Majella Brigade
GUSTAV LINE (Guardiagrele)
Guardiagrele saw the German occupation in October 1943. The
population was forced to flee and take refuge outside the city,
while the town suffered violent Allied bombing that lasted until
the liberation day, whose damage is still visible in some streets.
Until 1943 Guardiagrele was among the 20 places of internment in
the Chieti province for foreign Jews and opponents of fascism.
In early December 1943, the Germans, after losing the Battle of
Sangro, decided to block the Allied advance on
Guardiagrele, Orsogna and Ortona.
During the battle many Guardiesi escaped into the tunnel of
the district plan, using as an air-raid shelter.
The tunnel started from the entrance located behind the walls and
continued for about 50 meters just below the ancient cistern of the
water tower.
At about 14:30 a plane dropped a bomb just above the iron door of
the tunnel, causing a massacre. Guardiagrele was released on June 9,
1944 thanks to the contribution of the local patriots of the Majella Brigade.
A monument in the place of the municipal gardens in
Largo Majella Brigade, which is dedicated to the Abruzzo patriots.
SHORT STORY
The Patriotic Maiella Group, initially called "Banda Patriots of the Maiella",
taking the name from the mountain Majella and commonly called
"Maiella Brigade" wasfounded in Casoli (CH), in December 1943, a
Continuation of employment 'Abruzzo by the German Army'.
The founder was Ettore Troilo, socialist and anti-fascist, who fled from
Rome to his native Torricella.
Afterwards he had to evacuate in Casoli, recently liberated by the Allies.
Troilo was proposed, along with a group of young people living in the
countries of the Valley Aventine, to collaborate with the allied army for
the liberation of the countries that the Germans were destroying,
as these areas were located in front of the Gustav line.
The Maiella Brigade gathered several bands of partisans who had begun
to operate in the Aventino Valley and in the Middle Sangro, just after
the 25th of July 1943.
The men of the Maiella Brigade, in fact, freed their land and continued with
the participation of over a thousand young people from Sulmona,
Pratola, Prezza, Popoli, Corfinio and the other towns of the Peligna's
Valley. They even put their lives at the disposal of the Fatherland, with
self-denial and sacrifice, where many would have given up.
They continued to fight together with the Second Polish Army going
up Italy until Asiago releasing numerous centers of Marche, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto.
They entered, along with the Poles, in the city of Bologna releasing on
the morning of 21st April 1945.
Upon dissolution of the Brigade, which took place in Brisighella on July 31st,
1945, after the complete liberation of Italy, 110 young people were
counted Pratolani, in addition to the rest of the participants who had
served in its ranks. Unfortunately, among them, five people died
and four were wounded.
The Maiella Brigade was the only partisan group to receive the gold
medal for valor and the only one to keep fighting even after the
liberation of its home territory.
The Majella fighters were also decorated with 11 silver medals for valor,
34 bronze medals and 144 crosses of war.