Marocchinate

Marocchinate (pronounced [marokkiˈnate], Italian for "Moroccans' deeds") is a term applied to the mass rape and killings committed during World War II after the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy. These were committed mainly by the Moroccan Goumiers, colonial troops of the French Expeditionary Corps (FEC),[1] commanded by General Alphonse Juin, and mostly targeted civilian women and girls (as well as a few men and boys) in the rural areas between Naples and Rome, in Southern Lazio.

Moroccan soldiers at Monte Cassino, January 1944

Background

Goumiers were colonial irregular troops forming the Goums Marocains, which were approximately company-sized units rather loosely grouped in Tabors (battalions) and Groupes (regiments). Three of the units, the 1st, 3rd and 4th Groupements de Tabors, served in the FEC along with the four regular divisions: the 1st Free French Division, the 2nd Moroccan Infantry Division, the 3rd Algerian Infantry Division and the 4th Moroccan Mountain Division. The Goums Marocains were commanded by General Augustin Guillaume.

Regular Moroccan troops (tirailleurs marocains) also served in Italy but under tighter discipline and with a higher proportion of officers than the irregular goumiers.

On May 14, 1944, the Goumiers travelled over seemingly impassable terrain in the Aurunci Mountains, outflanked the German defence in the adjacent Liri valley, materially assisting the British XIII Corps of the British Eighth Army, to break the Gustav Line and advance to the next Wehrmacht prepared defensive position, the Hitler Line.

An alleged statement by General Alphonse Juin before the battle said: "For fifty hours you will be the absolute masters of what you will find beyond the enemy. Nobody will punish you for what you will do, nobody will ask you about what you will get up to."[2] Recent research has showed this statement was forged after the war by Italian victims' associations and is linked to the perception of the crimes by the Italians rather than an official policy of the French Army.[3]

Until 1944 the Italian government showed interest and preoccupation for the continuing violence and gathered information about the victims.[4] By December 1948 there were 30,000 cases submitted to Italian authorities but funds were scarce because of war indemnities Italy had to pay to France and this issue was an obstacle on the restoration of diplomatic relations with France.[5] For these reasons many demands were rejected and the victims had to prove permanent physical damage.[6]

Mass rape

Monte Cassino was captured by the Allies on May 18, 1944. The next night, thousands of Goumiers and other colonial troops scoured the slopes of the hills surrounding the town and the villages of Southern Lazio. Italian victims' associations such as Associazione Nazionale Vittime delle Marocchinate alleged that 60,000 women, ranging in age from 11 to 86, suffered from violence, when village after village came under control of the Goumiers. Estimates made by the Italian Ministry of Defence in 1997 set the figure at 2,000 to 3,000 female victims.[7] The number of men killed has been estimated at 800.[8] In fact, due to incomplete reports of the crimes, a precise account is impossible.[9]

The mayor of Esperia, a comune in the Province of Frosinone, reported that in his town, 700 women out of 2,500 inhabitants were raped, resulting in many deaths. According to Italian victims associations, a total of more than 7,000 civilians, including children, were raped by Goumiers.[10] Baris considers the figure of twelve thousand women raped provided by the Communist women's organization Unione Donne Italiane to be credible.[11]

Aftermath

207 soldiers were tried for sexual violence but 39 of them were acquitted for lack of evidence. 28 soldiers caught in the act were also executed.[12]

In January 1947, France authorized the compensation of 1,488 victims of sexual violence for crimes committed by French colonial troops.[12]

Cultural depictions

Although the popular definition of "ciociaria" for some areas of Lazio is historically and geographically inappropriate, the term itself is often associated with these war crimes. The definition was indeed forcefully imposed by the fascist regime, although, it was just a popular pejorative term in the modern Roman dialect.[13][14][15] [16] Having been imposed by fascism in the pre-war years, it has remained associated with these war crimes. The 1957 novel Two Women by Alberto Moravia references the Marocchinate; in it a mother and her daughter, trying to escape the fighting, are raped by Goumiers in an abandoned church. The novel was made into a movie, Two Women, directed by Vittorio De Sica and starring Sophia Loren, for which Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress. In Castro dei Volsci, a monument called the "Mamma Ciociara" was erected to remember all the mothers who tried in vain to defend themselves and their daughters.[17][18]

Claims of exaggeration

Other sources, such as French Marshal Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, claimed that such cases were isolated events exploited by German propaganda to smear allies, particularly French troops.[19]

See also

Notes
  1. French: Corps Expéditionaire Français (CEF) or Corps Expéditionaire Français en Italie (CEFI)
  2. "Crimini di Guerra in Ciociaria" [War Crimes in Ciociaria]. Dal Volturno a Cassino (in Italian).
  3. Baris, Tommaso. "Le corps expéditionnaire français en Italie – Violences des " libérateurs " durant l'été 1944" [The French Expeditionary Corps in Italy – Violence of the "liberators" during the summer of 1944] (in French).
  4. https://books.google.it/books?id=Ra1TDwAAQBAJ&hl=it&source=gbs_navlinks_s, Eliane Patriarca La colpa dei vincitori, Edizioni Piemme, 2018 ISBN 8858520041
  5. https://books.google.it/books?id=Ra1TDwAAQBAJ&hl=it&source=gbs_navlinks_s, Eliane Patriarca La colpa dei vincitori, Edizioni Piemme, 2018 ISBN 8858520041
  6. https://books.google.it/books?id=Ra1TDwAAQBAJ&hl=it&source=gbs_navlinks_s, Eliane Patriarca La colpa dei vincitori, Edizioni Piemme, 2018 ISBN 8858520041
  7. Issue 716, International News Electronic Telegraph 11 May 1997
  8. "Seduta Notturna Di Lunedì 7 Aprile 1952" [Sitting by Night: Monday, August 7, 1952] (PDF) (in Italian). Chamber of Deputies. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 21, 2011.
  9. Baris, Tommaso. "Le corps expéditionnaire français en Italie – Violences des " libérateurs " durant l'été 1944" [The French Expeditionary Corps in Italy – Violence of the "liberators" during the summer of 1944] (in French).
  10. "1952: Il caso delle "marocchinate" al Parlamento" (in Italian). Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  11. Baris, Tommaso. "Le corps expéditionnaire français en Italie – Violences des " libérateurs " durant l'été 1944, page 22" [The French Expeditionary Corps in Italy – Violence of the "liberators" during the summer of 1944] (in French).
  12. (in French)
  13. Roberto Almagià, Enciclopedia italiana, vol. X, Roma 1931
  14. Alonzi L., Il concetto di Ciociaria dalla costutuzione della provincia di Frosinone a oggi («L'Italia ritagliata. L'identità storico-culturale delle regioni: il caso del Lazio meridionale ed orientale», Società Geografica Italiana, Roma 1997)
  15. see: F. Riccardi, Quid est Ciociaria? ‘Regnicoli’ contro ‘Papalini’, in Studi Cassinati; E. Pistilli, E se fosse solo un’invenzione letteraria?, in Studi Cassinati
  16. See: Squadrismo. 20 ottobre XVIII. Ventennale del Fascio di Frosinone, Federazione ciociara del P.N.F.
  17. (in Italian) Mamma Ciociara
  18. (in Italian) La Mamma Ciociara
  19. Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, Reconquérir: 1944-1945. Textes du maréchal Lattre de Tassigny réunis et présentés par Jean-Luc Barre, éditions Plon, 1985, p. 32-33

References
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