Legacy of Sorrows Read Online Free PDF Page B

me feel sick.
    I had only walked a few metres along the road when I saw some military vehicles blocking the road ahead. I threw myself to the ground and crawled to the end of a building for cover. I knew I had to get off the road before the Germans saw me, and the only place to go was up the steep hillside behind the village. I crawled along until I reached the grass verge and crawled my way quite high up the hillside to safety.
    I now had time to think about what had just happened and the violent massacre of people close to me I had witnessed for the second time.
    My young mind could not take in the total extent of what had happened.
    As I lay there, I heard a rustling sound in the long grass behind me. I again felt absolute fear fill me and I sunk lower into the ground, hoping that my pounding heart wouldn’t betray my presence. The sound of a moving body crawling towards me grew ever louder. I pointed my shotgun in the direction of the sound and waited. A face appeared through the grass and spoke softly in Italian to me. ‘Don’t be afraid, I’m with the Stella Rossa. I saw you coming off the road and hiding up here. What’s your name?’
    To my relief I recognised the man as one of the partisans who frequently came to the village to visit his girlfriend. He was about twenty years old and dressed in a British Army jacket and an Italian infantry hat with a red ribbon tied round it.
    â€˜My name is Bruno Verdi,’ I managed to answer in a shaky voice.
    â€˜Well Bruno, my name is Italo Arcari. Lower your weapon, stay here and don’t wander about. The tedeschi have a patrol out searching the hillside for stragglers.’ As if to emphasise this he pointed to his Sten gun, ‘and if they come near us I’ll be ready.’
    We lay together on that hillside until we were sure all the German vehicles had left the area, and even then, we continued to wait, and wait. I wondered what for. After some time, the partisan’s body stiffened as he saw a German uniform below us crawling up the mountainside in our direction. Italo whispered to me, ‘It’s all right; this is their usual tactic after a rastrallemento . They drop off one or two soldiers to see if they can flush out anyone who escaped and are still hiding from them. If they do, then the soldiers finish them off. They then leave and are picked up further down the road by their comrades.’ I could only see one soldier moving below me, ‘Are there any more?’ I whispered.
    â€˜There’s probably another one covering his back with an automatic weapon,’ he said as he cocked his own Sten gun.
    Italo watched the German crawl his way up the hillside in a zigzag pattern for a further ten minutes, then, as if bored with the game, the German stood up and walked back down the way he had just come. Italo breathed a sigh of relief at the narrow escape. ‘He’s probably seen enough and thinks there are no more survivors here,’ he said, holding a shaking gun.
    The German soldier had reached the road, and was joined there by another soldier who had remained hidden all this time in the long grass.
    Italo laughed. ‘These Germans are so predictable in what they do. They have no imagination. They always have to follow the book.’
    For the first time in days, I smiled.
    â€˜What do we do now?, I asked the partisan.
    â€˜Well, I think we should take advantage of the rest and have something to eat. What do you think, Bruno?’
    I admitted that I did feel quite hungry, so I rummaged in my bag and pulled out some bread and cheese.
    â€˜Do you think they will come back?’ I asked.
    Italo thought for a moment or two. ‘I don’t think they will come back to Marzabotto. Two soldiers being dropped off is usually a sign they have finished operations in an area. Although I don’t think they will have finished the rastrallemento on the mountain itself. They may come back tomorrow for