This is the recounting and the diary of my life - Marino Mattei

11.

The war continued and things were not going well. Unfortunately, the 30 days of leave passed quickly. My arm had healed and I presented myself for examination at the hospital in Florence. From there I was sent back into the army; that being the depot of the 9th Alpini Regiment. It was around the first of July, 1941. Our stay there was very good. We rested and had to do very little work. We ate like noblemen. Every day we relaxed and at night we could leave the barracks and, in this way, the time passed. We were stationed in Gorizia, a small and very calm city [on the border of Italy and Slovenia].

After about a month, they gave us another ten days of leave. These days also passed rapidly and we returned to the depot at Gorizia. As soon as we arrived we once again began the military life; marches and drills. Sadly, the war was escalating on all fronts. One Sunday morning we were in formation and ready to go to Mass. The radio broadcast a special bulletin. Il Duce [Mussolini] announced that Germany had declared war against Russia. At this point, our morale went down to zero. Until then, we had hoped that the war would soon be ending because Germany had occupied all of Europe. There remained only England and we were anticipating that they would soon be surrendering. But with the intervention of Russia we immediately thought the war was lost.

We remained in Gorizia a little while longer but on the first of August, still in 1941, we were all once again sent to our respective regiments. I, and many others who came from the Cuneeze Division [see part 5], rejoined the second Alpini Regiment, Saluzzo Battaglione in Piemonte [Northern Italian region] which, in that time, was stationed by the French border close to Argentera [a small border town]. We left Gorizia by train and we arrived in Cuneo in the morning. There were many of us and we were met by a Lieutenant. We took a small train to Demonte and arrived at around 9:00. From there we left on foot to catch up with the battalion that was very far from our location. As I said, we found ourselves close to Argentera and since we were not then accustomed to marching long distances, we arrived at night completely exhausted. It was here that I found all my old friends. Among these were Romola's sons, Fredo and Aldo [from his hometown village of Gromignana]. I once again began the real military life; long marches every day and practicing the tactics of war.

Our base was in an area of forest. While the weather was warm, we stayed fairly comfortably. There was a small village close to us and at night we were given permission to leave and I, along with Fredo and Aldo, would go out. Aldo and myself enjoyed music very much. We would go for a walk and there was a building of finance [perhaps some type of municipal building] where people played mandolin and guitar. Aldo and I were very entertained by listening to this music but we couldn't stay very long because Fredo always wanted to go to a café to get something to drink and he never let us listen in peace. Time passed and soon it was September and then October and the bad weather began to arrive. First the cold then the snow and eventually we could no longer live under the tents. Finally, around the twentieth of November, they sent us back but my company was sent to Vinadio. Fredo's company was dispatched to Demonte [both Vinadio and Demonte are in the Piemonte region]. In this way, Aldo and I remained together while Fredo was sent to Demonte along with those from Monté [area close to his hometown] who all seemed to know each other.

The winter in Vinadio was terrible and intolerably cold. At night everyone had leave but I almost always stayed in and went to bed to keep warm. Throughout the whole winter we went on marches across the mountains, covered in snow and ice. With the coming of the Spring the maneuvers continued and this kept up until the end of June, 1942. By this time we already knew that we would soon be departing for Russia. Around the tenth of June they sent us home on leave. For almost all my fellow soldiers it was to be the last 8 days that they would see their families. These 8 days passed quickly and leaving home was very difficult. We were leaving without hope of returning. Many people came to my house to tell me goodbye. Everyone was crying, as was my mother. Even though I knew what was awaiting me I tried to be courageous. In fact, when I said goodbye to my mother, who was crying uncontrollably, I remember that I told her not to cry because I was confident that I would be returning home. Along with me there was Romola's son, Aldo. He was extremely desperate and he did not want to go back to the war. Perhaps he had an intuition that he was one of those fated not to return home.

We were again sent to Vinadio and immediately given new uniforms. New shoes, all new weapons, and coats lined with fur; in a word, prepared for war and ready to confront the Russian winter. As soon as we were equipped they took us to Cuneo. King Vittorio Emanuele came by to inspect us and two days later they loaded us onto a train at a small station near Cuneo, the name of which I can't recall. For we Tuscans [those soldiers from the Tuscany region], our families had already said their goodbyes and the worst was behind us but for the Piemontesi [those soldiers who lived in the Piemonte region, where they were stationed] the partings were very difficult. All their families came by to send them off. You can imagine the chaos. Everybody was crying and it was truly torturous. I remember that it was the morning around the tenth of August. As soon as we had boarded, around 10:00 in the morning, the train departed.

It was a very bad trip. The train normally carried freight but they had covered the floor with straw on which we could sleep. We travelled on this train for 14 days. There was very little food - only enough to keep us alive. When we got off the train we were permitted to rest for one day. As I said, we were dying of hunger but we found potatoes and corn in the area and this relieved us somewhat. On the following day, very early in the morning, we began our great march towards the front line. We walked for 40 days carrying 40 kilos on our shoulders and we walked 60 or 65 kilometers a day. We ate once a day and were given very little. We arrived at the front completely exhausted and dying of hunger.

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© 2009 by Maurice Mattei
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