Mass Rape Of Italian Women By French Colonial Soldiers In 1944

Caption: "Protect, this can be your mother, your wife, your sister, your daughter"

War is hell. And The Second World War was undiluted hell. More soever for women. We have dealt in some details of the mass rape of German women by the invading Red Army soldiers in 1945. Comparatively lesser known is the mass rape of Italian women by the French Colonial soldiers in 1944. These soldiers later continued with their nefarious deeds in Stuttgart, Germany in early 1945.

The allies kept silent on this as the soldiers doing this were allied soldiers.

The senseless, brutal atrocities that women suffered during WW2 has not been adequately chronicled. It remains one of the most pathetic chapters of the Armageddon.

In Italy about 60,000 women from ages 11 to 85 suffered in May 1944.

The French colonial rapists who made hell for Italian women in 1944

In May 1944 the Allies finally succeeded in taking Monte Cassino in the Apennines of central Italy away from the German Army, after bombing Monte Cassino's sixth-century abbey into ruins. The Allies had some Moroccan soldiers with them. The Moroccans were only mediocre as fighters, but they really excelled at cutting the throats of prisoners after the fighting was over.

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In Italy, Moroccan mercenaries fighting with the free French forces in 1943 fought under contract terms that included free license to rape and plunder in enemy territory.

Many women in Italy were raped; the Italian government later offered the victims a modest pension in an effort to compensate the women for their trauma.

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They were pretty good at raping civilians too. The night after the battle for Monte Cassino was over and the Germans had withdrawn in good order, a division of Moroccan soldiers -- 12,000 of them -- left their camp and swarmed over a group of mountain villages around Monte Cassino. They raped every village woman and girl they could get their hands on, an estimated 3,000 women, ranging in age from 11 years to 86. They murdered 800 village men who tried to protect their women. They abused some of the women so badly that more than 100 of them died.

According to an Italian eye-witness, "......the brutally inclined Goumiers (Moroccans)had the lowest moral values of anyone associated with war in the European theater. They raped women, they raped men, and when they got through with them, they raped animals."http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1998/feb/19/pizza-mans-atrocity-hunt/

The people of these mountain villages are descended from the ancient Volsci, one of the tribes in pre-Roman Italy, and their women are reputed to be taller and more graceful than other women in that part of Italy. The Moroccan soldiers selected the prettiest girls for gang-raping, with long lines of dark-skinned Moroccans waiting their turn in front of each one, while other Moroccans held the victims down. Two sisters, 15 and 18 years old, were raped by more than 200 Moroccans each. One of them died from the abuse. The other has spent the last 53 years in a mental hospital. The Moroccans even raped some of the young men in the villages. The Moroccans also destroyed most of the buildings in the villages and stole everything of value.

Interestingly enough, there is no mention of this action in most of the histories of the battle for Monte Cassino which have been published since the war. Not even the official history published by the U.S. War Department mentions what the Moroccans did to these Italian mountain villagers. 

The Americasn general who took the decision to unleash the Moroccan troops was General Mark Clark of the American Fifth Army. He wanted to remove the Germans from the battered Monte Cassino and reach Rome before other allied forces did so. And the Moroccans were one of the best fighters on mountains. So he used them in Cassino despite knowing the reputation of the Moroccan Goumiers.

The mass rape left many of the Italian women with venereal diseases. Their husbands and lovers were in turn infected. This led to a epidemic in that area of Italy in early 1950s. The International Red Cross wanted to help but the Italian government refused any aid because it did not want to strain relations with France by raking up the issue again.

Trailor of De Sica's film "Two Women" which dealt with the mass rape of Italian women by French colonial troops in 1944

WHO WERE THESE MEN, THE AFRICAN RAPISTS?

In fact, they were not just Moroccans, but the Tunisians, Algerians and Senegalese - troops coming from former French colonies in North Africa. They were not even the troops, but rather a "bunch" called "Burnoose":  and with a dagger at his belt in order to cut off the noses and ears of his enemies. They advanced to the cry of the Shahada, the Islamic creed: "There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed - his prophet." French Expeditionary Corps consisted of twelve thousand "Moroccans".

December 11, 1943 they set foot on Italian soil, and began the first reports of the rape.  By the time the Allies had suffered heavy losses of their troops. The situation had acquired such alarming proportions that de Gaulle when visiting the Italian front in March 1944 stated that "Moroccans» (goumiers - as they called themselves the French) would be used to control the social order, that is to serve as the Carabinieri.

