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- Created on Friday, 06 January 2012 07:32
Nello scorso mese di ottobre abbiamo ricevuto dall'Italia una lettera con una richiesta di aiuto a firma di Giancarlo Rotondo, il quale voleva avere informazioni di fonte sudafricana su un atto di guerra avvenuto nei dintorni di Roma nella primavera del 1944. Abbiamo girato la richiesta ai curatori del Museo di Guerra di Johannesburg e abbiamo ricevuto la risposta che pubblichiamo di seguito assieme alla lettera arrivata dall'Italia:
La bandiera di Kesselring sul Monte Soratte
Nel giugno del 1944 un plotone di soldati sud-africani raggiunse un bunker (circa 5 km di gallerie) sul Monte Soratte, nel paese di Sant'Oreste, a 40 km a nord di Roma, sede dell'alto comando tedesco del feldmaresciallo Kesserling foto). In tale occasione risulta che i soldati trovarono la bandiera tedesca, che adesso si dovrebbe trovare esposta in un museo della vostra nazione. E' possibile avere notizie in merito a questo episodio, e se possibile evere eventuali foto dell'arrivo dei vostri soldati. Queste notizie sono utili per la costruzione di un Museo della Memoria che si sta costituendo nell'interno del bunker. Ringrazio anticipatamente per tutte le notizie che mi potrete fornire. - Giancarlo Rotondo
Monte Soratte and Field-Marshall Kesselring Flag
Thank you for your query of 13 October 2011. We apologise for the time taken to reply. The 6th South African Armoured Division (6 Div) commanded by Major General WHE Poole was tasked to spearhead the advance of the British 8th Army towards Terni. The leading General Stuart reconnaissance tanks entered the outskirts of Rome at 07h00 on Tuesday morning 6 June 1944 and the first infantry carrying trucks crossed the Fiume Tevere (Tiber River) at the Ponte Milvio at 15h00. The procession of vehicles was long due to the fact that 6 Div had 1050 vehicles, which included 310 tanks, 48 of the 25 pounder field guns, 24 self-propelled guns “Priests”, sixteen 5.5 inch medium guns, 24 self-propelled M10 tank destroyers and twenty 17 pounder towed anti-tank guns. Added to this were vehicles used to carry support weapons, scout cars, and trucks to carry two infantry brigades. They trundled past the Piazza del Popolo and worked their way onto route 3, the Via Flaminia.
Later that afternoon, elements of the Natal Mounted Rifles (NMR) in their General Stuart tanks, leading the Sherman 75 tanks of the Special Service Battalion (SSB), infantry of the Witwatersrand Rifles / De La Rey Regiment (WR/DLR) and ‘A’ Troop of engineers from 8 Field Squadron, cleared the town of Castelnuovo di Porto. ‘Charlie’ Squadron of SSB cleared Capena while the NMR, the rest of SSB and WR/DLR pushed up the road towards Civita Castellana.
‘B’ Squadron of the NMR moved forward through Rignano Flaminio in the direction of Monte Larco. They were offered vino as refreshment by young ladies who were on the road. The festive atmosphere was shattered in the late afternoon when the NMR tank crews noticed German armoured fighting vehicles ahead of them towards Monte Soratte. The bridge south of Civita Castellana was blown by the Germans which halted the advance to Civita Castellana. This force was then obliged to stop on the evening of 6 June. Sappers (engineers) of 8 Field Squadron under the command of Captain Jack Edmonds constructed a temporary crossing over the Fiume Treja . At first light on 7 June, the infantry of WR/ DLR cleared Civita Castellana which was no easy task as the village stands on a hill surrounded by precipitous ravines. They found a German staff of 86 men and 584 wounded in the hospital, including ten Allied casualties.
The Germans were however still in area. The Imperial Light Horse / Kimberley Regiment (ILH/Kim R), mounted in their M9A1 half-tracks found Nepi held by approximately 150 Germans. That afternoon, Lieutenant JM Byron, leading a troop of ‘A’ Squadron, NMR, into the town of Civita Castellana noticed a German staff car speeding off northwards. It was later learned that this was the last staff car to leave Field-Marshal Albert Kesselring Headquarters at Monte Soratte.
