East Africa, 1942, Colonel Cinelli to Lieutenant Palumbo: "In Africa, there are still no asylums, your idea is crazy"
That crazy idea would allow Lieutenant Palumbo to personally lower the British flag and conquer Fort Harrington. We dedicate an entire section to this man. Paratrooper General Giuseppe Palumbo was not just any man. He was the bridge between the past and the present. Already, a Paratrooper is not just any man.
Imagine a Paratrooper who conquers an unreachable fort, is captured and escapes (13 times!) from strict British prisons, walks 8,000 km on foot, swims seven hours in the ocean with a dagger between his teeth, slaps a journalist who insults His Paratroopers, returns medals of valor to the President of the Republic, the latter guilty of awarding the main responsible for the Ardeatine massacre, jumps in TCL from over 4000 meters at over eighty years of age.
A man, therefore, who represented the absolute personification of the Paratrooper, as well as the Commander and the pure and tough Fighter with courage at the limit of the unbelievable (often even beyond this limit...).
He is the UOMO FOLGORE in every respect, without ifs and buts.
An example, therefore, a beacon, for his subordinates and for all the Paratroopers who had the Honor of serving under His Command.
A pride for His Commanders and not only (the Honorable Giulio Andreotti would praise his daring behaviors...)
Officer class of 1915, son of a cavalry officer, Giuseppe Palumbo attended the officer cadet course in 1936 and two years later left for East Africa, participating with the II Colonial Battalion in the cycles of war operations in the territory of the Gallo Government.
At that time, Lieutenant Palumbo became the protagonist of legendary raids at the command of indigenous bands. The most sensational was the conquest of the heavily fortified British Fort Harrington after six days of furious fighting.
He recounts that experience as follows:
"Before being able to conquer the fort, it was necessary to annihilate the resistance of Dirsale, a small village right at the foot of Harrington.
While the various battalions followed one another in the assaults, I was in reserve with my men. Tired of this nerve-wracking wait, I presented myself at the attack Command, to Colonel Cicinelli, and volunteered to occupy the village with my band. The Colonel told me, laughing, that in Africa asylums still didn't exist, making me understand that my proposal was crazy.
He nevertheless gave me the go-ahead, and I played the card of surprise and psychology: at night, after a day of intense fighting, the soldiers, exhausted, logically felt a drop in tension. I took advantage of this situation and, with a few men, launched a violent attack in the middle of the night with a deadly throw of hand grenades.
The surprise worked, the defenders of Dirsale abandoned the village and sought refuge in the nearby Fort Harrington".
The first objective was achieved, now the most arduous task remained. Palumbo and his men remained bottled up on the front line "repelling repeated enemy counterattacks - as reported in the motivation for Palumbo's transition to S.P.E. for war merits precisely by virtue of that feat - and resisting on the spot for three consecutive days despite the furious enemy bombardments carried out both from the ground and from the air.
Finally, on the fourth day, having received the order to assault the fort about fifty meters away, they launched themselves with hand grenades, putting the last remaining defenders to flight, capturing weapons and ammunition".
"Naturally, the fort did not fall solely due to my assault but to all the other battalions involved in the attack - Palumbo points out - However, I had the great satisfaction of being the first to enter and personally lowering the British flag that the fleeing defenders did not have time to save".
As a personal "war booty," Palumbo took a splendid white horse (equestrianism has always been a great passion of his, passed down from his cavalry officer father): on that steed, he was hailed as a triumphant by his ascari, who were overwhelmed by the courage he had displayed in the conquest of the fort.
The African campaign, unfortunately, did not record only successes: after many daring feats, the days of bitterness arrived. When his unit fell prisoner, Palumbo, with a handful of men, attempted to reach Amba Alagi where the Duke of Aosta was still fighting. Surrounded by overwhelming troops, after a fierce battle, he was forced to surrender on the plain of Sorfella.
Almost immediately after escaping, he engaged in guerrilla actions with a patrol of men. This is confirmed by the Chief of Staff of Somalia Colonel Luigi Dante Di Marco who, as an escapee, organized the resistance in the Empire.
"During the period of his first escape - writes Colonel Di Marco in the proposal for the awarding of the Silver Medal for Military Valor to Palumbo - stationed in the Auia territory south of Harar, he severely threatened, at the head of a handful of escapees and natives, the British military traffic between Giggiga and Harar: of which the enemy himself later made chivalrous mention to me."
