{"id":2252,"date":"2008-05-26T13:03:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-26T11:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visitatina.com\/?p=2252"},"modified":"2022-05-26T13:03:28","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T11:03:28","slug":"the-german-occupation-of-atina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visitatina.com\/en\/uncategorized-en\/the-german-occupation-of-atina\/","title":{"rendered":"The German Occupation of Atina"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On 8 September 1943, Atina and the valley of the Ponte Melfa and Mollarino were invaded by the Wehrmacht\u2019s 305th Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg Infantry Division, commanded by General Friedrich Wilhelm Hauck.\u00a0By Christmas 1943, the 305th Division had been replaced by the 5th Gebirgsj\u00e4ger Division, from Bavaria and Austria, which specialised in mountain warfare. The division was initially commanded by the Austrian General Julius Ringel, and then, by the end of February 1944, by General Max Gunther Schrank. These soldiers could be easily identified by the&nbsp;<em>edelweiss<\/em>&nbsp;insignia which they wore on their sleeves and on their caps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the Val di Comino there was also a company of the SS Feldgendarmerie, a specialised unit of the German military organisation, specifically tasked with searching for and rounding up able-bodied men to be used in the construction of fortifications. By mid-November, their headquarters were located in the Villa Latina area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The local people were worried about how the German occupation would affect their lives. Over the next few days, Allied aircraft were spotted flying over the valley, carrying out aerial reconnaissance missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The German commander requisitioned Alfonso Visocchi\u2019s palace in Piazza Garibaldi and set up a major communications centre there. The hospital, bank, school building, town hall and the Carabinieri barracks were also requisitioned for German use. All the wine cellars in the area, including that of the Visocchi Brothers\u2019 Winery, were raided and emptied by the Germans, who took great delight in consuming their contents.\u00a0The drunken soldiers were seen staggering through the streets at night and into the early hours of the morning, firing pistols and throwing hand grenades to terrorise the local population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On 10 October 1943, the Germans began dismantling the extensive machinery at the Visocchi Paper Mill; its machinery, over 4 thousand quintals of paper, and abundant stocks of raw materials and metals were transported to Germany. The paper mill was completely stripped and ransacked in just eight days, in full view of the workers who had been employed there for many years.\u00a0\u00a0Inside the paper mill, the Germans set up a factory to produce time bombs: these consisted of concrete balls of a suitable diameter containing explosives, which were then transported by lorry to the front at San Biagio Saracinisco, along the narrow Vandra road, and then carried by mules up to the summit of Mount Cavallo. From there, they rolled the bombs down the slope, where they exploded against the enemy positions in an attempt to halt the advance of the Allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Atina occupied a strategic military position as it controlled the road linking the Val di Comino to Cassino. It was also an important supply route to the German front line, and was used to bring in fresh reinforcements of troops, provisions, materials, equipment and ammunition. This was generally carried out under cover of darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many of the local men were rounded up every day and forced to work for the Germans at gunpoint. This work involved loading and unloading goods and ammunition, felling trees, transporting building materials and constructing roads and field fortifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the occupation of Atina, all personal radios were confiscated. The Germans committed several acts of violence and other atrocities. The soldiers regularly raided people\u2019s homes at gunpoint and took any valuables, food supplies and building materials. They would often come to seize animals from local farmers and country folk, such as the locally bred Casertana pigs. If any of the owners offered any resistance, this could often have serious consequences. Several unarmed civilians were shot during such incidents, and there were also other senseless, random shootings and acts of violence by the Germans. The peasants tried to hide their animals in caves. Others decided to slaughter their animals prematurely, before they had been fully fattened up for slaughter.\u00a0 When there were no more pigs left, the Germans turned their attention to cattle, sheep, goats and poultry. Thus, within just a few months of the German occupation, Atina\u2019s thriving livestock industry was destroyed.&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the 8th September 1943 Atina and the valley of the Ponte Melfa and Mollarino was invaded by the Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg 305\u00aa Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht commanded by General Friedrich Wilhelm Hauck.&nbsp;By Christmas 1943 the 305th division was replaced by the 5th Gebirgj\u00e4gers&nbsp; Division, from Bavaria and Austria,&nbsp;which specialized in mountain warfare. The division was&nbsp;first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.9 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The German Occupation of Atina - Visit Atina<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/visitatina.com\/en\/uncategorized-en\/the-german-occupation-of-atina\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The German Occupation of Atina\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On the 8th September 1943 Atina and the valley of the Ponte Melfa and Mollarino was invaded by the Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg 305\u00aa Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht commanded by General Friedrich Wilhelm Hauck.&nbsp;By Christmas 1943 the 305th division was replaced by the 5th Gebirgj\u00e4gers&nbsp; Division, from Bavaria and Austria,&nbsp;which specialized in mountain warfare. 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