August 7, 2025 • 30 mins
13 - Book 3, Chapter 30. A Farewell to Arms.
Ernest Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms is often referred to as a war novel, which is true enough. There is certainly blood and gore, along with a measure of dark humor, but the novel is more a love story than an account of battles between soldiers. Hemingway introduces us to Frederic Henry, an American volunteer serving in the sanitary services of the Italian Army in the north of Italy during World War One. He is a Lieutenant supervising ambulance drivers and is often near the front lines. Badly wounded by a shell, Henry passes through a number of surgeries and, while convalescing, meets Catherine Barkley with whom he begins an affair. Their story follows them from Gorizia, to Milan, to Stresa, and, finally, and ironically, to Switzerland, a neutral nation.
Ernest Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms is often referred to as a war novel, which is true enough. There is certainly blood and gore, along with a measure of dark humor, but the novel is more a love story than an account of battles between soldiers. Hemingway introduces us to Frederic Henry, an American volunteer serving in the sanitary services of the Italian Army in the north of Italy during World War One. He is a Lieutenant supervising ambulance drivers and is often near the front lines. Badly wounded by a shell, Henry passes through a number of surgeries and, while convalescing, meets Catherine Barkley with whom he begins an affair. Their story follows them from Gorizia, to Milan, to Stresa, and, finally, and ironically, to Switzerland, a neutral nation.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Book three, chapter thirty of a Farewell to Arms by
Ernest Hemingway. This LibriVox for courting is in the public domain.
Later we were on a road that led to a river.
There was a long line of abandoned trucks and carts
on the road leading up to the bridge. No one
was in sight. The river was high and the bridge
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had been blown up in the center. The stone arch
was fallen into the river, and the brown water was
going over it. We went on up the bank looking
for a place to cross. Up ahead, I knew there
was a railway bridge, and I thought we might be
able to get across there. The path was wet and muddy.
We did not see any troops, only abandoned trucks and stores.
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Along the river bank. There was nothing and no one
but the wet brush and muddy ground. We went up
to the bank and finally we saw the railway bridge.
What a beautiful bridge, I most said. It was a
long playin iron bridge across what we usually a dry
river bed. We'd better hurry and get across before they
blow it up. I said, there's nobody to blow it up.
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Piani said, they're all gone. It's probably mine. Bonello said
you cross first, Tenente, listen to the anarchist, I Mos said,
make him go first. I'll go. I said, it won't
be mine to blow up with one man. You see.
Piani said, that is brains. Why haven't you brains, anarchist?
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If I had brains, I wouldn't be here. Bonello said
that's pretty good, Tenente. I Mos said, that's pretty good.
I said. We were close to the bridge now. The
sky had clouded over again and it was raining a little.
The bridge looked long and solid. We climbed up the embankment.
Come one at a time, I said, and started across
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the bridge. I watched the ties and the rails for
any trip wires or signs of explosive but I saw
nothing down below the gaps and the ties. The river
and muddy and fast I had across the wet countryside.
I could see oudin in the rain across the bridge.
I looked back. Just up the river was another bridge.
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As I watched, a yellow, mud colored motor car crossed it.
The sides of the bridge were high, and the body
of the car, once on, was out of sight. But
I saw the heads of the driver, the man on
the seat with him, and the two men on the
rear seat. They all wore German helmets. Then the car
was over the bridge and out of sight behind the
trees and the abandoned vehicles on the road. I waved
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to Aimo, who was crossing, and to the others to
come on. I climbed down and crouched beside the railway embankment.
Amo came down with me. Did you see the car,
I asked, no, we were watching you. A German staff
car crossed on the upper bridge. A staff car, yes,
Holy Mary. The others came and we all crouched in
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the mud behind the embankment, looking across the rails at
the bridge, line of trees, the ditch and the road.
Do you think we're cut off, then, Tenante, I don't know.