Captured again, Palumbo did not give up and continued his series of escapes.
The most sensational and dramatic occurred in February 1942. Locked up in the heavily fortified prison of Berbera, in British Somalia, Palumbo bet a gold sovereign with an English sergeant in charge of camp security, claiming he would manage to escape despite the exceptional security measures.
And he kept his word.
At night, after placing a dummy in his bed to deceive the sentries, with the help of other prisoners he managed to unhinge a window, lowered himself to the ground using a rope made from his cellmates' belts, evaded the vigilance of the English soldiers, and in the dark ran towards the sea with the objective of reaching one of our ships, anchored offshore, sent to Somalia to evacuate, under English supervision, the Italian women.
With a knife between his teeth to defend himself from the sharks that swarmed in that stretch of sea, Palumbo plunged into the water and began to swim towards freedom. Hours of inhuman effort, made even more difficult by the strong wind blowing towards the land; now exhausted, unable to hold the knife between his teeth, he tucked it into the waistband of his shorts.
And it was precisely to that trivial, forced change of position that General Palumbo owes his life.
"Exhausted from the effort - he recounts - I was slowly sinking when, with a sudden movement, the tip of the knife stuck into my buttock. The pain revived me: with a desperate effort I resumed swimming and reached the Italian ship exhausted."
Seven hours spent fighting against the adverse current had, however, exhausted him so much that he couldn't grasp the rope that an Italian sailor had thrown to him, urging him to be silent so as not to be noticed by the English sentries who were on board the Vulcania.
"Pull me up with a two-ended rope, I shouted to the sailors - Palumbo recounts - But my voice attracted the attention of an English sentry who leaned over the deck and fired a warning shot. Then he pointed the rifle at the Italian sailors, forcing them to drop the rope.
Out of anger and despair, I regained my strength and started swimming back out to sea. Suddenly I heard gunshots behind me. I thought they wanted to kill me, but instead, they were just trying to make me give up the escape and come aboard. Pulled up by the English, as soon as I set foot on the ship I felt my strength leave me and, as they say in Naples, I fainted!
This made an English sailor who had helped me smile, but I felt offended and pulled out the knife. To be honest, as I was going down from the command bridge to the infirmary, I saw my reflection in a large mirror and I too burst out laughing!
I looked like an Indian on the warpath: all the scratches I had gotten disentangling myself from the barbed wire at the camp had become bruises and swollen, my hair was standing on end, and I was impressively thin; in short, I looked like a scarecrow!"
Once refreshed, Palumbo was disembarked and returned to the prison camp where the sergeant, with typical English fair play, paid the sovereign of the bet.
The episode is also prominently mentioned in the volume "Long Escape to the South" by Prince Giovanni Corsini, who was himself the protagonist of legendary escapes. At least a dozen books, however, refer to Palumbo's African exploits.
Another book, "Africa Without Sun" by F.G. Piccinni, details Palumbo's thirteenth and final escape, the one that finally brought him back home.
Reduced to smuggling grappa that he clandestinely distilled in the camp from which he escaped at night to sell it and thus procure money for the escape, Palumbo often got into trouble. "The English colonel - it is written in "Africa Without Sun" - seeing him constantly appear at the trial held for every infraction, finally told him he was tired of seeing him. Palumbo calmly replied: "Imagine me, Colonel, who has been putting up with you for over five years!"
Thus, the English colonel ordered him to be put at the end of all repatriation lists.
But he escaped from prison, reached Nairobi, then Mombasa, entered the port by climbing over the fence guarded by sentries at night, and made his way to an islet at the mouth of the port.
From here, when the first steamer loaded with prisoners left, he swam to meet the ship that picked him up and brought him to Italy."
After the end of World War II and having obtained a promotion for war merits, Captain Palumbo was assigned to the 1st Grenadiers Regiment.
"During that period - he recounts - I came into contact with several paratroopers, people who were very full of themselves but really skilled! So much so that I decided to become a military paratrooper too: I turned to General Frattini and in '48 I was able to take the course and finally obtain the certificate."
Just enough time to engage in the first jumps, then back on a mission in Somalia where he distinguished himself for courage and decisiveness as recognized by the commander of Mogadishu:
"In the first half of April, Captain Palumbo carried out an important mission in Migiurtinia for the recruitment of native soldiers, demonstrating calm and energetic behavior in the face of unforeseen difficulties arising from the hostile attitude of some groups of the population. On this occasion, I had the opportunity to see him personally at work in the Gallacaio area".