The tragedy was that the "police" were potential rapists. Any European woman  was called "haggiala" - a whore by the Africans. It meant "Goat in the Garden." What happened next? The reports of the 71st German division on the situation in the town for 15-17 May 1944 recorded six rapes of women.

The Moroccan rapist troops in Italy in 1944

On May 14 the Allies won the final victory in Cassino , which was given to the Moroccans for three days. The Africans themselves did not know anything about the war, it was enough that they were fighting in Europe among Europeans. It was a wild period, and the soldiers from the poor nations were suffering from sexually transmitted diseases. As a result many Italian women contacted the diseases and the ensuing abortions had a catastrophic impact on many villages in Tuscany and Lazio.

At the dawn of day chosen for the attack, May 14, 1944, General Juin forwarded to the men of IIa Infantry Division (Jan. Dody) and IVa Mountain Division (Jan. Guillaume) the following proclamation: "Soldiers! This time it is not only the freedom of your lands I offer you if you win this battle. Behind the enemy there are women, houses, there is wine -among the best in the world, there is gold. All this will be yours if you win. You have to kill the Germans to the last man and at any cost. What I have said and the promise I have made I will keep. For fifty hours you will be absolute masters of what you will find beyond the enemy. No one will punish you for what you do, no one will ask you to account for what you take. "

According to reports the French commanders could not control them. And why should the? Alphonse Juin, Marshal of France, in 1942 who commanded the French corps of "fighting France" in North Africa, before the May battle had said in front of his soldiers: "Soldiers, you are not fighting for the freedom of their land. This time, I say to you: if you win the battle, then you get the best in the world of women and wine. But not a single German should not stay alive. I say this and I will keep the promise. Fifty hours after the victory you will be absolutely free to do whatever you want. Nobody will punish you for whatever you do."

The letter by Juin  was forwarded to all Goumier units which gave the Moroccans carte blanche

Pius XII, the Pope officially wrote an appeal to de Gaulle to take action. De Gaulle's response? Silence.

The cities most affected were Ceccano, Supino, and Sgorgola. On 2 June, 1944 5418 rapes were recorded. Many women and girls were raped, often repeatedly.

 Final figures of Italian victims of the "war against women" differ: The magazine DWF, in its issue № 17 of 1993 says that sixty thousand women were raped in less than a year by the Moroccans in the south of Italy. These numbers are taken on the basis of statements of victims. 

In addition, many women who after such events could not marry or to continue a normal life, committed suicide or went mad. Anthony Kolliki, who in 1944 was 12 years old, wrote: "... they went into the house, holding a knife to the throat of men looking for women ...". Next is the story of two sisters who were abused by two hundred "Moroccans". As a result, one of the sisters died, the other ended in a madhouse.

August 1, 1947 the Italian leadership protested to the French government. The response? Bureaucratic delays, chicanery. The issue was raised again in 1951 and in 1993. But to no avail.

Moroccan rapists in Italy during World War Two

THE HORROR STORIES OF RAPE

Evidence of female victims from the official transcripts of the lower house of the Italian Parliament. The meeting on April 7, 1952:

"Malinari Vella (Molinari Veglia), at the time was 17 years old. The account given by her mother, May 27, 1944, Valekorsa.

They walked through the streets of Monte Lupino, when they saw the "Moroccans". The soldiers came to the women. They were obviously interested in young Malinari. The mother-daughter duo  begged to be left alone, but the soldiers did not understand them. As two of them held the girl's mother, the rest took turns in raping her. When  finished, one of the "Moroccans" pulled out a gun and shot Malinari.

Elisabetta Rossi, 55, from district Farneta, tells how, wounded in the stomach with a knife, she watched as her two daughters, 17 and 18, were raped. The wound was received while she tried to protect the daughters.

Emanuella Valente, May 25, 1944, Santa Lucia, was 70 years old. An elderly woman she was calmly walking down the street, sincerely thinking that her age would  protect her from rape.But she was wrong. When she noticed a group of young "Moroccans" Emanuella tried to run away from them. They caught up with her, knocked her down, and broke her wrist. After that, she was reportedly gang abused. She was infected with syphilis. She was ashamed and found it hard what to tell doctors about what had happened to her. She lived with an injured left wrist till the end her life.."

"Mamma Ciociara": The monument at Castro dei Volsci in memory of those Italian women who suffered