PAVIA. Last partisan of Dongo has the good-natured and smiling face of James Brown. He was driving the truck that carried the Fiat 634 from Lake Como to Piazzale Loreto in Milan, the bodies of Benito Mussolini, his mistress Claretta Petacci and hierarchs. Today, at age 88, is the only one still living of the boys who escorted dell'Oltrepo Pavese Colonel Valerio - the Alexandrian Walter Audisio - in its mission "bigger than a mountain," hunting for Mussolini and the Praetorian Guard of Salò .
Bruni Perducco lives in a handful of homes Zavattarello above, the high Oltrepò, where he was born February 20, 1922, and where he still lives with his wife, Rosa, married in '50, and one of his seven sons, who have as eleven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. The thread of his story unravels when, 19 years old, and was called to arms, to arrive until today. That deals with a € 500 pension per month, including the ludicrous figure of € 15 for the merits of war, the inevitable infirmities of age and disappointment for the betrayal of the ideals of the time: "We were fighting for freedom and democracy we were always denied - he says with bitterness -. Young people now are losing both and neither realize it. "
the background, behind the last house in Perducco, stands the imposing castle Dal Verme: a refuge for partisans, the Germans burned furiously, then rebuilt and today the Museum of the Resistance. For those who, despite everything, will not forget that spring day, 65 years later.
"In 1941 I Alpine Division Cuneense - so begins the story of Arthur, his nom de guerre -. I had to leave for Russia, but I got sick and stayed at the department. My brother was less fortunate Caesar, went to the front and never came back. On September 8, I was in Laives, Alto Adige, with mountain artillery. For a day and a night fought against the Germans, then we had to give up heavy weapons and small arms we retreated to the Veneto. I was taken prisoner in Vicenza and taken to a barracks. Three days without food or drink. I was exhausted. The third night I wait in line and went back home, still on foot. I crossed the Po disguised as a priest, his cassock procured me my sister. " But
Zavattarello, Bruni was wanted as a deserter. "The fascists took my mother hostage and took it - his story continues -. I had to introduce myself to the district of Tortona, and from there I moved to an airfield in Asti. When I heard that tomorrow we would be deported to Germany, I ran away again. In March of '44 I joined the band of the Greek and then in Crespi. "
brings us to the Liberation. "On the night of April 24 down towards Voghera. Then in Pavia. From there, the trucks and taken to the German fascists, we went to Milan. I was driving a Lancia Ro, I was the first column. We entered the city from Porta Ticinese. There were snipers everywhere, firing from rooftops, windows. We had to drive out the Germans barricaded in Viale Romagna schools. "
Who chose for the mission in Dongo? "He was my commander Cyrus - replies Bruni -, Colonel Valerio, and Landini (head of the counterintelligence service of the formations Garibaldi dell'Oltrepo Pavese) traveled car, I was driving a Fiat 634. " Who went to
Giulino Mezzegra of Mussolini? "Valerio, Landini and the political commissar of Dongo, Martinelli. Come back Landini, who was my friend, told me that when they were arrived, the captain and Petacci were still asleep. We woke up, they said that Mussolini had come to free him and he said, "If I paid I give you the empire." But now the empire no longer existed. "
Landini said even those who shot the leader? "No. Then from Dongo to Milan. "We loaded the bodies of Mussolini and the Fascist shot in Giulino. Once at the Pirelli Viale Zara we mistook for fascists, they wanted to shoot Valerio and others. I stayed in the truck, I had seen. He fired again, a bullet pierced my trousers without hurting me. " Finally
Piazzale Loreto. "People wanted to play havoc with the bodies, remember an old woman who spat at the leader. When they hung the bodies to the distributor, I had already left me. "
Bruni has maintained for over half a century of silence about the facts of Dongo and the names of those who participated in that mission. "The order not to talk about - shows - we gave it to Cyrus. He did it to protect ourselves from possible reprisals. " The partisans dell'Oltrepo Pavese Stock Valerio helped to form the firing squad of the hierarchy on the lakefront Dongo. They commanded the Tuscan Alfredo Mordini, communist, a prominent figure of Garibaldi's training, which would come into possession of the gun served to give the final blow to the leader. Weapon, a Beretta, is now preserved at the Historical Museum of Voghera.
the background, behind the last house in Perducco, stands the imposing castle Dal Verme: a refuge for partisans, the Germans burned furiously, then rebuilt and today the Museum of the Resistance. For those who, despite everything, will not forget that spring day, 65 years later.
"In 1941 I Alpine Division Cuneense - so begins the story of Arthur, his nom de guerre -. I had to leave for Russia, but I got sick and stayed at the department. My brother was less fortunate Caesar, went to the front and never came back. On September 8, I was in Laives, Alto Adige, with mountain artillery. For a day and a night fought against the Germans, then we had to give up heavy weapons and small arms we retreated to the Veneto. I was taken prisoner in Vicenza and taken to a barracks. Three days without food or drink. I was exhausted. The third night I wait in line and went back home, still on foot. I crossed the Po disguised as a priest, his cassock procured me my sister. " But
Zavattarello, Bruni was wanted as a deserter. "The fascists took my mother hostage and took it - his story continues -. I had to introduce myself to the district of Tortona, and from there I moved to an airfield in Asti. When I heard that tomorrow we would be deported to Germany, I ran away again. In March of '44 I joined the band of the Greek and then in Crespi. "
brings us to the Liberation. "On the night of April 24 down towards Voghera. Then in Pavia. From there, the trucks and taken to the German fascists, we went to Milan. I was driving a Lancia Ro, I was the first column. We entered the city from Porta Ticinese. There were snipers everywhere, firing from rooftops, windows. We had to drive out the Germans barricaded in Viale Romagna schools. "
Who chose for the mission in Dongo? "He was my commander Cyrus - replies Bruni -, Colonel Valerio, and Landini (head of the counterintelligence service of the formations Garibaldi dell'Oltrepo Pavese) traveled car, I was driving a Fiat 634. " Who went to
Giulino Mezzegra of Mussolini? "Valerio, Landini and the political commissar of Dongo, Martinelli. Come back Landini, who was my friend, told me that when they were arrived, the captain and Petacci were still asleep. We woke up, they said that Mussolini had come to free him and he said, "If I paid I give you the empire." But now the empire no longer existed. "
Landini said even those who shot the leader? "No. Then from Dongo to Milan. "We loaded the bodies of Mussolini and the Fascist shot in Giulino. Once at the Pirelli Viale Zara we mistook for fascists, they wanted to shoot Valerio and others. I stayed in the truck, I had seen. He fired again, a bullet pierced my trousers without hurting me. " Finally
Piazzale Loreto. "People wanted to play havoc with the bodies, remember an old woman who spat at the leader. When they hung the bodies to the distributor, I had already left me. "
Bruni has maintained for over half a century of silence about the facts of Dongo and the names of those who participated in that mission. "The order not to talk about - shows - we gave it to Cyrus. He did it to protect ourselves from possible reprisals. " The partisans dell'Oltrepo Pavese Stock Valerio helped to form the firing squad of the hierarchy on the lakefront Dongo. They commanded the Tuscan Alfredo Mordini, communist, a prominent figure of Garibaldi's training, which would come into possession of the gun served to give the final blow to the leader. Weapon, a Beretta, is now preserved at the Historical Museum of Voghera.
From Trentino - Corriere delle Alpi April 25, 2010. - Roberto Lodi
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