Returning to Italy in '52 and promoted to major, he was finally assigned to the paratrooper troops: "To be precise, to the Paratrooper Military Center (later became C.A.PAR.) commanded by Col. Caforio - he clarifies - A name that did not enthuse me; I protested, I worked to obtain the old name of Paratrooper Military School and in the end, I succeeded thanks to the intervention of General Aloja, Chief of Staff of the Army".
After a risky experience in Lebanon, Palumbo obtained the command of the Paratrooper Military School.
"Right at that time - he recounts - three of my paratroopers died from causes never ascertained, a mysterious epidemic that caused alarm and controversy at the national level. A journalist from "Paese sera" dared to write that the paratroopers were taking stimulants to make the jumps.
Faced with this vulgar and cowardly insinuation, I reacted very decisively: I went, in civilian clothes, accompanied by my wife, to the Pisa hotel where that journalist was staying and, despite having an arm in a cast from a jump accident, I confronted him with slaps, sending him to the hospital".
An episode that sparked very violent controversies.
"But I also received vast solidarity - General Palumbo is pleased - Do you know who defended me with the greatest vigor? The Honorable Giulio Andreotti. "Free slap in a free state!" said the then Minister of Defense with one of his famous phrases. And in those days, in political and ministerial buildings, the phrase "I'll give you a Palumbo!" was coined to indicate a particularly violent slap".
A few years later, another sensational episode, due to its political implications, brought General Palumbo to the forefront of national attention and controversy: he returned his military valor decorations to President of the Republic Pertini as a sign of protest.
"I did it to protest against the awarding of the silver medal to Prof. Bentivegna, author of the Via Rasella attack that killed 33 South Tyrolean soldiers in German uniform and caused, in reaction, the killing of 330 Italians at the Fosse Ardeatine because the author of the attack did not present himself to the German authorities. Among the victims of the Fosse Ardeatine was also my wife's uncle, the air division general Castaldi Martelli".
Amidst one controversy and another, the then Colonel Palumbo poured his soul and effort into his passions: parachuting and... wild animals.
In April '64, at the head of his paratroopers, Palumbo also set the military record for simultaneous jump with commanded opening of 14 people from the axial door of the C - 119.
"The jump, in which I participated - he recounts - was conceived and planned by Colonel Argento who perfectly managed the training.
That team was later nicknamed the cluster gang".
The passion for wild animals, developed in Africa, continued in Tuscany, in a friend's villa where he raised tigers, lions, pumas, leopards.
Having abandoned the breeding of wild beasts (to the delight of neighbors terrified by not infrequent animal escapes!) the General is content with the company of less demanding dogs: like the famous Has Fidanken, protagonist - remember? - of not-so-distant television performances.
And with Has Fidanken well harnessed to his chest, General Palumbo often performed jumps from four thousand meters, a happy and brilliant weekly commitment that helps transform his adventurous years into perpetual youth.
First Bronze Medal for Military Valor
Bold fighter and ardent patriot, he imprinted every individual and unit action with generous dedication, facing risks and pushing beyond all limits, spirit of sacrifice, and high sense of duty. Commander of Dubat bands in a dangerous delicate situation: he carried out a risky action with few men for his unit and brilliantly brought it to an end, defying and overcoming the threat. Constant example of disregard for danger and deep attachment to duty
East Africa May-June 1941
Second Bronze Medal for Military Valor
An officer of clear military virtues did not endure the state of captivity attracted by the overpowering call to duty. After successive escapes carried out under dramatic circumstances but failed due to the active vigilance of the captors, he managed, facing serious personal risks, to reach the sea and, after a long perilous swim, to board a ship transporting compatriots with whom he returned to the Homeland.
East Africa May 1942
Example of indomitable tenacity and persevering courage
General Palumbo left us on February 9, 2009, at the age of 94. But we are sure that even in the afterlife, he will be feared and respected.
The plow leaves a furrow in the ground for sowing, there are men who leave an indelible mark on their fellow men. Paratrooper General Giuseppe Palumbo did this and more.
In 2007, at the age of 92, he declared the following:
"I order all Paratroopers to visit the El Alamein Memorial at least once in their lives and not forget those who fell for the Fatherland".
Rome, October 27, 2007, Paratrooper Corps General Giuseppe Palumbo
Gentlemen Paratroopers, orders must be respected.
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