Monte Soratte is an isolated ridge, 6km long, composed of limestone, 48km from Rome and peaking at 691 metres. It has many Meris, which are sinkholes or pits that are up to 115m deep, and caves. These caves were home to groups of Bronze Age people as is evidenced by the artefacts and pottery excavated. In pre-Roman times it was used as a place of worship by the Sabines, Capenates, Falisci and Etruscans. During the Roman period, a temple to Apollo, the sun god, was built on the summit. Later hermits and early Christians fled in search of peace, silence and meditation to the mountain.
In 1937 Benito Mussolini ordered the excavation of over 4km of tunnels into Monte Soratte. The task of tunnelling into limestone was given to the Army Corps of Engineers. The tunnels and caverns were to be used as a refuge for the supreme command of the Italian Army in the case of war. They were later used for ammunition storage.
On 8 September 1943, the Americans bombed the Italian town of Frascati, 20 km south east of the centre of Rome. The German Commander-in-Chief in Italy, Field-Marshal Albert Kesselring, had his headquarters in the town. Kesselring escaped and moved the headquarters of Army Group C to Monte Sorattte. The Italians believe that he stored gold looted from the Bank of Italy and from the Jewish community in the tunnels during his occupation from September 1943 to June 1944. It is unknown what happened to the gold. With the allies entering Rome on 6 June and approaching Monte Soratte, a German demolition party was tasked with destroying Kesselring’s HQ on Wednesday 7 June 1944.
The reconnaissance element of 6 Div was followed by the bulk of the South African force lead by the Pretoria Regiments (PR) tanks and the ILH / Kim R in their half-tracks. At 16h00 on 6 June, ‘Charlie Squadron’, PR, was ordered to clear Saint Oreste. They sent a force of Stuarts tanks and two troops (6 Sherman 75mm tanks) up the steep slope following a mule track. Two of the tanks overturned on the steep slope and the tanks had to stop their advance approximately 1km from Saint Oreste. The ILH / KimR reconnaissance squadron was alerted by the destruction of buildings by a German demolition party and the fire and smoke coming from other buildings set alight on the slopes of Monte Soratte On investigation, the ILH/ KimR found evidence of documents and equipment already badly damaged belonging to Field Marshal Kesselring’s Headquarters. They also found the first evidence of a tunnel system and reported their findings back to 6 Div HQ.
The next day, Wednesday 7 June, a corporal of 8 Field Squadron accompanied by a South African 12th Motorised Brigade Intelligence Officer discovered Field-Marshal’s Kesselring’s Headquarters dug into the mountainside. Engineers from 17 Field Park Squadron and intelligence officers undertook a detailed search of the tunnels and found a large amount of German stores. They also discovered the Kesselring’s operations room.
The 6 Div’s mobile intelligence command vehicle, a large AEC ‘Matador’ under the command of Major Leslie was notified. He sent one of his intelligence officers to investigate. He unearthed maps including one showing the positions of the Gothenstellung , the Gothic Line, stretching across Italy from Rimini to Pisa. Another map was found detailing the axes of retreat of the German divisions.
Field Marshall Kesselring’s Army Group Headquarters sign was also found. This metal sign, 153 x 152 mm, riveted onto a steel mounting, was previously bolted onto one of Kesselring’ motor vehicles. The sign was taken and adorned the large (12 ton) intelligence ACV 2 for the rest of the campaign. This sign was removed by Captain Herbie Wade who served as an operations/command officer in ACV 1 and later donated to the Museum by Captain Wade.
La bandiera di Kesselring sul Monte Soratte
Nel giugno del 1944 un plotone di soldati sud-africani raggiunse un bunker (circa 5 km di gallerie) sul Monte Soratte, nel paese di Sant'Oreste, a 40 km a nord di Roma, sede dell'alto comando tedesco del feldmaresciallo Kesserling foto). In tale occasione risulta che i soldati trovarono la bandiera tedesca, che adesso si dovrebbe trovare esposta in un museo della vostra nazione. E' possibile avere notizie in merito a questo episodio, e se possibile evere eventuali foto dell'arrivo dei vostri soldati. Queste notizie sono utili per la costruzione di un Museo della Memoria che si sta costituendo nell'interno del bunker. Ringrazio anticipatamente per tutte le notizie che mi potrete fornire. - Giancarlo Rotondo
Monte Soratte and Field-Marshall Kesselring Flag
Thank you for your query of 13 October 2011. We apologise for the time taken to reply. The 6th South African Armoured Division (6 Div) commanded by Major General WHE Poole was tasked to spearhead the advance of the British 8th Army towards Terni. The leading General Stuart reconnaissance tanks entered the outskirts of Rome at 07h00 on Tuesday morning 6 June 1944 and the first infantry carrying trucks crossed the Fiume Tevere (Tiber River) at the Ponte Milvio at 15h00. The procession of vehicles was long due to the fact that 6 Div had 1050 vehicles, which included 310 tanks, 48 of the 25 pounder field guns, 24 self-propelled guns “Priests”, sixteen 5.5 inch medium guns, 24 self-propelled M10 tank destroyers and twenty 17 pounder towed anti-tank guns. Added to this were vehicles used to carry support weapons, scout cars, and trucks to carry two infantry brigades. They trundled past the Piazza del Popolo and worked their way onto route 3, the Via Flaminia.