All I know is a German staff car went along
that road. You don't feel funny, Tenante, you haven't got
strange feelings in the head. Don't be funny, Bonello, what
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about a drink, Piani said, if we're cut off, we
might as well have a drink. He unhooked his canteen
and uncorked it. Look look imost sin and pointed toward
the road along the top of the stone Bridge. We
could see German helmets moving. They were bent forward and
moved slowly, almost supernaturally along. As they came off the bridge,
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we saw them. They were bicycle troops. I saw the
faces of the first two. They were ruddy and healthy looking.
Their helmets came low down over their foreheads, in the
side of their faces. Their carbines were clipped to the
frame of the bicycles. Stick bombs hung handled down from
their belts. Their helmets and their gray uniforms were wet,
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and they rode easily, looking ahead into both sides. There
were two, then four in line, then two, then almost
a dozen, then another dozen, then one alone. They did
not talk, but we could not have heard them because
of the noise from the river. They were gone out
of sight up the road. Holy Mary Imost said they
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were Germans. Pianni said, those weren't Austrians. Why isn't there
somebody here to stop them? I said, why haven't they
blown the bridge up? Why aren't there machine guns along
this embankment? You tell us? Tenante Bonello said, I was
very angry. The whole bloody thing is crazy. Down below.
They blow up a little bridge here, they leave a
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bridge on the main road. Where is everybody? Don't they
try and stop them at all? You tell us? Tenante?
Bonello said, I shut up. It was none of my business.
All I had to do was to get to por
Denone with three ambulances. I had failed at that. All
I had to do now is to get to Portanone.
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I probably could not even get to Udin the hell
I couldn't. The thing to do was to be calm
and not get shot or captured. Didn't you have a
canteen opened, I asked Pianni. He handed it to me.
I took a long drink. We might as well start,
I said. There is no hurry, though, Do you want
to eat something? This is no place to stay. Bonello said,
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all right, we'll start. Should we keep on this side
out of sight, we'll be better off on top. They
may come along this bridge too. We don't want them
on top of us before we see them. We walked
along the railroad track. On both sides of us stretched
the wet plain. Ahead across the plain was the Hill
of Udine. The roofs fell away from the castle. On
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the hill we could see the campanile and the clock tower.
There were many mulberry trees in the fields. Ahead. I
saw a place where the rails were torn up. The
ties had been dug out too, and thrown down on
the embankment. Down down, Imo said. We dropped down beside
the embankment. There was another group of bicyclists passing along
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the road. I looked over the edge and saw them
go on. They saw us, but they went on. Imo said,
we'll get killed up there. Tenante Bonello said, they don't
want us. I said, they're after something else. We're in
more danger if they should come on us. Suddenly. I'd
rather walk here out of sight. Bonello said, all right,
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we'll walk along the tracks. Do you think we can
get through? I'm ovesked sure. There aren't very many of them, yet,
We'll go through in the dark. What was that staff
car doing? Christ knows, I said. We kept on up
the tracks. Bonello tired of walking in the mud of
the embankment and came up with the rest of us.
The railway moved south away from the highway now, and
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we could not see what passed along the road. A
short bridge over a canal was blown up, but we
climbed across on what was left of the span. We
heard firing ahead of us. We came up on the
railway beyond the canal. It went on straight toward the town.
Across the low fields, we could see the line of
the other railway ahead of us. To the north was
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the main road where we had seen the cyclists. To
the south, there was a small branch road across the fields,
with thick trees on each side. I thought we had
better cut to the south and work around the town
that way and across country toward Campoformio and the main
road to the Taglimento. We could avoid the main line
of the retreat by keeping to the secondary roads. Beyond Oudin.
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I knew there were plenty of side roads across the plain.
I started down the embankment. Come on, I said, we
would make for the side road and work to the
south of the town. We all started down the embankment.
A shot was fired at us from the side road.
The bullet went into the mud of the embankment, going back,
I shouted. I started up the embankment, slipping in the mud.
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The drivers were ahead of me. I went up the
embankment as fast as I could go. Two more shots
came from the thick brush, and Emil as he was
crossing the tracks, lurched, tripped and fell face down. We
pulled him down on the other side and turned him over.
