Via Rasella attack

The Via Rasella attack (Attacco di Via Rasella) was an action taken by the Italian resistance movement against the Nazi German occupation forces in Rome, Italy on 23 March 1944.

Location
Via Rasella is located in the centre of the city of Rome, in the rione of Trevi; it connects Via delle Quattro Fontane (next to the Palazzo Barberini) with Via del Traforo, and took its name from the property of the Raselli family which was located there.

History
The attack was led by the Patriotic Action Groups (GAP) against the 11th company of the 3rd battalion of the Polizeiregiment "Bozen" (Police Regiment "Bozen" from Bolzano ), a military unit of the German Ordnungspolizei ("Order Police") recruited in the largely ethnic-German Alto Adige region in north-east Italy, during the de-facto German annexation of the region (OZAV). At the time of the attack, the regiment was at the disposal of the German military command of the city of Rome, headed by Luftwaffe General Kurt Mälzer.

The attack
The attack on 23 March 1944 was the largest Italian partisan attack against the German troops. The GAP members, under the orders of Carlo Salinari (Spartacus) and Franco Calamandrei (Cola), were on Via Rasella during the passage of a company of the Police Regiment "Bozen", consisting of 156 men.

The action began with the explosion of a bomb deposited by Rosario Bentivegna. Eleven other partisans participated:


 * Via del Boccaccio: Franco Calamandrei, placed at the corner of the street, Carlo Salira near the tunnel and Silvio Serra;
 * Via Rasella: Carla Capponi, Raul Falcioni, Fernando Vitagliano, Pasquale Balsamo, Francesco Curreli, Guglielmo Blasi, Mario Fiorentini and Marisa Musu who provided cover fire by using a mortar.

The other members of the group were absent for various reasons: Lucia Ottobrini was ill, and Maria Teresa Regard was opposed to the choice of the place of the attack.

The attack saw the annihilation of the 11th company and caused the death of 32 men and about 110 wounded as well as two civilians, while the partisans did not have any losses.

Polizeiregiment "Bozen" personnel killed

 * Andergassen Karl (born 5/1/1914)
 * Bergmeister Franz (born 6/9/1906)
 * Dissertori Josef (born 5/6/1913)
 * Eichner Georg (born 21/4/1902)
 * Erlacher Jakob (born 12/7/1901)
 * Fischnaller Friedrich (born 19/11/1902)
 * Fischnaller Johann (born 17/11/1904)
 * Frotscher Eduard (born 19/12/1912)
 * Kaspareth Leonhard (born 28/1/1915)
 * Kaufmann Johann (born 19/10/1913)
 * Matscher Anton ((born 12/6/1912)
 * Mittelberger Anton (born 15/11/1907)
 * Moser Michael (born 29/9/1904)
 * Niederstatter Franz (born 1/6/1917)
 * Oberlechner Eugen (born 30/4/1908)
 * Oberrauch Mathias (born 15/8/1910)
 * Palla Paulinus (born 31/12/1905)
 * Pescosta Augustin (born 9/5/1912)
 * Profanter Daniel (born 22/5/1915)
 * Raich Josef (born 14/12/1906)
 * Rauch Anton (born 5/8/1910)
 * Rungger Engelbert (born 21/12/1907)
 * Schweigl Johann (born 13/8/1908)
 * Seyer Johann (born 3/6/1904)
 * Spiess Ignatz (born 4/7/1911)
 * Spogler Eduard (born 11/7/1908)
 * Stecher Ignatz (born 11/5/1911)
 * Stedile Albert (born 26/6/1915)
 * Steger Josef (born 10/8/1908)
 * Tschigg Hermann (born 23/4/1911)
 * Turneretscher Fidelius (born 19/1/1914)
 * Wartbichter Josef (born 13/11/1907)
 * Vinzenz Haller

Ardeatine Caves
In retaliation, the German troops killed 335 persons, prisoners and people rounded up, almost all of them civilians in the Ardeatine massacre, organized and conducted by SS Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler, head of Sicherheitspolizei ("Security Police") and Sicherheitsdienst ("Security Service") in Rome.