very young troops. Machine Gun posts arranged to circle town, with central Command Post on prominent roof, Objects of patrol - loot, rape, drink. Five girls were raped at gun-point. Most solders drunk when they left town in evening".

24 Jan 1944: Hitler ordered that the German troops in Italy hold the "Gustav Line" at all costs.

25 Jan 1944: The valley below Fallascoso in the village of Quadri, German soldiers were captured by a force under the command of British Major Lionel Wigram consisting of 12 British soldiers; 2 fighting patrols of 15 patriots each. One patrol lead by ?? Di Marino, the other by ?? Mancini. Also included in this patrol was one other British soldier and 4 patriots to carry stretchers. Some of the captured Germans belonged to the 2nd Company Aufklarungsabtelung (motor-cyclists) which were headquartered in Pizzoferrato. (these motor-cyclists could be the same that Joseph Cionni observed in nearby Torricella Peligna on Oct 1943). The other German Soldiers came from the 3rd Company stationed at Palena under the Command of Major Pick. The interrogation of the Captured German soldiers; Gefreiter, Fickert, Andres and Unteroffizier Hachtel revealed little as they had just arrived in the area to relieve the German 568th Infantry Regiment of the German 30th Division.

2 Feb 1944: 60 Patriots of the Maiella Brigade joined with British troops under the command of Major Lionel Wigram in the ill-fated battle of Pizzoferrato just south of Fallascoso. Casualities in the end the were: Major Wigram Killed. 4 British solders killed. 21 British wounded, 11 Patriots killed and 6 Patriots injured. 20 Germans killed. 2 female civilians killed.

To read an account by British Commander Denis Forman of the action in Pizzoferrato in which his friend Lionel Wigman was Killed. Click here.

7 Feb 1944: The German Army evacuates Fallascoso and all the "no-man's land" which lay within the original triangle between Castel di Sangro and Casoli.

23 Mar 1944: In Rome the Partisan Commander Carlo Salinari and his patriots killed 32 German SS soldiers and wounded many others. Adolf Hitler then ordered Field Marshal Kesselring to kill fifty Italians for each dead German soldier; only with difficulty was he persuaded to reduce this to ten for one. Field Marshal Kesselring ordered the Commander of the German 14th Army, General von Mackensen to kill ten Italians for every German. His orders were brutally carried out with the murder of 335 Romans in the Ardeatine caves south of Rome the next day.

24 Mar 1944: Following is a testimony by Domenico Troilo. "At 10 PM a British Lieutenant and 10 of his Commandos arrived at Fallascoso for help from Domenico Troilo, commander of the Majeilla Brigade garrison at Fallascoso to join his patrol in the area of the Cove of the Lupo, a frazione of Montenerodomo. The Lieutenant just arrived from London two days earlier and has not seen any action. Domenico Troilo joined the lieutenant with 9 of his Patriots and began the march in the rain to the Cove of the Lupo. When they stopped at a nearby barn to smoke a cigarette they came across the bodies of a woman in a nightgown and three children - all killed by the Germans. The patrol continued on to the Cove of the Lupo and finished its mission with a furious shoot-out with the Germans. They returned to Fallascoso at dawn without any losses. The British Lieutenant was content with his baptism of fire that night and continued on to Torricella Peligna. Those dead in the barn were the Family of Giuseppe Rocco, His wife Domenica Di Lullo was 29 years old, b.18 Jun 1905 d. 25 Mar 1944; daughter Rose Rocco, 9 years old, b.11 Sep 1934, d. 25 Mar 1944; son Rocco Rocco, 5 years old, b.13 Sep 1937 d. 25 Mar 1944; daughter Anna Emilia Rocco, 3 years old. b.13 Mar 1941 d. 25 Mar 1944.

The battles on the Adriatic front lasted 9 months and produced over 12,000 casualties. Many Allied soldiers captured in North Africa along with local civilians were housed in prison camps in nearby Sulmona.

28 Apr 1944: Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Claretta Petacci, were shot by Partisans.

6 May 1945: General Albert Kesselring, the only one of the early field marshals not to be sacked by Adolf Hitler, was taken prisoner by the Allies.. From 17 Feb to 6th May 1947 he was tried as a war criminal by The British Military Court at Venice, Italy, (click here to read about the trial. http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/WCC/kesselring.htm ) and was found guilty of war crimes (for the massacre of 320 Italian prisoners) and condemned to death. Soon afterwards this sentence was commuted to life in prison and he was released for health reasons in October 1952. The following year he published his autobiography, A Soldier to the Last Day (1953). Albert Kesselring died on 16th July 1960.

7 May 1945: Germany surrendered to the Allies.

15 Jul 1945: At Brisighella (Ravenna), The Brigata Maiella under the Command of Col. Ettore Troilo and Vice Commander Domenico Troilo was awarded the Gold medal for Valor. The Patriots of the Majella fought numerous battles from the winter of 1943 to the summer of 1945, During this period 54 were killed in action, 131 injured, 36 crippled, 15 Silver medals, 43 Bronze medals, and 144 Crosses for Military Valor.

Sources:

War In Italy 1943-1945: A Brutal Story, by Richard Lamb.

Echoes of Resistance: British Involvement with the Italian Partisans, by Laurence Lewis.

Historical Section Canadian Military Headquarters Reports 161, 165, 166, 170.

Lettopalena, A Town, A History, by Matteo Cosenza, translated by Guy Rossetti.

Official History of New Zealand in WWII 1939-45: 28th (Maori) Battalion, Chapter 13.

To Reason Why, by Denis Forman.

The Tiger Triumphs, Published by His Majesty's Stationery Office for the Government of India

Report of British Captain Jesse B. Mayforth.

Mighty Eighth War Diary, by Roger A. Freeman.

Dances with Luigi, by Paul Paolicelli.

Passages to Freedom by Joseph S. Frelinghuysen.

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