European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

The cattlemen taught us to tie four of them together by the horns with some rope.

We put them in front of the group and set off, leaving the others free.

So we made it to Cerredolo dei Coppi.

We knew the partisan paths better than normal roads.

So we made it to Cerredolo dei Coppi with all the cattle.

Getting them there really was a problem.

My brother was also there, people used to call him the tax collector

because of what he ate and how he dressed.

We discussed about where to put the cattle.

We decided to take two or three to each farm.

Farmers made great use of them, using them to plough the land. The Germans had seized petrol

and farmers could not use tractors.

Still, at times, a cow was butchered and we all had some meat to eat,

since there were personnel who distributed it around.

Action for exchange of prisoners

Another of our great engagements was capturing Major Battaglia

at Villa Bresci in San Bartolomeo.

He was a young commander of the GNR. He used to sleep there, having seized the villa.

They had captured Muso during a mop-up in San Polo. We had to consider how we could save him.

Some Black Brigades units had captured around twenty young men to send to Germany,