European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

That was also part of our struggle…

Mines against the cavalry

The Germans could not use armoured vehicles and tanks around the mountains,

as we had blown up all the bridges.

So they didn’t succeed when they repeatedly tried to surround the mountains.

Then they set up the Mongolian cavalry unit.

It was made up of soldiers who came from the south of the Soviet Union.

We heard they were moving uphill from the lowlands trying to surround the area.

We knew they would come by the road that begins by the church of Rivalta.

We mined the whole road. You probably know how antitank mines work. We saw horses blown up in the air…

Fossoli: Russian prisoners liberated

The Germans had taken 250-300 Russian prisoners to a camp in Fossoli.

Together with the GAPs and the partisans from Modena

we surrounded the camp and took all the Russians to the mountains.

The central headquarters then took care of the rest, talking with the three Russian officers.

One of them later became a partisan choosing Modena as his battle name.

Afterwards we had a major problem in the lowlands around Reggio.

One of the Russians we had taken to the mountains escaped and joined the Black Brigades.

He knew the lowlands, since he had spent some time working in some houses there.

He began to point out the houses to the Black Brigades, who set them on fire.