Lettomanoppello Info, Gustav Line

[münster]

Hi ,

I have been researching my Italian family all day and found thier village in Lettomanoppello. Iam planning a trip and have noticed there was a lot of German occupation there. Any info on the German occupation, units and so forth would be appreciated. Iam planning to bring my metal detector if it appears worth it! Thanks in advance,

Dion

[münster]

Well Looks like My Cousin Sara who claims to know nothing of the War let me have the info,,she does a geneaology website,,,This is what she came up with from the locals...Wante d to share with you all

As to the German occupation of Lettomanoppello and that area, the
information we have is almost 100% stories told to us by people who lived
through it, or by their children. Lettomanoppello is located at an
elevation of about 1200 feet on a ridge of the mountain called La
Maielletta, one of the smaller peaks (about 7000 feet) of the Maiella
Mountains. The road runs through Lettomanoppello and dead ends within a few
feet of the top of La Maielletta. The last little peak at the top of the
mountain is known as "Blockhaus" because during the German occupation the
Germans built a garrison up there. All that's left today is some rubble.
We've been told that the Germans required locals to help with the
construction of the garrison and to haul ammunition up there.

In Roccamorice, the town next door to Lettomanoppello, the Germans had a
prisoner of war camp where they held British prisoners. It sounds like
prisoners escaped fairly regularly and were hidden by locals in caves on the
mountainside, where the locals brought them food and water.

This site has references to British soldiers who had escaped further north
and who passed through Lettomanoppello and Roccamorice, hiding there for a
time: http://www.nzetc.org/etexts/WH2Pris/_N98583.html

There is a British WWII POW website that has an account by a Rifleman George
Coulson, an escaped prisoner, of how he made his way south and sheltered
with a farmer in Lettomanoppello until he could get further south to the
allied forces. http://prisonerofwar.freeservers.com/winter_2000.htm

In case you haven't found it yourself, our site has a little account of what
life was like in Lettomanoppello during the occupation, at
http://www.geocities.com/laroccalulett/Lett9.html partway down the page, in
quotes. The page is about the statue of the Madonna di Costantinopoli.
After the war they decided to have a festa to thank the Madonna for
safeguarding them during the war. In order to raise funds for the festa,
they sent a letter to all the Lettesi living abroad, which contained the
description of what life was like during the occupation.

In our Stories section at
http://www.geocities.com/laroccalulett/Stories9.html there is an account by
the granddaughter of a man from Roccamorice who was a boy there during the
occupation, and the account tells of his adventure with the occupiers.

Also in the Stories section at
http://www.geocities.com/laroccalulett/Stories8.html at the bottom of the
page is a description of another event in Roccamorice during the occupation.

Also in our Stories section at
http://www.geocities.com/laroccalulett/Stories1.html is an account by Bonnie
Rulli of her father-in-law in Roccamorice being mistaken for an escaping
British prisoner and being shot in the leg; there's also a little
description by Costantino Conte of his relatives recollections of being
well-treated by the Germans in Lettomanoppello.

Last summer when we were in Lettomanoppello we talked to several people
about what the occupation had been like, in particular with 90 year old
Antonia Conte, mother of Antonio Di Pietrantonio who runs La Noce restaurant
(and he now has 3 guest rooms available - you can see the place on this
page: http://www.geocities.com/lettomanoppello ). She said that she was
pregnant during the war and her husband was in the Italian army serving
overseas. She was living with her parents, but they were forced out of
their home by the Germans and had to live on the mountainside. She said
this happened to other families as well. She remembers that despite all
that she still took food to escaped British prisoners hiding on the
mountain.

Sounds to me like if you had nothing and didn't give the Germans any trouble
you had few problems, but if you had a house or livestock or possessions
they wanted, it was another story.

Another person told us that his grandfather and other partisans would hole
up on the mountain and snipe at the Germans.

I know from my reading about the area that other towns, south of
Lettomanoppello, suffered much more...whole towns were destroyed by the
Germans at the time that they retreated, blown up, the people having been
forced to leave beforehand and shot on sight if they they tried to return.

Guess that's all I can tell you about the occupation. Hope it's of some
interest. Glad to hear that you're going to visit Lettomanoppello, and like
I said, you can now get a room at La Noce, right in town...if you do that,
please say hello to Antonio Di Pietrantonio for me...he and his brother and
brother-in-law run the place, and his sister Angeladea does the cooking -
she is a great cook!

My best to you, and stay in touch,