Piero Germano, from the ANPI website. On the battle of Sala Biellese, see the historical reconstruction in Piero Germano, La battaglia di Sala Biellese. 1º febbraio 1945Archived 2007-10-28 at the Wayback Machine, from the website of the Institute for the History of Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli, originally published in L'Impegno, a. II, no. 4, December 1982.
The detailed reconstruction of the events is reported by the Application for authorization to proceed to trial against Congressmen Moranino and Ortona, presented to the Chamber of Deputies by the Attorney General of the Court of Turin Ciaccia on June 24, 1949. The number of 75 prisoners taken is contained in that document and also confirmed by Pansa 2003, p. 83; according to Bermani, p. 330, there were 62 Fascists loaded onto the wagons; according instead to Uboldi, p. 324, from Novara were taken "about seventy Fascist soldiers."
Mario Cassano, «Vercelli, il 12 maggio 1945», article and photo documentation in Acta, bimonthly scientific information cultural journal of the Historical Institute of the CSR Foundation, Year XXII, No. 2 (66) May-July 2008, pp. 12-13.
Piero Ambrosio, La Resistenza in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenniArchived 2011-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.: "On March 9, the last massacre perpetrated by the fascists took place in Salussola: after horrendous torture, twenty-one partisans were shot. In response, the Biella Cln ordered a general strike of protest [...] which was carried out imposingly in all the factories." Other sources state instead that the partisans killed were twenty; see for example L'eccidio di Salussola: 8 e 9 marzo 1945, from the Salussola village website/portal.
Giorgio Pisanò, Storia della guerra civile in Italia, Milano, FPE, 1972, p. 1640: [...] no trial was ever brought against Moranino and Ortona who were also responsible, among other things, for the appalling massacre at the Vercelli psychiatric hospital, where, seventy fascists were slaughtered with unprecedented cruelty under the wheels of moving trucks in the building's courtyard." The number of seventy dead is believed to be undocumented - as is all the data on fascists killed in the province of Vercelli provided by Pisanò - by Piero Ambrosio, L'insurrezione in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenniArchived 2021-09-16 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit., nota 42Archived 2010-04-21 at the Wayback Machine.
Piero Ambrosio, La provincia di Vercelli durante la Rsi. Cenni storiciArchived 2008-04-13 at the Wayback Machine, from the website of the Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli: "On December 2, a division of black shirts sent to Varallo, to garrison an area that was becoming "crucial," had been attacked shortly after its arrival and the fascists had on that occasion their first fallen soldier in the province, Militia squad leader Leandro Guida."
Piero Ambrosio, La Resistenza in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenniArchived 2011-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.: "The first real action of war took place in Varallo where, on December 2, Garibaldians from the "Gramsci" detachment, commanded by Cino Moscatelli, attacked a contingent of black shirts encamped in the Town Hall: the fascists had one dead, the partisans some wounded. A few days later, on December 10, the Biella Garibaldians attacked fascists who were deporting some workers guilty of organizing a strike at the Tollegno Spinning Mill. These actions were the premise of a decisive intervention by the partisans in support of the strikes that began to develop in Valsessera from December 15, and which resulted in the general strike of the workers of the Biella and Valsesia areas."
Piero Ambrosio, La provincia di Vercelli durante la Rsi. Cenni storiciArchived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.: "Finally, the threat contained in the notice: 'the killing of a soldier of the Republican National Guard or any other agent of the public force or a Germanic soldier will cost the lives of 10 local individuals' was implemented following the killing in Borgosesia on December 21 of (not one but) two soldiers of the 63rd battalion." Also part of the unit was the writer Carlo Mazzantini (father of writer Margaret), who will recall the whole affair in his A cercar la bella morte, Venice, Marsilio 1995, pp. 74 ff.
Piero Ambrosio, La Resistenza in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenniArchived 2011-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.: "Partisan actions and strikes drew the attention of the "authorities" of the Republic of Salò to what was happening in these areas. [...] was sent to Vercelli, and later to Valsesia and Biella, the 63rd "Tagliamento" battalion, which was responsible for heinous massacres, fires, looting from the first days of its activity in our province."
As an example among the defeats is the so-called "Caporetto of Alagna" (July 1944), when the partisan forces liberated Valsesia and Valsassera for a short time, only to be beaten at Alagna, at the foot of Monte Rosa. On Piero Ambrosio, La Resistenza in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenniArchived 2011-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.
Piero Ambrosio, La Resistenza in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenniArchived 2011-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.: "On March 9, the last massacre perpetrated by the fascists took place in Salussola: after horrendous torture, twenty-one partisans were shot. In response, the Biella Cln ordered a general strike of protest [...] which was carried out imposingly in all the factories." Other sources state instead that the partisans killed were twenty; see for example L'eccidio di Salussola: 8 e 9 marzo 1945, from the Salussola village website/portal.
