World War II, the Atinati rescued in Assisi

A forgotten history of the Second World War: the Atinati rescued in Assisi

Today we take advantage of this date, 10 June (in 1940 Italy entered the war), to tell you a story (as far as we know, very few know it) of a group of people from Atina saved at the end of the World War II at Assisi.

The Gustav Line and the forced evacuation of Atina

Our territory was hard hit, Atina and the other villages of the Comino Valley were on the Gustav Line and were the sad scene of bitter battles between the Nazis and the Allies.

Towards the end of January 1944, the Germans ordered the general evacuation of a number of municipalities that lay on the war line, among them Atina, Villa Latina, Belmonte Castello and Picinisco: it was the 23 January.

The people who were still in the village were forced to leave it. Families were dismembered, loaded onto lorries and taken to reception centres or driven north, the “lucky” ones dispersed to the surrounding mountains.

A group of Atinati evacuated to SettefratiSome were hosted by locals, others took refuge in the surrounding caves or in makeshift camps in the woods.

The 16 March 1944 came the eviction order of Settefrati and the group (40/50 pp according to our sources) of Atinati moved to Alvito.

They remained at Alvito for a few weeks, until, after a round-up, they were captured by the Nazis and loaded onto trucks on their way to Rome.

They were deported to the Breda Arms Factory in Rome, which at that time, at Mussolini's behest, had been transformed into camp for displaced persons e internment camp.

Those were difficult times, people lived by expedients. G. Caira, a little girl at the time, told us that one of her brothers, in order to try to get a piece of bread more than he had to, used to do services for the German soldiers who controlled the camp.

The 28 May 1944 the 21st New Zealand Battalion liberated Atina.

After the long, exhausting series of battles over the Gustav line and on the Front of Anzio, the Allied armies advanced northwards: Rome was liberated by the Fifth American Army on 4 June 1944.

A few days earlier, the Nazis, breathing down their necks, loaded the last prisoners (including our countrymen) of the Breda Factory on the plumbed wagons leaving the Tiburtina station for Germany.

In Umbria, on the morning of 7 June 1944, the Allies bombed the railway and in particular the station of Assisi... in those moments, the train carrying the group of Atina, was stationed there, in the Assisi railway station, a stone's throw from the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli. The German soldiers, taken aback, ran away, abandoning the train and all the war material they had with them.

It was only a few hours later, when the situation calmed down, that the locals broke into the wagons and freed the people who were locked in them.

Our fellow citizens remained in Assisi for a few months, hosted by Franciscan friars, nuns or local people.

They returned to Atina after the summer of 1944.

We know for certain that they were present in that train:

Anna Del Prete
Maria Grazia Pagano
Giuseppina Caira
Filippo Caira
Ennio Caira
Bruno Caira
Marcello Caira
Franco Caira
Rosina Orlandi
Vittorio Caira

We invite anyone with news concerning this episode in our history to contact us on the Facebook page.