MAROCCHINATE

'Marocchinate' (literally translateable as ''"Moroccaned"'') is a term applied to the victims of the mass rape committed after the Battle of Monte Cassino by Goumiers, colonial troops of the French Expeditionary Corps (CEF), commanded by general Alphonse Juin.

Contents

Background

The Rape

Aftermath

Trivials

See also

External links

Sources

Sources in Italian

Forum discussions

Others

References

Background

Goumiers were colonial irregular troops forming the "Goums Marocains", a formation approximately the size of a Division but more loosely organised, which made up the CEF along with 4 other Divisions: the 2nd Moroccan Infantry Division, the 3rd Algerian Infantry Division, the 4th Moroccan Mountain Division and the 1st Free French Division. The "Goums Marocains" were commanded by General Augustin Guillaume.

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

General Juin allegedly declared before the battle: "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"^[1].

The Rape

Montecassino was conquered by the Allies on May 18, 1944. That next night thousands of Goumiers and other colonial troops (Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian and Senegalese) swarmed over the slopes of the hills surrounding the town and in the villages of Ciociaria (South Latium). Over 2,000 women, ranging in age from 11 years to 86 years suffered from violence, when village after village, came under control of the Goumiers. Civilian men who tried to protect their own wives and daughters were murdered without mercy, the number of killed men has been estimated at roughly 800 [1]. Two sisters aged 15 and 18 were raped by dozens of soldiers each; one died shortly after, the surviving one was still in a mental hospital in 1997, 53 years after the event. Most of the dwellings in the villages were destroyed and everything of value was stolen.

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 and that some had died as a result.

Aftermath

The stories of mass rapes and slaughter of Italian peasants, reportedly prompted Pope Pius XII to communicate to the Allied command his intense wish that the CEF not be allowed into the city of Rome at its liberation^[2].

Later, in northern Latium and southern Tuscany, it is alleged that the Goumiers raped and, occasionally killed, women and young men after the Germans retreated, including members of local anti-fascist partisan formations.

Later in the war, it is reported that the Goums raped around 500 women in the Black Forest town of Freudenstadt, on April 17, 1945, after its capture. In Stuttgart, the French colonial troops (mostly African) under the command of General Eisenhower, rounded up around 2,000 women and herded them into the underground subways to be raped. In the week after, more women were raped in Stuttgart than in the whole of France during the four year German occupation.

French authorities still dispute the majority of these claims.

Trivials

The alleged mass rape in Ciociaria was described by the Italian writer Alberto Moravia in his book ''La Ciociara'' (1957).
The movie ''Two Women'' (''La Ciociara''), directed by Vittorio de Sica, starring Sophia Loren was made after this book. In 1960 it won the Academy Award for Best Actress (Sophia Loren), it was the first time an actress won an acting award for a non-English-speaking role.

In Castro dei Volsci, a monument now stands to remember "Mamma Ciociara", a woman who tried in vain to defend herself and her daughter^[3][4]

See also

★ Days of Glory (2006 film)

★ Goumiers

External links

Sources

★ Augustin-Leon Guillaume's Goums in a Modern War (it praises the fighting ability in difficult terrain and "Unfortunately for the Goumiers, their military success did not prevent their fearsome reputation from taking its toll as exceptional numbers of Moroccans were executed—many without trial—for allegedly murdering, raping, and pillaging their way across the Italian countryside.")

★ Corps Expéditionnaire Français en Italie (CEFI) (unused source)

★ Rampage in Montecassino

★ Le corps expéditionnaire français en Italie - Violences des « libérateurs » durant l’été 1944

★ Augustin-Leon Guillaume's Goums in a Modern War

★ ''A Question of Race: Pope Pius XII and the "Coloured Troops" in Italy'', Robert G. Weisbord & Michael W. Honhart

★ International News Electronic Telegraph Sunday 11 May 1997 ; ''Italian women win cash for wartime rapes'' By Bruce Johnston

★ Comments about the mass rape in Ciociaria, with video from Two Women (the rape by the goumiers)

Sources in Italian

★ Acts of the Italian parlament

★ The mass rape of the Allies

★ 'Marocchinate'- Rape of the Italians (unsourced text)

★ New researches about Italian women raped in the Second World War

★ ''La Ciociara'' and the others

★ Juin's Moroccans "redeem" the honor of Free France

★ Marocchinate

★ Montecassino 1944: Stear up Moroccoans

★ Deliberation in the Italian Parliament, war crimes in Ciociaria (April, 7, 1952)

★ Senate of the Italian Republic: project of law for the vicims of war rapes. July, 25, 1996

★ Cassino 1943-44. La memoria

★ Tommaso Baris; ''Tra due fuochi. Esperienza e memoria della guerra lungo la linea Gustav'', (2004) Laterza, ISBN 9788842071082

Forum discussions

Note: these links are inserted to aid further developements of the article, they shall not be regarded as source. but just as track for further reaserches.

★ Pico: The White Paper Act" Rape of 2,000 Italian Women, Death of 800 Italian Men by Allies in WWII

★ Axis History Forum. General Juin's proclamation to colonial troops to rape

★ Forum "militarythoughts"

Others

★ ''Two Women'' (''La Ciociara'') at the Internet Movie Database. This movie, a masterpiece of the Italian neorealism, it was inspired by the Cassino facts.

★ Video: Indigenès: la fache cachée (warning: the present video present racistic claims)

★ Google books: marocchinate

References

1. War Crimes in Ciociaria
2. Cassino
3. Mamma Ciociara
4. La Mamma Ciociara