His head ought to be up hill, I said, Pianni
moved him around. He lay in the mud on the
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side of the embankment, his feet pointing down hill, breathing
blood irregularly. The three of us squatted over him in
the rain. He was hit low in the back of
the neck, and the bullet had ranged upward and come
out under the right eye. He died while I was
stopping up the two holes. Pianni laid his head down,
wiped at his face with a piece of the emergency dressing,
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then let it alone the blank He said they weren't Germans.
I said, there can't be any Germans over there. Italians,
Pianni said, using the word as an epithet. Italiani. Bonello
said nothing. He was sitting beside Ayimo, not looking at him.
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Bianni picked up IMO's cap where it had rolled down
the embankment, and put it over his face. He took
out his canteen. Do you want a drink? Bianni handed
Bonelo the canteen. No, Bonello said, He turned to me.
That might have happened to us any time on the
railway tracks. No, I said, it was because we started
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across the field. Bonello shook his head. IMO's dead, he said,
who's dead next? Tenante? Where do we go now? Those
were Italians that shot. I said they weren't Germans. I
suppose if they were Germans, they'd have killed all of us.
Bonello said, we are in more danger from Italians than Germans.
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I said, the rear guard are afraid of everything. The
Germans know what they're after. You reason it out, Tenante.
Bonello said, where do we go now, pianni A. We'd
better lie up some place till it's dark. If we
could get south, we'd be all right. They'd have to
shoot us all to prove they were right the first time.
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Bonella said, I'm not going to try them. We'll find
a place to lie up as near to Oudine as
we can get, and then go through when it's dark.
Let's go then, Bonello said, we went down the north
side of the embankment. I looked back. Aimo lay in
the mud with the angle of the embankment. He was
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quite small, and his arms were by his side. His
pattee wrapped legs and muddy boots together, his cap over
his face. He looked very dead. It was raining. I
liked him as well as any one I ever knew.
I had his papers in my pocket and would write
to his family. A head across the fields was a farmhouse.
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There were trees around it, and the farm buildings were
built against the house. There was a balconell on the
second floor, held up by columns ter keep a little
way apart. I said, I'll go ahead. I started toward
the farmhouse. There was a path across the field, crossing
the field. I did not know but that some one
would fire on us from the trees near the farmhouse,
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or from the farmhouse itself. I walked toward it, seeing
it very clearly. The balcony of the second floor merged
into the barn, and there was hay coming out between
the columns. The courtyard was of stone blocks, and all
the trees were dripping with rain. There was a big,
empty two wheeled cart, the shafts tipped high up in
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the rain. I came to the courtyard, crossed it, and
stood under the shelter of the balcony. The door of
the house was open, and I went in Bonello and
piano came in after me. It was dark inside. I
went back to the kitchen. There were ashes of a
fire on the big open hearth. The pots hung over
the ashes, but they were empty. I looked round, but
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I could not find anything to eat. We ought to
lie up in the barn. I said, do you think
we could find anything to eat? Peanny and bring it
up there. I'll look. Peany said I'll look too. Bonello
said all right. I said, I'll go up and look
at the barn. I found a stone stairway that went
up from the stable. Underneath the stable smelt dry and
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pleasant in the rain. The cattle were all gone, probably
driven off when they left. The barn was half full
of hay. There were two windows and the roof. One
was blocked with boards. The other was a narrow dormer window.
On the north side. There was a shoot so that
hay might be pitched down to the cattle. Beams crossed
the opening down into the main floor, where the hay
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carts drove in. When the hay was hauled in to
be pitched up, I heard the rain on the roof
and smelt the hay, And when I went down, the
clean smell of dried dung. In the stable, you could
pry a board loose and see out of the south
window down into the courtyard. The other window looked out
on the field toward the north. We could get out
of either window on to the roof and down, or
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go down the hay chute if the stairs were impractical.
