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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Lett, Gordon
Gordon Lett
Ernest Gordon Appleford Lett
E G A Lett
Description
An account of the resource
56 items. The collection concerns Major Ernest Gordon Appleford Lett, DSO (1910-1989, 50112), a British Army officer and partisan leader in Italy. He was taken prisoner after the fall of Tobruk and detained in different camps in Italy. After the September 1943 armistice, rather than re-joining Allied forces, he took to the mountains and established contacts with Resistance forces active in the Apennines between Liguria and Toscana. Lett founded and led the Battaglione Internazionale, a multinational unit that successfully engaged Black Brigades and German units. Later, when reliable lines of communication were secured, supplies were dropped by air and the Battaglione was supplemented by Special Operations Executive personnel. Gordon Lett was relieved by Major John Henderson in March 1945. After the war, Lett was awarded the DSO and received the Medaglia Argento al valor militare.
The collection consists of a selection of Gordon Lett's papers and official correspondence with key figures of the local Resistance movement. They include Colonnello Mario Fontana (‘Cossu’, or ‘Turchi’), Comandante Luciano Scotti (‘Vittorio’ or ‘Gonzaga’), Commissario Politico Anselmo Corsini ('Ambrosio', or ‘Max’) and Mario Fortelli, a lawyer acting as liaison officer with the local Allied Military Mission.
Documents consist of military assessments, notes on air drops, a ciphers book, a draft of a radio message sent via clandestine radio operators, and a request for tactical bombing. The collection contains notes on an aircraft crash, the military funeral and the subsequent burial of the aircrew. A specific subset includes correspondence, plans and reports about the construction of an improvised landing strip for Allied aircraft operating behind enemy lines.
All documents were deposited at the La Spezia City Council and then re-housed in 1972 at the Istituto spezzino per la Storia della Resistenza e dell’Età Contemporanea, where they have been preserved ever since. The selection published here has been curated by Tiziano Vernazza.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
COMANDO DELLA 4° ZONA OPERATIVA
14 gennaio 1945
AL MAGGIORE GORDON LETT
Caro Gordon,
Come d’accordo, ho dato disposizioni affinché il materiale raccolto durante i lanci sia messo a disposizione del personale inglese il quale sceglierà quello occorrente.
Credo che non si dovranno più lamentare incidenti.
Ritengo opportuno però metterla al corrente di alcune voci giunte a proposito di lanci.
Pare che il personale inglese abbia distribuito numerosi oggetti di vestiario alla popolazione civile non solo di Rossano, ma anche di Zignago. Questo fatto, oltre a creare malcontento tra i partigiani che non sono ancora riusciti ad avere il necessario per coprirsi, impedisce al Comando di portare a termine le indagini atte a rintracciare il vestiario rubato durante il lancio, non potendosi più stabilire se gli oggetti in possesso dei borghesi arrestati sono stati rubati o sono stati ricevuti in dono.
Le sa inoltre quanti fastidi abbiamo avuti per la distribuzione dei paracadute alle famiglie bisognose e danneggiate dai rastrellamenti. Se ora si distribuiscono i paracadute ai primi che càpitano, non si fa che aumentare il malcontento tra i sinistrati, ai quali avevamo promesso il nostro aiuto appena possibile.
Io sarei ben felice di vedere tutta la popolazione delle nostre zone rifornita di vestiario e di altra roba, ma credo sia intendimento di tutti vestire prima i patriotti [sic].
La prego pertanto di voler spiegare quanto le ho esposto al personale inglese da Lei dipendente.
Cordiali Saluti
(Cossu)
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Italy
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Language
A language of the resource
ita
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
British Army
Civilian
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Title
A name given to the resource
Equipment handed out by British servicemen to Italian partisans
Description
An account of the resource
Colonnello Mario Fontana reports to Major Gordon Lett about air drops and various pieces of equipment handed out by British servicemen to Italian partisans. Complains about the situation, stressing that is now impossible to tell apart what has been stolen and what legitimately handed out. Mentions previous issues following the distribution of parachutes to civilians, and points out the necessity to prioritise combatants.
Creator
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Italy. Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale. IV zona operativa
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1945-01-14
Format
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One-page typewritten letter
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1945-01-14
Contributor
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Tiziano Vernazza
Rights
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This content is property of the Istituto spezzino per la Storia della Resistenza e dell’Età Contemporanea which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. It has been published here ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
isrlaspezia AMb4f3 BIS 1002
Resistance