Piero Ambrosio (edited by), Verso la vittoria. I bollettini militari delle formazioni partigiane della provincia di Vercelli (gennaio-aprile 1945)Archived 2015-07-24 at the Wayback Machine from "L'impegno", a. V, no. 1, March 1985, Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli," Cit. (from partisan bulletin): "On March 6 an enemy column moving between Zimone and Salussola is attacked by a patrol of the Gl brigade... 4 dead and 2 wounded, 3 prisoners, 2 trucks, a machine gun, 7 muskets, pistols and hand grenades. Following this brilliant attack the enemy vented its wrath with the ferocious Salussola shootings." Frequent partisan actions around Salussola, mainly by the 75th Garibaldi "Maffei" brigade and the local GL brigade, from early 1945 inflicted important and frequent losses among the fascist units.
"Giovanni Fracassi (1900), a Gnr colonel in charge of the Op company, was accused of rounding up in the Borgo d'Ale and Strambino areas, arresting and killing partisans (captured in the Biellese, Olcenengo, Arborio, and Trino areas), capturing in the Crescentino area four hundred draft dodgers, and allowing the Political Investigation Bureau persecution, abuse, and torture. He constituted extraordinary tribunals of the Gnr, in which the partisans Burzio, Cassetta, Dejana, Dreussi, Mosca, Orlando and Pluda were shot." The quote is taken from Marilena Vittone, Un processo a collaborazionisti vercellesi tra amnistia e giustizia penaleArchived 2009-06-12 at the Wayback Machine, from the Website of the Institute for the History of Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli, originally published in "L'impegno," a. XXVIII, no. 1, June 2008.
On the former see the conclusions of Ezio Manfredi, Dalle Alpi occidentali a Santhià. La strage dell'aprile 1945 e la resa del 75º Corpo d'armataArchived 2009-09-26 at the Wayback Machine, in l'impegno, n. 3, Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli, December 2001, which also finds it "unlikely that" the Germans "were guided" to some farmsteads where partisans were "by a spy from the village." On the second episode, see Mario Vaira, "Walter Fillak, Commander Martin.", in Canavèis. Natura, arte, storia e tradizioni del Canavese e delle Valli del Lanzo, Autunno 2008 – Inverno 2009, Cumbe Edizioni 2008, for whom German units captured the partisans "due to the denunciation of a spy," just as only Germans condemned and executed them. On the Buronzo massacre of March 15, 1945, a German reprisal for a partisan attack three days earlier, see Itinerari della resistenza bielleseArchived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, from the website of the Historical Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society of the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli.
Piero Germano, from the ANPI website. On the battle of Sala Biellese, see the historical reconstruction in Piero Germano, La battaglia di Sala Biellese. 1º febbraio 1945Archived 2007-10-28 at the Wayback Machine, from the website of the Institute for the History of Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli, originally published in L'Impegno, a. II, no. 4, December 1982.
Pierfrancesco Manca, Guerra civile e guerra di popolo nel BielleseArchived 2007-10-27 at the Wayback Machine from the website of the Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli, originally in "L'Impegno," a. XX, no. 3, December 2000 and a. XXI, no. 1, April 2001: "On March 9, 1945, the command of the 5th "Garibaldi" division addressed a curious request to the command of the 115th "Montebello" battalion of the GNR: "Following today's execution in Salussola, we have taken steps to denounce your department and the Italian government as 'war criminals.' In case the execution was not your doing, please specify to us the department and officers responsible for the appropriate corrections.""
Giorgio Pisanò, Storia della guerra civile in Italia, Milano, FPE, 1972, p. 1640: [...] no trial was ever brought against Moranino and Ortona who were also responsible, among other things, for the appalling massacre at the Vercelli psychiatric hospital, where, seventy fascists were slaughtered with unprecedented cruelty under the wheels of moving trucks in the building's courtyard." The number of seventy dead is believed to be undocumented - as is all the data on fascists killed in the province of Vercelli provided by Pisanò - by Piero Ambrosio, L'insurrezione in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenniArchived 2021-09-16 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit., nota 42Archived 2010-04-21 at the Wayback Machine.
Piero Ambrosio, La provincia di Vercelli durante la Rsi. Cenni storiciArchived 2008-04-13 at the Wayback Machine, from the website of the Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli: "On December 2, a division of black shirts sent to Varallo, to garrison an area that was becoming "crucial," had been attacked shortly after its arrival and the fascists had on that occasion their first fallen soldier in the province, Militia squad leader Leandro Guida."
Piero Ambrosio, La Resistenza in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenniArchived 2011-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.: "The first real action of war took place in Varallo where, on December 2, Garibaldians from the "Gramsci" detachment, commanded by Cino Moscatelli, attacked a contingent of black shirts encamped in the Town Hall: the fascists had one dead, the partisans some wounded. A few days later, on December 10, the Biella Garibaldians attacked fascists who were deporting some workers guilty of organizing a strike at the Tollegno Spinning Mill. These actions were the premise of a decisive intervention by the partisans in support of the strikes that began to develop in Valsessera from December 15, and which resulted in the general strike of the workers of the Biella and Valsesia areas."