Was a big barn, and we could hide in the
hay if we heard anyone. It seemed like a good place.
I was sure we could have gotten through to the
south if they had not fired on us. It was
impossible that there were Germans there. They were coming from
the north and down the road from Cividale. They could
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not have come through from the south. The Italians were
even more dangerous. They were frightened and firing at anything
they saw. Last night on the retreat, we had heard
that there had been many Germans and Italian uniforms mixing
with the retreat and the north. I did not believe it.
That was one of those things you always heard in
the war. Was one of the things the enemy always
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did to you. You did not know anyone who went
over in German uniform to confuse them. Maybe they did,
but it sounded difficult. I did not believe the Germans
did it. I did not believe they had to. There
was no need to confuse our retreat. The size of
the army and the fewness of the roads did that
nobody gave any orders, let alone Germans. Still they would
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shoot us for Germans. They shot Aimo. The hay smelt good,
and lying in a barn in the hay took away
all the years in between. We lain in hay and
talked and shot sparrows with an air rifle when they
perched in the triangle cut high up in the wall
of the barn. The barn was gone now, and one
year they had cut the hemlock woods and there were
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only stumps, dried tree tops, branches and fireweed where the
woods had been. You coundnot go back. If you did
not go forward, what happened? You never got back to Milan.
If you got back to Milan, what happened. I listened
to the firing to the north towards Oudin. I could
hear machine gun firing. There was no shelling. That was
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something they must have gotten some troops along the road.
I looked down in the half light of the hay
barn and saw Pierre standing on the halling floor. He
had a long sausage, a jar of something, and two
bottles of wine under his arm. Come up, I said,
there is the ladder. Then I realized that I should
help him with the things, and went down. I was
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vague in the head from lying in the hay. I
had been nearly asleep. Where's Bonello, I asked, I'll tell you.
Piani said. He went up the ladder. Up on the hay.
We set the things down. Pianni took his knife with
the corkscrew and drew the cork on a wine bottle.
They have sealing wax on it. He said, must be good.
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He smiled. Where's Bonello, I asked. Pianni looked at me.
He went away, tenanty, He said he wanted to be
a prisoner. I did not say anything. He was afraid
we would get killed. I held the bottle of wine
and did not say anything. You see, we don't believe
in the war anyway. Tenanty, Why didn't you go, I asked,
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I did not want to leave you. Where did he go?
I don't know, tenanty. He went away all right? I said,
will you cut the sausage? Piani looked at me in
the half light, I cut it. While we were talking,
he said, We sat in the hay and ate the
sausage and drank the wine. It must have been wine
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they had saved for a wedding. It was so old
that it was losing its color. You look out this window, Luigi,
I said, I'll go look out the other window. We
had each been drinking out of one of the bottles,
and I took my bottle with me and went over
and lay flat on the hay and looked out the
narrow window at the wet country. I do not know
what I expected to see, but I did not see
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anything except the fields and the bare mulberry trees and
the rain fallen. I drank the wine, and it did
not make me feel good. They had kept it too long,
and it had gone to pieces and lost its quality
and color. I watched to get dark outside. The darkness
came very quickly. It would be a black night with
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the rain. When it was dark, there was no use
watching any more. So I went over to Piani. He
was lying asleep, and I did not wake him, but
sat down beside her for a while. He was a
big man, and he slept heavily. After a while, I
woke him and we started. That was a very strange night.
I do not know what I had expected death, perhaps
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in shooting in the dark and running, but nothing happened.
We waited, lying flat beyond the ditch along the main
road while the German battalion passed. Then when they were gone,
we crossed the road and went on to the north.
We were very close to Germans twice in the rain,
but they did not see us. We got past the
town to the north without seeing any Italians. Then after
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a while came on the main channels of the retreat
and walked all night toward the Tagliamento. I had not
realized how gigantic the retreat was. The whole country was moving,
as well as the army. We walked all night, making
better time than the vehicles. My leg ached and I
was tired, but we made good time. It seems so
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silly for Bonelo to have decided to be taken prisoner.
