European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

Behind every tree was a German.

So we gathered them, hands up and put them into the schools.

"Falco" told me there was an order to go to Parma

but I and others told him: "I'm not going to Parma,

I'm going to defend Reggio Emilia, not Parma!"

I hated the partisans of Parma

because they had shot at us when we crossed the river on October 6th,

we have never been brothers with the partisans of Parma.

But there was nothing to do, we had to go to Parma: self-discipline.

The order was to be respected.

We left Quattro Castella passed Monticelli and arrived finally at Parma.

We walked in line, slowly, looking at the beautiful landscape.

We didn't fire one single shot.

Everything was clean, clean, clean, there was neither a fascist nor a German, nothing.

At the outskirts of Parma we met other partisans,

they told us that there were snipers and to be careful.

As we were there, a jeep of Americans came from the direction of Reggio Emilia.

We shouted at them to stop

and told them that there was a group of Germans there who were annoying us.

So one of them turned around,