Prisoners of war volunteer to defuse a bomb

Prisoners of war volunteer to defuse a bomb

People are held back outside the gate of a walled yard as a trolley carrying an unexploded bomb is pulled by five men, four dressed in green and one in a white shirt with the colours of the Italian flag. A young boy has climbed a column just outside the gate. In the foreground, three men are wearing armbands with the Italian colours visible. Two are gesturing with open arms towards the third man as he pulls at the strap of his gun.

Label reads “297”; signed by the author; Caption reads “2 MAGGIO 1945. S. GIORGIO di NOGARO UD. Prigionieri “SS” spagnoli, in realtà erano degli arruolati istriani, offertisi di spolettare e trasportare una bomba, rimasta inesplosa durante l’azione notturna di “Pippo” del 23 Febbraio. Rimasta interrata nella cantina, veniva rimossa e transportata verso il cancello, d’uscita, dove un nugolo di curiosi si assiepavano, essendo stati tolti i cordoni di sicurezza. Erano le 11.00, un boato tremendo, lacerava il paese in festa, la bomba era esplosa provocando un massacro, 25 le vittime, 5 patrioti, 2 ignoti e molti feriti. Il disegno nato il giorno della sciagura; da sinistra R.M. - F.L. - R.P. -A.M.- A.S. assieme a 3 prigionieri istriani. Una mamma di questi soldati ignoti venne dall’Istria in cerca del figlio che sapeva a S. Giorgio, io la vidi, quanto pi’anse, ma nessuno l’aiutò.”

Caption translates as: “2 May 1945 – San Giorgio di Nogaro (Udine province). Spanish Schutzstaffel [sic] prisoners, who as a matter of facts were Istrian enlisted soldiers, offered to defuse and carried away a bomb that had not detonated following 23 February Pippo’s night bombing. It remained buried in the basement; it was removed and transported towards the main gate, where a crowd of onlookers gathered as the area was no longer cordoned off. It was 11.00 am; a terrible boom shocked the jubilant population. The bomb had exploded resulting in 25 victims (five patriots, two unknowns, and many injured); it was a massacre. This artwork was finished that same day. It depicts (from left to right): R.M., F.L., R.F., A.M., and A.S., together with three Istrian prisoners. One of the soldiers’ mothers came from Istria looking for her son, knowing he was in San Giorgio. I saw her. How much she cried! - no one helped her.”

One tempera on paper, pasted on mount board

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