European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

Allied airdrop with food and weapon supplies

An American colonel had crashed with his airplane and had to stay in Ligonchio for a while.

There was little to eat, and he was fed even less than the others.

So he told our captain: “If I manage to get to Florence I’ll organize an air-drop and drop you a lot of good food”.

He kept his word.

He crossed the front lines and got to Florence.

There was communication from Ligonchio then, from Lama Golese to Florence; there were English officers with radios,

it was just like talking with a telephone today.

So he did this air-drop, on a Sunday morning, there were airplanes all over

and they dropped all sorts of things, even gasoline tanks looking like missiles.

They even dropped two small Lambrettas,

a light gun, a whole lot of stuff, things to eat.

Quite a few parachutes fell on the other side of the river and were taken by the Germans.

Later the Germans tried to go take some on our side too,

and that’s when a partisan died, poor man, his name was Nello Vergai, he was a sailor from Caprile.

He was shot and he took cover wounded,

but he hid so well that we didn’t find him.

The woodmen found him two or three months later,

and you could see that he had bled to death. He had covered himself with leaves… It was a terrible tragedy.