Thread by @rick_hough

The Nazi plot to destroy Verona and the village priest who foiled it.

[a thread]

By April 1945, the Second World War was finally drawing to a close.

In Italy, the Nazis were finally in retreat.

The Allied invasion of the Italian mainland had begun in early September 1943.

The Allies had hoped to make a quick drive north, through the "soft underbelly" of Europe and into the German heartland.

But 19 months later, after bitter fighting up the rugged mountainous spine of the Italian peninsula, the Anglo-American alliance had still not reached its objective.

A final offensive, Operation Grapeshot, was launched on 6 April 1945.

It’s objective was "...to destroy the maximum number of enemy forces south of the Po, force crossings of the Po and capture Verona”.

By 25 April 1945, U.S.IV Corps had finally reached the walls of Verona.

At dawn the next morning, to prevent them from falling into enemy hands, the German commanders based in Verona received orders to destroy 40,000 crates of TNT.

The explosives were stored in a quarry in the hills to the north of Verona, near the village of Avesa.

The explosion, it is said, would have caused the destruction not only of Avesa, but also much of the city of Verona.

Don Giuseppe Graziani, a military chaplain, discovered the German plan to blow up the munitions dump.

He rushed by bike to the German command post and begged permission to safely remove the TNT from the munitions dump before it was destroyed.

The Priest then returned to Avesa and, taking 3 bells from the altar of the church summoned the people of the village.

A human chain of 1000 people worked through the night to remove the explosives.

With rosary beads in hand, the women and the elderly gathered at the church, praying for a miracle.

Meanwhile, the German occupiers received news that the Nazi leadership in Berlin was crumbling and that the Allies were near.

The order was given to blow up the gunpowder.

The people of Avesa fled the quarry, leaving many crates of TNT still inside.

Shortly after dawn on the 26 April 1945 American forces penetrated the city of Verona.

At 6.30 am, the order to detonate the TNT was executed.

There was a huge explosion, clouds of white and black smoke erupted with tongues of fire.

A huge boulder landed on a nearby house, causing extensive damage.

Seven villagers were killed.

But the damage could have been much worse had it not been for the bravery of the people of Avesa.

A few days late Mussolini is captured and shot by Italian partisans near Lake Como.

On 30 April Hitler commits suicide in his bunker in Berlin.

The war in Europe is finally over.

In Avesa, the elderly of the village still remember that dramatic night all those years ago.

And on 25 April this year, as every other, the villagers gather to commemorate all those who lost their lives.