This year on 9th september will be  the 70th anniversary of the landing on our beaches that we have introduced in a previous posts.

September 8 Badoglio (itanlian army chief) declares the surrender, calling it “armistice” but without even informing the chain of army command ,  delivered the Italian armyto the reprisal of the Germans Troops. Iin the Piana del Sele between Battipaglia and Eboli, died the first Italian army officer, General Ferrante Gonzaga of Vodice.

Paradoxically, the general has their own command of the Coastal Division that should oppose the Allies, but on September 8, refuses to surrender their weapons to the Germans and for his loyalty to the Italian State will be summarily executed.

On 9 it begins the landing.

The chiefs of the two opposed armies are gen. Clark by and Marshal Kesselring but the allied command consists of the commander Dwight Eisenhower and British General Montgomery, classic icon of the war with his black beret.

The big landed right in the area of ​​Battipaglia but other American troops descend to the ground on the coast of Pontecagnano on one side and the other one of Paestum. Other tactical commandos landed in Maiori, and Cilento. Some cities of the plain are swept away most of the other in relation to the strategic value of their position: Battipaglia, Eboli, Acerno. Altavilla was destroyed by the Americans becouse gen. Clark wants to punish its citizens for alleged collusion with the Germans. Just the figure of Clark appears controversial, criticized by the soldiers themselves for not having weakened coastal defenses with bombings in the previous days free as opposed to Altavilla order to raze them to the suspicion that the Germans had been helped by the population. The criticism he receives, among others, an officer from their ally, the British architect Norman Lewis will become a famous writer with their “Naples 44”, her diary on the land and on its experience in the capital of Campania

For Lewis Clark was the exterminating angel of Italy, strong words regardeing  one of the liberators of our country.

Battipaglia is the protagonist of the battle, house by house, with alternating, seven times, the dominance of German and Allied. The reaction of the Germans is vehement enough to induce Clark to meditate on the board again. Just the beginning of naval artillery bombardment allows you to tip the scales in favor of the Allies

Our hotel has the privilege of looking out at the beach who knew the sacrifice of so many young people from all over Italy and to free the world from Nazi-fascism. To pay tribute to all of them the Riviera Spineta has contributed to make the documentary film “Back to Battipaglia, the new city.” made in recent months by Carlo Bruno (www.ritornoabattipaglia.it).

One of the most significant parts is obviously the one about the landing, the famous Operation Avalance.

The experiment that we tried was to use the documentary as an encouragement to the collection of photographs, videos and documents from family assets, thanks to the involvement of individuals in a spontaneous gathering mechanism through social networks.

The experiment was successful and resulted in the formation of a wealth of information and documents that is already being cataloged with the platform of digital archiving (www.xdams.org) that will, we hope incrementandosi, available to the city, an example of collaboration between the public and private sectors in the field of culture.

Many videos and photos have been submitted, as I said, by the family archives made available by the owners, with th Istituto Luce videos, of AAMOD, and  U.S. government via FedFlix, accompanied by texts interpreted by two very beautiful actresses , Pia Lanciotti and Alessandra Gigli.