European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

Around 10:30 or 11, I was in the highest position in Cerrè Sologno,

right in front of the spot where today you can find the monument of our fallen.

I was with Viktor, a Russian who had a machine gun

that had been taken from a fascist by the women in Montecavolo.

That was the only machine gun we had.

Then there was also one of my comrades from Cella. It was four of us there.

I could overlook the whole main street of Cerrè Sologno.

This young man was walking towards us with a gun.

As he realized he had 3 or 4 guns aimed at him, he raised his hands and dropped his gun.

We told him to come forward,

then we arrested him, questioned him for some news, and took him to the command.

There we saw Barbolini’s sister, Sonia, who was desperate.

Our wounded men had already been taken there.

She told us that a German unit from Cinque Cerri was on its way.

If that company made it over there, it would have been a slaughtering for us.

We didn’t have enough cover to draw back since the mountain behind us had more than a meter of snow.

If we withdrew like that they would have shot us.

It was almost noon at that point,

and it wasn’t clear if we were winning or losing the battle.

Then the fascists started singing “Battaglione”.