European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

Camillo Marmiroli was born into a family of socialist day labourers and was called Camillo in honour of Camillo Prampolini. At the age of 19, he was tortured because of his decision not to take part in fascist activities. In March, 1940, he was sent to Yugoslavia with the Italian army and stayed there for almost three years, becoming a witness of the atrocities carried out by his fellow nationals. After September 8th, 1943, he managed to get back to Italy after a long journey together with some 600 brothers in arms. When he reached Reggio Emilia he had to hide, being a deserter, and after a few months joined the partisans adopting the nickname Mirko, in honour of a Slavic resistance fighter he knew. He was immediately deployed in the area between Villa Minozzo and the province of Modena and took part in a number of military actions in the Apennines like the attack to the fascist outpost in Busana and the Sparavalle battle on June 10th, 1944. During his time in the resistance movement he took advantage of his military experience in the Yugoslav war, teaching a lot of young fighters the tactics of warfare. At the end of the liberation war he was appointed vice-commander of the 144th Garibaldi brigade.

Ulisse Gilioli was born in Montecavolo near Quattro Castella in the province of Reggio Emilia on May 26th, 1921 into a peasant family. Ulisse studied at the Salesians in Montechiarugolo near Parma and then as an autodidact until he started working at Capolo, where he worked for short periods. In Montecchio he became friends with some other young people united by the aversion to the fascist regime. In 1939-40 he worked in Rome at the Ministry of Transport until he had to start military service.  At the beginning of the war he took part in military actions as an airman on the Mediterranean islands. On September 8th, 1943 he was on duty in Milano from where he fled to return to Montecchio. He later joined his brother Guerrino and other fellows in the mountains. With the nickname Orazio he fought on the mountains near Villa Minozzo and took the inspiration from these episodes for writing partisan stories and poems. Together with Lando Landini and Davide Valeriani he wrote in the journals “Il Volontario della Libertà” and “Il Garibaldino” that were read among the resistance fighters and civilians in the mountains.

Francesco Bertacchini was born on June 24th, 1926 in Reggio Emilia. As a young apprentice in a radio and gramophone shop he discovered his love for music and his aversion to the fascist regime because of the restrictions he had to suffer from in his daily life. After the armistice of September 8th, 1943,aged 17 he and his best friend went to the mountains looking for the “rebels”. They were willing to become a rebel themselves and eventually succeeded, joining the 144th Garibaldi Brigade. Francesco took part in actions in the area of Succiso and Cerreto, attempting sabotage actions against the German troops on the road number 63. He was part of the “Antifascist” unit and of the “Cervi” unit with the nickname “Volpe” (“Fox”) and by pure chance was not involved in the Legoreccio massacre of November 17th, 1944, in which all his companions were killed. He took part in several actions in the Enza valley and in fights in Bibbiano, Barco and Cavriago. As he found himself surrounded by German troops he crossed the river Enza in October, 1944, and reached the territory of Parma first and Piacenza later. He took part in the Liberation of Parma and reached his home town Reggio Emilia in the night of April, 24th, 1944, when the city had already been liberated.