This article is based upon the books, Corrections to History of our Time Volume 2, page 260.  Published in 2007, by Grabert Verlag, D-72066 Tübingen, Postfach 1629, Germany

French pack rapes in Italy 1944

By Dr. Rolf Kosiek

Translated by Dagmar Brenne

 Alphonse Juin (1888 – 1967), 1941 commander in chief of the Vichy troops in North Africa, deserted to the French free troops, commanded the French troops  1943/1944  in Italy, became General chief of staff, 1952 Marshal and 1953 High Commander of the NATO fighting force in Central Europe.

German soldiers, who are regarded by military experts abroad as the most disciplined in the world are, in recent years, being defamed and slandered. Many blameless Leaders and Army Officers had been executed after 1945,  for having supposedly committed war crimes. By contrast, Allied Forces and their leaders were never charged, even for the most heinous of war crimes. For instance the  French units were specifically permitted to commit pack rapes,  which took place on several occasions,  particular in Freudenstadt and in Stuttgart in 1945, but rape, in the most concentrated form, took place in central Italy in 1944.

Until spring 1944 the German front in Italy was able to ward off for many months the Allied forces along the Gustav-Line at Monte Casino. Besides others among these,  the French Expedition Corps, (CEF, Corps Expéditionaire Français) under the leadership of General Juin (1), which commanded mainly North African troops. By the 12th of May 1944, at the beginning of the third Cassino Battle they were to break through the German front lines at the Garigliano river, gain the river crossing, reach the mountains and from there penetrate the Liri-valley as well as the Via Cessilina.

The French chief commander Juin, who was born in the Algerian town Bone and was exceedingly well acquainted with the emotional make-up of his Moroccans, proclaimed as a representative of the “Grand Nation”, proud of their cultural heritage, on the day before the offensive the following order, with the view to spur on his troops, an order unthinkable to any member of the German Wehrmacht: “Once you have killed the enemy this coming  night you will find beyond the mountains a land rich with women and wine. Your General promises you on oath:  "Once you have defeated the enemy, the houses, the women and the wine will be yours for 50 hours. For 50 hours you can do whatever your heart desires! (2)” And this was done to the population of a country that had been in league with the Allied forces for some time. 

At first a time of lawlessness, devoid of all restraint of 70 hours had been intended by the French but had been reduced to 50 hours by the US High Command.

The Allies succeeded in the breach and the Moroccans broke into the valleys behind the former battle front. The following two days were hell for the Italian population surrounding the town of Cassino and for the province Frosinone. According to official reports there have been 60,000 cases of rape in the 30 townships of the area.

About 20 years later the German magazine ''Stern'' reported: (4):

“The Moroccans raged like a horde of demons against the terrorised and badly war-traumatised population. They raped girls and women from 12 to 80 years, never so much as caring about the victim's state of health. They raped even ''the sick, the pregnant and the mentally unstable''.  Only few girls escaped the repeated ravages, for the Moroccans searched all, from the cellar to the loft.....The oldest woman in Ausonia died while being violated (5). At another town two eleven year old girls were ravaged to death. Two sisters, who had fled their house fell victim to the Moroccans in a forest clearing, 200 men fell on them mercilessly. One girl died, the other had to be placed into a mental institution. Men, who defended their wives and daughters from rape were beaten to death or- at best- were tied to the bedposts to witness helplessly the raging debauchery by Alphonse Juin's soldiery.”

Two years after the horrific events a prominent Italian newspaper wrote (4): “For four days, the women had to endure the unbridled violence of the coloured  troops. But many men were raped as well, among them the old pastor of Esperia, who shortly afterwards died from the beastly deed.” Not even the nuns of the “Order of the most precious blood” (Ordine del Priziosissmo Sangue) in Vallecorsa were spared.(6)

Another newspaper displayed a report on its front page, where it said (6): “Who in Rome knew just a few days ago anything about these events that happened in the second half of May 1944 in the towns of Esperia, Pontecorvo, Auspenia, San Elia?.....It was a wild, merciless chase. One house after the other was turned upside down, the forests were systematically combed, the refugees besieged , women and children fell to the ground one after another or simultaneously, with raised arms, the defenseless ones covered with the most hideous wounds. The bodies convulsed with cramps, the faces un-recognisable and bloodied from the beatings....Mountains and valleys echoed with sighs and screams. In the field- camp accommodations of an entire regiment the heart-rending cries of raped and mistreated girls disturbed the sleep of the French officers.”

"This is how many Italians experienced the ''liberation from the Germans.'' These beastly happenings were brought before the Italian Ministerial Chamber for discussion (7) on the 7th of April 1952.  General Juin was never charged for these deliberate war crimes, which undoubtedly would have meant the death penalty for a German officer at the hands of the Allies. On the contrary, he was promoted, and afterwards, became a French Marshal and later on a NATO Commander in Chief.

 As comparison read Training of German Soldiers

Notes

1   “ Auch Italiener wurde ‘befreit’” in Kameraden Nr. 1/2, 2006, page 2

2   Stern, No. 52, 1965

3   Ezio Bagbo, in “La Stampa”, 29. November 1946

4   Erich Priebke, “Autobiography”, self published, Rome 2003, page923

5   Conrado Calvo, in Il Messaggero, 29. November 1946, quoted in Priebke, ebeda, page 922f.