The guerrilla war escalates with arrests et executions. On 8 September the Radio announcement the armistice in the middle Italy and the Americans. With popular jubilation, the resistance fighters pull out their weapons without waiting for the arrival of troops from Algiers.
Since August the Resistance has multiplied the harassment operations, the occupier has responded with arrests, deportations and executions.
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Events are precipitating, leading on 9 September to the outbreak of the liberating insurrection which began in particular by the mission of Pearl Harbor sent by Giraud in December 1942. Fred Scamaroni kills himself in his cell not to mention. `
In a dramatic growing tension, men fall under the bullets: the radio Pierre Griffi executed in Bastia on August 18, 1943, the resistant Dominique Vincetti, killed during a clash during a weapons landing in Agriate. Others were sentenced in absentia by an Italian military court, the same one that had agent Verstraete, alias Vernuge, shot in Bastia, who, hidden in a sheepfold in Tivolaggio, transmitted essential information on the number and position of the troops to the Algiers command. Italian.
Since July 1943, in the western Mediterranean, the tide has turned in favor of the Allies: “In the islands, a lost game for Germany: Sicily is with the Allies and the 90sAnd Panzer prepares to evacuate Sardinia too isolated to be monitored. The Germans still hoped to maintain control over the Tyrrhenian corridor and the Tuscan archipelago, especially the island of Elba. ” (1)
To this end, in June they sent troops to Corsica, called to reinforce the 90And Panzer Grenadiers Division who moved from Sardinia in early September. The insurrection first broke out in Ajaccio, with the taking of the prefecture and the town hall by resistance fighters. But also in Bastia, where, against all odds, Italians and Germans fought, the allies of the day before vying for control of the port, the strategic pole of an announced retreat.
Secretly embarked on the “Casabianca”, Arthur Giovoni, head of the National Front, arrived in Algiers on 6 September, carrying a document of the utmost importance – the extent of the enemy’s position on the island – for General Giraud, in sight of one landing in Corsica. However, although strongly urged, Giraud considers any premature military action at this time, all the more so
which could not count on the support of the allied forces simultaneously engaged on the Italian front in Salerno.
Furthermore, Marshal Kesselring, commander in chief of the German troops in the Mediterranean, has bet on the cooperation, if not on the neutrality of General Magli in command of the 8And Army Corps in Corsica. Because since 3 September an agreement has been kept secret between Marshal Badoglio and the Americans. This agreement provides for the capitulation of Italy, immediately ceasing to be an ally of Germany. But in reality this agreement will not always be respected, especially by the Blackshirts who continue the struggle under the fascist banner.
Giraud warns General de Gaulle and gives his orders
The armistice will not be made public until 9 September. But already, on the evening of September 8, Dwight Eisenhower, chief of staff of the allied armies, officially announced the signing on the radio. At the same time, the National Front, an organ of the resistance, held a meeting in a back room of the Cours Napoléon in Ajaccio. Suddenly a cry: ” ‘Italy has capitulated!’ The radio just announced the news. A joyful noise rises from the street, swells and rolls over the city. Outside, we dance, we kiss, we run in all directions, launching the prodigious news to all echoes. “(2)
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Resistance fighters are also on high alert in Bastia. Member of the National Front, Léo Micheli learns the news of the armistice from comrade Albert Stefanini: “We gave orders to occupy the Vichy organizations, that is, the militia, the legion of fighters, the town hall and the prefecture, place Saint-Nicolas and we invited the comrades – whose responsibilities had been predefined – to take the lead of the institutions. The French police were under our command. Simon Vinciguerra, Dominique Poli and I occupied the sub-prefecture and told the sub-prefect to shut up, and we left him in his apartments. The same scenario happened in Ajaccio, just like in Sartène. On the evening of the 8th, the insurrection had begun. ” (3)
Informed of the revolt in Corsica, Giraud, who had initially considered any military intervention premature, immediately launched Operation Vesuvius: «September 9 at 6 pm, radio Colonna:« Ajaccio is risen, the insurgents are masters, the Italians can’t resist, they are fighting in Bastia. Corsica asks for the help of the army. “I don’t hesitate. I warn General de Gaulle and give my orders.”(4)
However, de Gaulle was kept away from these negotiations. “De Gaulle, who was not informed of the situation in Corsica until 9 September, admitted the need and urgency to save it, but he strongly reproached Giraud for hiding his plans and for giving Corsica the monopoly of the leaders communists. ” (5)
On the night of 13 September the Casabianca submarine landed 109 men from the Assault Battalion at Ajaccio. The free French forces and the Goumier, under the orders of generals Henry Martin and Louchet, hastened to follow him, with the mission of ousting the occupier, but also of hindering the passage of German armor from Sardinia inflicting maximum losses.
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Very quickly, the patriots, equipped for some with Sten machine guns provided by the allies, will engage in battle.
On 19 September Giraud went to Corsica to personally assess the situation, traveling aboard his Glen Martin, “without escort, at night, along the Sardinian coast at the level of the waves”. In his eyes, the operation is already a success. In fact, believing “the situation is infinitely better than we could have hoped for”, Giraud pays tribute to the Corsican involvement in the liberation of the island, a liberation that will become effective after weeks of bitter fighting: “The insurgents have done and are doing what they could do. We must not ask them the impossible, but make full use of them for information, for the harassment of enemy columns, and above all for the gathering of all means of transport on the island, intended to replace mules, trucks and jeeps. not yet arrived. “(6)
In the aftermath of the armistice, what will be the attitude of the Italians towards the allies? The fate of Corsica partly depends on this. “We must resolve the Italian question as soon as possible”, underlines Giraud who hurries the same day to meet General Magli at court.
(1, 5) Hélène Chaubin. Corsica during the war years 1939-1945. Tiresia Editions. (2) Maurice Choury. All the bandits of honor. Editions Alain Piazzola (3) As a free man. Interview with Dominique Lanzalavi. Albiana. (4, 6) General Giraud. Victory with a goal. Algiers 1942-1944. Giulio
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