WHEN SICILY WAS LAST INVADED

New Zealand Listener, Volume 9, Issue 210, 2 July 1943, Page 6

WHEN SICILY WAS LAST INVADED

What Garibaldi Did With A Thousand Men

ICILY has often been invaded in the past, by Phoenicians, by Greeks and Romans, by Carthaginians and Moors and Normans. It was invaded 83 years ago by Garibaldi and his thousand volunteers ready to risk prison and death to free Sicily from the misgovernment of a tyrannical king. lf Sicily is again invaded by the United Nations fighting again in the cause of freedom it will be by forces, well armed, well prepared, and attacking according to plan. The story of the Garibaldi expedition emphasises the extent to which the last 83 years have revolutionised warfare. Here are some parts of the story of Garibaldi’s expedition as it ge by G. M. Trevelyan in "Garibaldi the Thousand." * * * HE only respect in which it could be said that there was any similarity between modern warfare and Garibaldi’s expedition was that Garibaldi unwittingly used Hitler’s technique of a war of nerves, We say unwittingly because Garibaldi would probably have preferred to have sprung a complete surprise on the Neapolitan government. But the proposal to invade Sicily and rally the forces of rebellion Was made again and again. Garibaldi’s preparations in and near Genoa could

not be hidden from a world that watched his every move with eagerness or anxiety. The Men With Him Who were these thousand men of Garibaldi’s who caused such alarm? They were all patriots, full of courage, full of high hopes, and prepared to die, but very poorly armed. Most came from North Italy, but 33, including Garibaldi himself, were officially classed as nonItalians. "A large proportion were university students, others came from all walks of life, 150 lawyers, 100 doctors (who used to fight till the battle was over and then tend the wounded), 100 merchants, 50 engineers, 20 chemists, 10 painters or sculptors, 3 ex-priests, one woman, besides men of private means, government employees, authors, professors, journalists, and small tradesmen. There was hardly a single peasant." In the early days of the expedition only about 50 wore the red shirts that later captured popular imagination, started @ fashion for red blouses among English women of fashion, and perhaps were the

fore-runners of the black-shirt and brown-shirt fashions of ‘more recent years. The Enfield rifles that Garibaldi had hoped to get from the "Million Rifles Fund" had been denied him. Instead, he was supplied with smooth-bore muskets, rusty with age, which had been converted from flint-locks into percussion, and finally sold as obsolete by the military authorities. They were, he bitterly exclaimed, so much "old iron." Later he succeeded in acquiring 100 Enfield rifles e two bronze cannon cast in 1802, and an old culverin which had been out of date long before the era of Napoleon. "These three cannon, together with two more garrison pieces of like antiquarian interest found by Garibaldi in the old tower of Talamone, were taken to Sicily, mounted there on wooden carriages roughly put together, and occasionally fired as the field artillery of the thousand. The fame of these five veterans, transformed by Sicilian imagination into twice as many ‘rifled cannon carrying four miles’ made the Sicilian take courage and the Neapolitan soldiers

take thought and had no small moral influence on the result of the campaign." On The Way Equipped with little more than stout hearts the expedition sailed for the Sicilian coast with only opportunist plans (Continued on next page)

