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(More customer reviews)Review of Miracle at St.Anna by James McBride, Riverhead Books.
When I saw the title of the James McBride book Miracle at St.Anna I thought to myself : "could that be the same Sant'Anna di Stazzema that I described in my 1998 book Trapped in Tuscany, Liberated by the Buffalo Soldiers? " I purchased the book and discovered that it was the same Sant'Anna and that the McBride story takes place in the same area of Tuscany in which I, as a young American boy, found myself trapped for the duration of World War II.
I read the story with much interest hoping to have a better understanding of the relationship between the African-American soldiers of the 92nd Infantry division and the Italian people from Tuscany. During WWII I was located in the village of Diecimo, 10 miles from Lucca, in the Serchio River valley leading to the Garfagnana region and the towns of Barga, Sommocolonia, and Castelnuovo. Diecimo was located in the widest part of the valley, which became part of the German Gothic Line of defense. My mother, father and I arrived from Boston in Diecimo the first of August 1939 for a short vacation. My mother and father emigrated to Boston in 1920. Both were native of Diecimo and each had parents living in the village. Shortly after our arrival my father suffered a life threatening heart attack, thus we remained trapped in Italy for the duration of the war.
In mid July 1944 the German command forced the evacuation of the valley. We managed to escape, carrying what we could, and hid out in the village of Convalle, a short distance from Sant'Anna di Stazzema, until we were liberated on September 30 by the Buffalo soldiers of the 92nd Infantry Division.
James McBride describes the relationships between the African-American soldiers and their white superiors in a very realistic way. He also explores the relationship between the Italian citizens, the Partisans and the American troops so that the reader has a very good understanding of the feelings between the various groups during the time of war.
When the Negro soldiers (as they were called then) arrived in Diecimo I was 14 years old. As a child I lived in Brighton, which is a suburb of Boston, and it was very common to associate with people of various races and ethnic backgrounds. The people of Italy had been exposed to people from the African Italian colonies of Somalia and Ethiopia via newsreels, magazines and newspaper articles and photographs . It was common knowledge that the people from Africa were black skinned people. One of my teachers had spent time in Somalia with her husband, both were teachers in Africa. When the black soldiers arrived in Diecimo the villagers thought that they were simply Americans and that they were the ones who liberated Italy from the Fascists and the Germans. The soldiers were greeted with open arms, and the people were relieved that the was would be over soon. The soldiers were very comforting to the people and gave them food and clothing. In exchange people offered soldiers rooms and beds in their houses, which were far better than sleeping in tents during the cold and wet winter.
As soon as the 92nd Infantry Division soldiers arrived I made myself available to them as an interpreter and helper. I helped them unload supply trucks coming from Leghorn and helped them deliver the supplies to companies and squads stationed in the nearby areas. The front line was established in the Barga area, about 8 miles from Diecimo and there was always the danger of bombardments. During the evenings many soldiers visited our home because we spoke English and we reminded them of an American household. Soldiers brought food supplies and often my mother prepared a nice hot dinner for them including fresh vegetables and eggs which they craved. We also offered plenty of wine for the soldiers. There was no electricity; the only available light was derived from filling a coke bottle with American gasoline, stuffing a cloth wick in the bottle, then carefully lighting the wick with a match. We were fortunate that the "Molotov cocktails" did not explode!
On Christmas Eve 1944 we hosted a Christmas dinner for several African-American soldiers. My mother prepared a good dinner using available food from the village, supplemented by U.S. Army food. We had a candle lit dinner, drank wine, sang Christmas carols, and the soldiers danced to American music with my mother, our teacher friend and another lady. This was a memorable and unforgettable evening that I will never forget.
At that time, unknown to our guests, the Germans were planning a major battle near Barga and during the night began to push theAmerican soldiers back into the valley. James McBride describes the battle in his book and the Americans suffered many casualties.
The massacre at Sant'Anna di Stazzema occurred on August 12, 1944. Five hundred and seventy persons, mostly women, children and old people were killed in the piazza, not in the church of Sant'Anna. It was a reprisal towards the Italian people who helped the Partisans. The German soldiers were under the command of Major Walter Reder, a 29 year old from Austria. Miracle at St.Anna evolves around Sant'Anna and brings together soldiers and a small Italian boy. A relation ship develops between the boy and a giant chocolate soldier named Train. I enjoyed the book, the story give me a better understanding of how the African-American soldiers felt about the war, a better understanding than I had from my first hand experience with the Buffalo soldiers. I questioned a few technical things in the story. The electricity in Italy was different than U.S. electricity during that period of time U.S. electricity was 60 cycles and 120 volts. Italian electricity was 50 cycles 240 volts not compatible with U.S. electrical devices. It would not be proper to plug in a telephone or radio to charge the batteries. At that time telephone or military radios were operated on D.C. provided by non-rechargeable batteries. Electricity was not available for a long periods of time during the time period in the book because generating stations and transmission line were destroyed by the war.
I highly recommend Miracle at St.Anna along with my book Trapped in Tuscany, Liberated by the Buffalo Soldiers. One can better understand the relationship between the Italians and the liberating U.S. Army troops.
Tullio Bertini
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