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TRADUZIONE

General Mark W. Clark

In my short life experience, I have noticed that just a small number of people are honest and also that being objective is a difficult thing. It is almost impossible to find honesty and objectiveness together especially in politics where ideology works as a veil, the pleasure of power rules, violence is everywhere and gentlemen are scarce.

Having said this, in the brief representation of general Clark, commander of the fifth army and “liberator of Rome,” I want to specify that in order to avoid partial reconstructions, I won’t go into specifics since I am not a historian but just a modest admirer of the past. I got the information from three sources: the Internet, a publication of the Benedictines of Montecassino, and a photograph collection of the Anglo-American allies. In the pictures it is possible to see armed cars, jeeps, American soldiers, Romans celebrating, friendly ladies, “desperate teens,” hands waiting for food and money from soldiers who used to be enemies just a year before and a few partisans. Nevertheless, the German repression and espionage were very effective. In this case I trust more what I have seen than what I have heard.

Brief history with focus in Rome:
July 10, 1943 – allied troops disembark in Sicily, commander George S. Patton and sir Bernard Montgomery, about 160,000 men controlled 230,000 Italians and 40,000 Germans. The Italian army melts like snow under the sun, Sicilians couldn’t be seen, in August 17 the island is taken.
July 19 – First bombing of Rome
July 25 – Mussolini, chief of the Italian government is arrested on orders of the Savona king after twenty years of mutual trust. Pietro Badoglio, new chief of government, declares the perpetuation of the alliance with the Germans but at the same time he works for truce with the enemies.
July 26 – Popular antifascist demonstration, curfew in several cities, gatherings of democratic parties, liberation of political prisoners, restoration of free media, recognition of labor unions and similar organizations, increase and lack of food. Rome is declared “open city” but the demilitarization will never happen.
September 3 – In Cassibile, near Messina, the truce between Italy and the Anglo-Americans is signed.
September 8 – the fifth American army under the orders of general Clark disembarked in Salerno and parallel to that the American president Eisenhower announced the signed truce. Pietro Badoglio, towards the 20 hours announced the end of hostilities with the Anglo-Americans. The Germans reacted to this by moving to Rome under the orders of Marshall Kesserling who was hard towards the Romans but respectful towards Rome.
September 9 – Before dawn, the king Badoglio, the government, the court and the people in charge of the army forces left Rome heading to Pescara and then by sea to Brindisi. It will be the end of the Savona monarchy. In all the war scenario, the Italian soldiers, without information and orders, and with little training, are imprisoned by the Germans who were allies a day before. All the Italian officials are on the run with the only exception of the Italian army in the island of Cefalonia whose courage signified its destruction.
September 11 - Marshall Kesserling declares Rome “war zone”. Representatives of the fascist party retake the political-administrative power.
September 16 – Mussolini who was freed from the prison in Abruzzo is taken to Germany where he organizes the reconstruction of the fascist party and prepares the defense of Italy. War continues and Italy is divided in two by the invasion of two different armies – the end of the Renaissance!
Small groups of partisans and antifascist militants are formed in Rome but are massacred by the German surveillance and spionage services.
September 27 – the Neapolitan population which has several anti-establishment groups revolted against the Germans who after four days of combats left the city.
September 29 – Mussolini becomes president of the Salo Republic
October 16 – Thousands of Jewish Romans are taken away by deceit and transferred in the zones occupied by the Germans. Just about ten were able to survive.
November 1 – The organizational structure of the partisans, quite effective in the urban and guerrilla fight, is born in Milan.
November 15 – The Salo Republic enlisted all of those who were born between 1910 and 1924. Lots of them flew to the mountains.
During November and December the Anglo-Americans continue the aerial strikes on Rome
January 22 – The first English division and the third American disembarked in Anzio, about 50 kilometers away from Rome, it took four months for the troops to reach the city.
February 15 - Bombing of the abbey in Montecassino
<The monument deserves a brief historical background. Founded by Benedetto di Norcia in the year 529 A.D. the abbey was destroyed for the first time in 577 by the Lombards. Once reconstructed in 718 it gained economic power thanks to the Lombard dukes from Benevento; in 883 a new destruction by the Saracens from the Garigliano; a new reconstruction of the monastery in 948 left a significant religious, cultural and economic print. During the middle ages it produced three popes and under Norman rule its role was quite important. Various monasteries in the German lands were influenced by the Benedictine rule and even today they relate both ideally and historically to Montecassino. The area between Cassino and Frosinone, still poor today of any cultural or industrial initiative, was nonetheless the economic, cultural and social engine. On February 13, 1807, the Napoleonic power issued a decree suppressing religious orders. The monastery was allowed to keep the archive and library with important tests about Italian and European history.