Piero Ambrosio, La provincia di Vercelli durante la Rsi. Cenni storiciArchived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.: "Finally, the threat contained in the notice: 'the killing of a soldier of the Republican National Guard or any other agent of the public force or a Germanic soldier will cost the lives of 10 local individuals' was implemented following the killing in Borgosesia on December 21 of (not one but) two soldiers of the 63rd battalion." Also part of the unit was the writer Carlo Mazzantini (father of writer Margaret), who will recall the whole affair in his A cercar la bella morte, Venice, Marsilio 1995, pp. 74 ff.
Piero Ambrosio, La Resistenza in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenniArchived 2011-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.: "Partisan actions and strikes drew the attention of the "authorities" of the Republic of Salò to what was happening in these areas. [...] was sent to Vercelli, and later to Valsesia and Biella, the 63rd "Tagliamento" battalion, which was responsible for heinous massacres, fires, looting from the first days of its activity in our province."
As an example among the defeats is the so-called "Caporetto of Alagna" (July 1944), when the partisan forces liberated Valsesia and Valsassera for a short time, only to be beaten at Alagna, at the foot of Monte Rosa. On Piero Ambrosio, La Resistenza in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenniArchived 2011-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.
Piero Ambrosio, La Resistenza in provincia di Vercelli. Brevi cenniArchived 2011-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.: "On March 9, the last massacre perpetrated by the fascists took place in Salussola: after horrendous torture, twenty-one partisans were shot. In response, the Biella Cln ordered a general strike of protest [...] which was carried out imposingly in all the factories." Other sources state instead that the partisans killed were twenty; see for example L'eccidio di Salussola: 8 e 9 marzo 1945, from the Salussola village website/portal.
Piero Ambrosio (edited by), Verso la vittoria. I bollettini militari delle formazioni partigiane della provincia di Vercelli (gennaio-aprile 1945)Archived 2015-07-24 at the Wayback Machine from "L'impegno", a. V, no. 1, March 1985, Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli," Cit. (from partisan bulletin): "On March 6 an enemy column moving between Zimone and Salussola is attacked by a patrol of the Gl brigade... 4 dead and 2 wounded, 3 prisoners, 2 trucks, a machine gun, 7 muskets, pistols and hand grenades. Following this brilliant attack the enemy vented its wrath with the ferocious Salussola shootings." Frequent partisan actions around Salussola, mainly by the 75th Garibaldi "Maffei" brigade and the local GL brigade, from early 1945 inflicted important and frequent losses among the fascist units.
"Giovanni Fracassi (1900), a Gnr colonel in charge of the Op company, was accused of rounding up in the Borgo d'Ale and Strambino areas, arresting and killing partisans (captured in the Biellese, Olcenengo, Arborio, and Trino areas), capturing in the Crescentino area four hundred draft dodgers, and allowing the Political Investigation Bureau persecution, abuse, and torture. He constituted extraordinary tribunals of the Gnr, in which the partisans Burzio, Cassetta, Dejana, Dreussi, Mosca, Orlando and Pluda were shot." The quote is taken from Marilena Vittone, Un processo a collaborazionisti vercellesi tra amnistia e giustizia penaleArchived 2009-06-12 at the Wayback Machine, from the Website of the Institute for the History of Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli, originally published in "L'impegno," a. XXVIII, no. 1, June 2008.
On the former see the conclusions of Ezio Manfredi, Dalle Alpi occidentali a Santhià. La strage dell'aprile 1945 e la resa del 75º Corpo d'armataArchived 2009-09-26 at the Wayback Machine, in l'impegno, n. 3, Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli, December 2001, which also finds it "unlikely that" the Germans "were guided" to some farmsteads where partisans were "by a spy from the village." On the second episode, see Mario Vaira, "Walter Fillak, Commander Martin.", in Canavèis. Natura, arte, storia e tradizioni del Canavese e delle Valli del Lanzo, Autunno 2008 – Inverno 2009, Cumbe Edizioni 2008, for whom German units captured the partisans "due to the denunciation of a spy," just as only Germans condemned and executed them. On the Buronzo massacre of March 15, 1945, a German reprisal for a partisan attack three days earlier, see Itinerari della resistenza bielleseArchived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, from the website of the Historical Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society of the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli.
Piero Germano, from the ANPI website. On the battle of Sala Biellese, see the historical reconstruction in Piero Germano, La battaglia di Sala Biellese. 1º febbraio 1945Archived 2007-10-28 at the Wayback Machine, from the website of the Institute for the History of Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli, originally published in L'Impegno, a. II, no. 4, December 1982.
Pierfrancesco Manca, Guerra civile e guerra di popolo nel BielleseArchived 2007-10-27 at the Wayback Machine from the website of the Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Provinces of Biella and Vercelli, originally in "L'Impegno," a. XX, no. 3, December 2000 and a. XXI, no. 1, April 2001: "On March 9, 1945, the command of the 5th "Garibaldi" division addressed a curious request to the command of the 115th "Montebello" battalion of the GNR: "Following today's execution in Salussola, we have taken steps to denounce your department and the Italian government as 'war criminals.' In case the execution was not your doing, please specify to us the department and officers responsible for the appropriate corrections.""
