European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

Women support groups primarily supported the partisan struggle.

The struggle began after September 8th, as soon as men took off for the mountains.

The Partisans were an army with no uniforms and no supplies.

They had nothing.

That’s why we started to get hold of small things for them.

gloves, a shirt or a pair of shoes to send off to the partisans, we risked our lives.

It was extremely dangerous, because the fascists, assisted by the Germans, would arrest us and torture us.

The women who worked in the Women support groups in the lowlands faced danger everyday.

We carried out our tasks open-faced, and we had no battle names.

For example, we handed out leaflets and circulated news. News went around in our bags, by bicycle.

As for leaflets, if you were stopped, just like they did with me in front of the hospice,

you would have been locked up for the rest of your life.

We moved weapons around. I used to hide hand grenades in a bag with potatoes:

hand grenades at the bottom, potatoes on top.

Especially at the beginning, partisans assaulted fascist garrisons to get hold of weapons.

These weapons had to be carried around from one person to the other.

It was also vital to circulate news. Those in the mountains had to know what was going on in the lowlands.

We would go back and forth to pass on these small notes regarding the Germans’ activities,

if mop-ups were taking place, if our men were in danger.