Going back to our topic, the bombings lasted 2 days, the 15 and 16, which were preceded by a dropping of warning leaflets on the 14. The abbey was brought down but the abbot was able to escape moving to Rome where he died of angst soon after that. The bombing, which was justified by the supposedly presence of German artillery, wasn’t useful in strategic terms. In fact, it wasn’t until May of that year that the Polish infantry, united behind the Anglo-American troops, was able to size positions. However, it was a “political message” directed against the Vatican, like a slap stronger than 100 words. The library was saved thanks to the help received from the German soldiers who moved to Spoleto and then to the Vatican.
Today, the monastery is reconstructed on the same ruins, decorated by Annigoni’s magnificent frescoes and white tombs adorned with crosses honoring war casualties in the middle of the ground green space that make us remember and think about the bad things of the past.>
March 23 – Murder attempt at Via Rasella in Rome, thirty-two altoatesini soldiers discovered among the Germans are killed. To avenge the murder, Marshall Kesserling orders the execution of 335 Italian prisoners in the Ardetine graves.
April – Popualtion assaults the ovens
May 10 – Pope Pious XII, well-known anticommunist, met high-ranking German officials to protect the Vatican and the city from the destruction. Throughout the whole war, the allied bombers accurately avoided bombing the Vatican and the nearby neighborhoods. Not a single bridge on the Tevere was bombed.
As usual, the only defense of the city was that of the Catholic hierarchy and Christian symbols.
June 1 – The Anglo-American arrived to Velletri
June 4 – American vanguards crossed Porta Maggiore.
June 5 – General Clark enters Roma
June 6 – Disembark in Normandy.

Biography

Mark Wayne Clark, born in Madison Barracks, New Jork,May 1st 1896 – died in Charleston, April 17, 1984. U.S. General Army, president of the City of, as written on his tomb.
Son of an infantry soldier based on Fort Sheridan who was the grandson of General G.C.Marshall’s mother, chief of state of the American Army during World War II, attended the military academy without infamy and praise, and in 1917 became infantry official. Tall, thin, unhealthy, and sad, he was different from the typical American official in terms of his studies and sports. In the First World War fought in the French front where he was injured but was able to survive. Going back to the States he recovered and carried out diverse civil tasks. In 1937 got a degree from the Army War College. His fortune was the burst of the war in Europe and the incredible opportunity for the American capitalism, which made use of an interventionist excuse in favor of one party in order to conquer the world eliminating Nazism and Fascism.
In 1941 he became chief of the army thanks to his family links and friendship with D.D.Eisenhower. In 1942, he became commander of the fifth army in Tunisia. In September 1943 organized the disembark in Salerno and the Avalanche operation in January 22, 1944. In June 1944, entered Roma, the first enemy capital to be captured, later on while acting as commander of all the Anglo-American forces received in Casserta the capitulation of the German army. He then became the person in charge of the American forces in Austria; in 1947 assumed the control of the sixth army; from 1952 until 1952 he was commander in chief of the United Nations in Corea. A proud anticommunist signed the truce with North Corea and because of that he left his position. Once he retired he became president of the army college from the city of Charleston, South Carolina, where he was buried.
He was a cold official, different, cocky, selfish, skillful, intellectual, full of resources and very ambitious. His pictures from the Rome conquest surprise me a lot, never a smile, always sad even in the middle of joy, perhaps because he would have liked to be in Normandy. But even for big enterprises, it is also important to have a character that allows you to smile.