The city of Padua celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Cephalonia massacre, at the Divisione Acqui Monument.
The city of Padua celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Cephalonia massacre, at the Divisione Acqui Monument. The monument was erected on 1970, by the sculptress Maria Piera Bortolami and strongly promoted by Don Giulio Bovo, who was the Divisione Acqui's army chaplain when the massacre occurred. On September 11th, 1943, after the Italian armistice was signed, the 33rd Divisione Acqui that was stationed at Cephalonia received the German ultimatum : they were ordered to lay down their arms. The Italian soldiers did not comply with that order, and Italian batteries fired two German assault-ships on September 13th. The Germans replied with a new ultimatum, promising that the Italian soldiers would be repatriated after surrendering. On September 14th the German headquarters got the Italian final answer : the Divisione Acqui refused to lay down their arms and was ready to fight. On September 15th , Stuka airplanes fired with machine-gun and bombs the Italian troops. On September 21st the Germans conquered Argostoli, the chief town of the island of Cephalonia. On the same morning, Generale Antonio Gandin surrendered , the Italian troops ceased their resistance : Argostoli was destroyed , 65 Italian officers and 1250 privates died in fighting. The German revenge was terrible : the Wermacht executed Generale Gandin as a traitor and killed 9700 Italian soldiers ( 446 officers) on the spot. The poor bodies were either burned or thrown to the sea or summarily buried in mass graves. 2000 Italian soldiers were deported to the camps of Germany. Many survivors joined the Greek Resistance Movement and fought against the Germans till the end of war. Since then, the name of the 'Divisione Acqui' has been indissolubly connected to the Cephalonia massacre.
Size: 3872px × 2592px
Location: Padua, Italy
Photo credit: © Ferdinando Piezzi / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 70th, acqui, alpini, anniversary, bortolami, bovo, cefalonia, cephalonia, divisione, don, giulio, ii, kefalonia, maria, massacre, monument, padua, piera, war, world, wwii
