European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

At lunch they gave us some slop.

That’s where I’ve learned about margarine,

chard, turnip, and this kind of stuff, all minced, cooked and seasoned with some of this margarine.

Those who came last ended up eating it cold,

and it was often my case, since I did not like to cram up with all the others.

When we were allowed to break ranks,

the Germans used to enjoy watching us cram in line and get into disputes.

Forage caps would typically be falling in the soup, something that would drive people out of their minds.

My Corporal, whose name was Mario Palazzeschi, from Arezzo, was incredibly healthy, a lot healthier than me.

One day, however, he began to cry, sobbing “Carlo, I won’t make it, I won’t make it…”.

Within three months he was dead.

You know what I’ve always said?

imagine what they would say if they were to find out that I’m still here, more than eighty years old now!

I say this only to laugh a bit.

Deportation to Germany

When I got back home I went to work there,

but within three months I was called up for the Army again, since I was in the military when I was arrested.

I did my training for a second time, in Bari, and then I was sent to Albania.

I did not want to go, so I went to speak to my lieutenant colonel.