Later that afternoon, elements of the Natal Mounted Rifles (NMR) in their General Stuart tanks, leading the Sherman 75 tanks of the Special Service Battalion (SSB), infantry of the Witwatersrand Rifles / De La Rey Regiment (WR/DLR) and ‘A’ Troop of engineers from 8 Field Squadron, cleared the town of Castelnuovo di Porto. ‘Charlie’ Squadron of SSB cleared Capena while the NMR, the rest of SSB and WR/DLR pushed up the road towards Civita Castellana.
‘B’ Squadron of the NMR moved forward through Rignano Flaminio in the direction of Monte Larco. They were offered vino as refreshment by young ladies who were on the road. The festive atmosphere was shattered in the late afternoon when the NMR tank crews noticed German armoured fighting vehicles ahead of them towards Monte Soratte. The bridge south of Civita Castellana was blown by the Germans which halted the advance to Civita Castellana. This force was then obliged to stop on the evening of 6 June. Sappers (engineers) of 8 Field Squadron under the command of Captain Jack Edmonds constructed a temporary crossing over the Fiume Treja . At first light on 7 June, the infantry of WR/ DLR cleared Civita Castellana which was no easy task as the village stands on a hill surrounded by precipitous ravines. They found a German staff of 86 men and 584 wounded in the hospital, including ten Allied casualties.
The Germans were however still in area. The Imperial Light Horse / Kimberley Regiment (ILH/Kim R), mounted in their M9A1 half-tracks found Nepi held by approximately 150 Germans. That afternoon, Lieutenant JM Byron, leading a troop of ‘A’ Squadron, NMR, into the town of Civita Castellana noticed a German staff car speeding off northwards. It was later learned that this was the last staff car to leave Field-Marshal Albert Kesselring Headquarters at Monte Soratte.
Monte Soratte is an isolated ridge, 6km long, composed of limestone, 48km from Rome and peaking at 691 metres. It has many Meris, which are sinkholes or pits that are up to 115m deep, and caves. These caves were home to groups of Bronze Age people as is evidenced by the artefacts and pottery excavated. In pre-Roman times it was used as a place of worship by the Sabines, Capenates, Falisci and Etruscans. During the Roman period, a temple to Apollo, the sun god, was built on the summit. Later hermits and early Christians fled in search of peace, silence and meditation to the mountain.
In 1937 Benito Mussolini ordered the excavation of over 4km of tunnels into Monte Soratte. The task of tunnelling into limestone was given to the Army Corps of Engineers. The tunnels and caverns were to be used as a refuge for the supreme command of the Italian Army in the case of war. They were later used for ammunition storage.
On 8 September 1943, the Americans bombed the Italian town of Frascati, 20 km south east of the centre of Rome. The German Commander-in-Chief in Italy, Field-Marshal Albert Kesselring, had his headquarters in the town. Kesselring escaped and moved the headquarters of Army Group C to Monte Sorattte. The Italians believe that he stored gold looted from the Bank of Italy and from the Jewish community in the tunnels during his occupation from September 1943 to June 1944. It is unknown what happened to the gold. With the allies entering Rome on 6 June and approaching Monte Soratte, a German demolition party was tasked with destroying Kesselring’s HQ on Wednesday 7 June 1944.
