Marino Cavicchioli

"In 1943 I was sixteen years old. I studied a technical school in Crevalcore (Bologna district). Me and my friends joined the anti-Fascist resistance. The partisan groups around Bologna were active in San Giovanni and Crevalcore, around Modena it was Ravarino and Nonantola. We acted as intermediaries between the various groups. It helped them coordinate and avoid possible damages. I also repaired and delivered weapons to the groups. The Americans bombed the station in Crevalcore, there were German weapons in the wagons. With my brother-in-law we loaded up a cart with sub-machine guns and rifles. We handed them on to the groups that needed them the most. It was risky to carry weapons, but we managed. When there was no other way, we wrapped the weapon in reeds and tied it to the handlebars."

"Towards the end of the war the Americans wanted to liberate Modena. But they wanted to bombard her first. The commanders called us together, they didn't want to allow the bombardment. They requested two or three days to attempt to liberate Modena. They gave us weapons, loaded us up into trucks and drove us to Modena. Modena was home to one of the largest military academies in Italy. The fighting lasted some three days, as the best Fascist marksmen were gathered there. We lost three or four boys in our detachment. The Germans pretended to surrender, they came out with their hands up, but they had revolvers hidden in their sleeves. As they came closer, they pulled them out and shot the boys. Immediately we turned the machine gun at them and shot them down. It was our duty. We liberated the military academy and handed it over to its generals who had returned from the mountains. I myself was there when one of the commanders came into the office and was surprised to find it smaller than he remembered. They had built a new wall inside it. He knocked on it, it sounded hollow, you could tell there was empty space behind it. On his order we demolished the wall. Behind it were people who had been walled in, people arrested by the Germans. We were proud to have saved Modena from bombardment."