Marocchinate

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Marocchinate (Italian: plural of marocchinata, literally translatable as "Moroccaned (woman)") 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 ^[1]), commanded by General Alphonse Juin.

1 Background
2 The Rape
3 Aftermath
4 The rape in cinema and literature
5 See also
6 External links
- 6.1 Sources
- 6.2 Others
7 References

[edit] 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 defence 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 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"^[2].

[edit] The Rape

Montecassino was captured by the Allies on May 18, 1944. That next night, thousands of Goumiers and other colonial troops 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 men killed 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.

[edit] 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^[3].

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.^{[citation needed]}

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 de Lattre de Tassigny, 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^{[citation needed]}.

French authorities still dispute the majority of these claims.

In Castro dei Volsci, a monument (the "Mamma Ciociara") now stands to remember all the women and mothers who tried in vain to defend themselves and their daughters^[4].

[edit] The rape in cinema and literature

Two Women, starring Sophia Loren.

In 1957, the Italian writer Alberto Moravia wrote the novel La Ciociara, based on the mass rape in Ciociaria. It is the drama of a mother and her daughter, both raped by the Goumiers.

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 Academy award for a non-English-speaking role. The film Days of Glory (2006 film) however ignores this controversial episode of the Goumiers.