The reconnaissance element of 6 Div was followed by the bulk of the South African force lead by the Pretoria Regiments (PR) tanks and the ILH / Kim R in their half-tracks. At 16h00 on 6 June, ‘Charlie Squadron’, PR, was ordered to clear Saint Oreste. They sent a force of Stuarts tanks and two troops (6 Sherman 75mm tanks) up the steep slope following a mule track. Two of the tanks overturned on the steep slope and the tanks had to stop their advance approximately 1km from Saint Oreste. The ILH / KimR reconnaissance squadron was alerted by the destruction of buildings by a German demolition party and the fire and smoke coming from other buildings set alight on the slopes of Monte Soratte On investigation, the ILH/ KimR found evidence of documents and equipment already badly damaged belonging to Field Marshal Kesselring’s Headquarters. They also found the first evidence of a tunnel system and reported their findings back to 6 Div HQ.
The next day, Wednesday 7 June, a corporal of 8 Field Squadron accompanied by a South African 12th Motorised Brigade Intelligence Officer discovered Field-Marshal’s Kesselring’s Headquarters dug into the mountainside. Engineers from 17 Field Park Squadron and intelligence officers undertook a detailed search of the tunnels and found a large amount of German stores. They also discovered the Kesselring’s operations room.
The 6 Div’s mobile intelligence command vehicle, a large AEC ‘Matador’ under the command of Major Leslie was notified. He sent one of his intelligence officers to investigate. He unearthed maps including one showing the positions of the Gothenstellung , the Gothic Line, stretching across Italy from Rimini to Pisa. Another map was found detailing the axes of retreat of the German divisions.
Field Marshall Kesselring’s Army Group Headquarters sign was also found. This metal sign, 153 x 152 mm, riveted onto a steel mounting, was previously bolted onto one of Kesselring’ motor vehicles. The sign was taken and adorned the large (12 ton) intelligence ACV 2 for the rest of the campaign. This sign was removed by Captain Herbie Wade who served as an operations/command officer in ACV 1 and later donated to the Museum by Captain Wade.
LE GALLERIE-BUNKER DEL MONTE SORATTE: LA STORIA IN BREVE
Nel 1937, per volere di Benito Mussolini, venne avviata sul Soratte, data la vicinanza con la Capitale, la realizzazione di numerose gallerie all’interno della montagna, che sarebbero dovute servire da rifugio antiaereo per le alte cariche dell’Esercito Italiano in caso di “devastazione generalizzata”: le cosiddette “officine protette del Duce”. I lavori furono svolti sotto la direzione del Genio Militare di Roma e, ancora oggi, questo dedalo ipogeo costituisce una delle più grandi ed imponenti opere di ingegneria militare presenti in Europa (circa 4 km di lunghezza: una vera e propria città sotterranea). Durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, in particolare nel settembre del 1943, il “Comando Supremo del Sud” delle forze di occupazione tedesche in Italia, guidato dal Feldmaresciallo Albert Kesselring, si stabilì sul Soratte. Per un periodo di circa dieci mesi, le gallerie si prestarono come valido rifugio per le truppe segrete naziste e resistettero al pesante bombardamento del 12 maggio 1944, effettuato da due stormi di B-17 alleati, partiti appositamente da Foggia per distruggere il quartier generale tedesco. Sembrerebbe che, prima di abbandonare l’area, il Feldmaresciallo dette ordine di minare ed incendiare tutto il complesso ipogeo e di interrare delle casse contenenti parte dell’oro sottratto alla Banca d’Italia: le stesse non sono mai state ritrovate. Fu solamente nel 1967, durante gli anni della Guerra Fredda, che, sotto l’egida della N.A.T.O., venne modificato un tratto delle gallerie, che assunse l’aspetto di bunker anti-atomico (il più vasto d’Europa) per la Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, da utilizzarsi in caso di guerra nucleare; i lavori, solo parzialmente terminati, si protrassero fino al 1972. L’area, da alcuni anni, è stata riacquisita dal Comune di Sant’Oreste ed è oggetto di un progetto di recupero delle ex-caserme e di allestimento di un museo storico diffuso, denominato “Percorso della memoria”. Oggi le gallerie sono visitabili, oltre che negli eventi di “apertura straordinaria”, che vengono realizzati due volte l’anno con cadenza semestrale e con tanto di figuranti e mezzi bellici d’epoca, anche su prenotazione (gruppi liberi o di scolaresche, costituiti da almeno 30/35 partecipanti), grazie alla Libera Associazione Culturale Santorestese “Bunker Soratte”: un’occasione unica per toccare la storia con mano, a soli due passi da Roma.