aa Ean. | (Continued from previous page) of how and where to land. The first adventure which might have wrecked the expedition was on the night before the landing, when Garibaldi in his ship, the Piedmonte, sailed ahead of the other, the Lombardo. In the dark they might never have found each other again, since both were sailing without lights. As it happened the Piedmonte, saiiing back for the Lombardo, was not recognised and was very nearly rammed in mistake for a Neapolitan cruiser, It was decided to land at Marsala when it was ascertained from a passing vessel that there were no Neapolitan ships or troops there. Even so the landing might have been disastrous, for the Lombardo stuck outside the harbour and . two Meapolitan warships arrived only a couple of hours after the Garibaldini. However, seeing two British men-of-war in port, the Neapolitans did not dare to open a broadside on the Garabaldini, who for the most part had not yet disembarked, for fear that England might be helping the expedition and would retaliate in full measure. By the time they had made quite sure that the British were maintaining a strict neutrality the Thousand had disembarked and were making their way up to the town, Even here they might have suffered heavy losses, but "the bombardment was as badly aimed as it had been tardily begun. For the most part the missiles fell into the open sea, but one or two passed over the British merchant’s establishment and nearly killed the English manager’s wife. When all were within the city gate there was no more to fear. The total loss to the invaders had been one dog wounded in the leg &nd one man in the shoulder." Luck, Pluck, and Bluff The landing was characteristic of the mixture of luck, pluck, and bluff that made the final ‘success of the expedition possible. English neutrality and the sympathy of Englishmen throughout stood Garibaldi in good stead. And everywhere he had the co-operation of the Sicilians themselves. They did not always fight; to the Thousand they appeared chicken-hearted; they were for the most part unarmed or armed only with farm implements or table knives, but they fought if and where they could, and they formed a reliable Fifth Column. At the final attags on Palermo, every c..e in the city, except the authorities, knew when Garibaldi was coming. Even the political prisoners in the gaols had a note smuggled to them, "To-morrow Garibaldi will enter Palermo." A Crucial Battle The first open battle of the "Campaign" was fought at Calatafimi. The outcome for the Garibaldini was crucial. The Neapolitans, who were well placed on a hill-top, outnumbered the Thousand by about five to three, and there were also reserves. "Every Neapolitan had an excellent rifle. The smooth-bore muskets of the Thousand were sighted for 300 yards, they frequently missed fire altogether, and there was such a scarcity of ammunition that some had only ten rounds, There was little shooting done by the assailants, who were ordered by Garibaldi to reserve their fire and go in with cold steel. The weapon was the bayonet, the sight of which coming up from below at a few yards’ distance

generally induced the Neapolitan riflemen to seek ground higher up the hill." At one point the battle was so critical that many pressed round Garibaldi and asked "General, what are we to do?" "Ttalians," he answered, "here we must die." The turning point came when some of the defenders ran short of ammunition and "plucking up stones and dirt began to hurl them down the bank. Garibaldi happened to be leaning forward with his head bent toward the ground, when he was hit in the back by a large stone. . .,. The next moment saw Garibaldi spring to his full height, his eyes kindling their strange lights and heard him cry ‘Come on. They are throwing stones, Their ammunition is spent!’ He dashed up the bank, sword in hand and his men after him against the serried ranks, who in fact had not spent the whole of their ammunition, No one ever pretended to know what happened at the top of the bank, but when the red madness of battle subsided the victors became aware of the Neapolitans streaming in flight across the plateau of the summit and rushing headlong down the other side of the hill into the valley." The Taking of Palermo Here is another example of mixed courage and bluff during the: fighting in the first stages of the attack on Palermo. The Thousand led the way into the city and they were followed up by a squadre of Sicilians whose support was necessary if only.to give a certain weight of numbers. They came to a_ street-crossing raked by cross fire. The Thousand had passed and the street was slippery with their blood, The squadre came to a halt afraid to pass over the open road. The men from the Thousand who had been le-: behind to lead them had somehow to bring them into the city. The only way was to show them how badly, in fact, the Neapolitans were shooting. For this purpose Francesco Carbone, a Genoese lad of 17, planted a chair with a tricolour floating above it, in the middle of the crossing and himself sat down on it amid the storm of ill-directed missiles. Thus the squadre were brought. into the city. Luck was also off the side of the rebels. When the Viceroy asked for 4 truce Garibaldi was almost out of ammunition. The two days’ truce gave him time to get some from a Greek steamer that "chance brought into the harbour at night. ft gave him time to

organise the building of such effective barricades in the city that the authorities asked him to prolong the armistice, "Every day made it harder to open hostilities again, until it became clear that capitulation was an obvious if humiliating way out." The final capitulatio: was signed just a month after the landing of Garibaldi at Marsala. On June 7, 186Q, more than 20,000 troops evacuated the palace and the cathedral. Had they known the actual condition of | Garibaldi’s forces they might never haye gone. The Sicilians could not be relied upon. Many of the squadre were going back to their villages. Conscription was proving an impossibility. Only 390 muskets remained among the remnant of the Thousand!. But they had conquered Sicily,