There was no danger. We'd walked through two armies without incident.
If Aimo had not been killed, there would never have
seemed to be any danger. No one had bothered us
when we were in plain sight along the railway. The
killing came suddenly and unreasonably. I wondered where Bonello was.
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How do you feel, Tenante, Pianni asked. We were going
along the side of a road, crowded with vehicles and troops. Fine,
I'm tired of this walking. Well, all we have to
do is walk now. We don't have to worry. Bonello
was a fool. He was a fool, all right? What
will you do about him, Tenante? I don't know. Can't
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you just put him down as taken prisoner? I don't know.
You see, if the war went on, they would make
bad trouble for his family. The war won't go on.
A soldier said, we're going home. The war is over.
Everybody's going home. We're all going home. Come on, Tenant
di Piani said he wanted to get past them. Tenante,
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who's a tenante? Abbaso gli UFICIALI down with the officers.
Piani took me by the arm I'd better call you
by your name, he said. They might try and make trouble.
They've shot some officers. We've worked up past them. I
won't make a report that will make trouble for his family.
I went on with our conversation. If the war is over,
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it makes no difference, Piani said, But I don't believe
it's over. It's too good that it should be over.
We'll know pretty soon, I said, I don't believe it's over.
They don't think it's over, but I don't believe it.
Viva la pace. A soldier shouted out, we're going home.
It'll be fine if we all went home. Piani said,
wouldn't you like to go home? Yes, we'll never go
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I don't think it's over. On the Ama Kaza, a
soldier shouted, they throw away the rifles. Piani said, They
take them off and drop them down while they're marching.
Then they shout they ought to keep their rifles. They
think if they throw away the rifles, they can't make
them fight. In the dark and the rain, making our
way along the side of the road, I could see
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that many of the troops still had their rifles. They
stuck up above the capes. What brigade are you, an
officer called out, Brigata Dipachi. Some one shouted peace brigade.
The officer said nothing. What does he say? What does
the officer say? Down with the officer, Vive la Pachi,
Come on, Piani said, we passed two British ambulances abandoned
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in a block of vehicles. They're from Garzi, and Piani said,
I know the cars. They got further than we did.
They started earlier. I wonder where the drivers are up ahead.
Probably the Germans have stopped outside Oudin, I said, these
people log it across the river. Yes, Piani said, that's
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why I think the war will go on. The Germans
could come on, I said, I wonder why they don't
come on. I don't know. I don't know anything about
this kind of war. They have to wait for their transport.
I suppose I don't know, Piani said alone he was
much gentler when he was with the others. He was
a very rough talker. Are you married, Luigi? You know
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I'm married. Is that why you did not want to
be a prisoner? That is one reason? Are you married? Tenante? No,
now there's Bonello. You can't tell anything by a man's
being married. But I should think a merried man would
want to get back to his wife, I said, I
would be glad to talk about wives. Yes, how are
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your feet? They're sore enough. Before daylight we reached the
bank of the Tagliamento and followed down along the flooded
river to the bridge where all the traffic was crossing.
We ought to be able to hold at this river,
Piani said. In the dark, the flood looked high, the
water swirled, and it was wide. The wooden bridge was
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nearly three quarters of a mile across, and the river
that usually ran in narrow channels in the wide stony
bed far below the bridge was close under the wooden planking.
We went along the bank and then worked our way
into the crowd that were crossing the bridge, crossing slowly
in the rain. A few feet above. The flood pressed
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tight in the crowd the box of an artillery caisson
just ahead. I looked over the side and watched the river.
Now that we could not go on our own pace,
I felt very tired. There was no exhilaration in crossing
the bridge. I wondered what it would be like if
a plane bombed in the daytime. Piani, I said, here,
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I am tenente. He was a little head in the jam.
No one was talking. They were all trying to get
across as soon as they could, thinking only of that
we were almost across. At the far end of the bridge,
there were officers and KARABINETI standing on both sides, flashing lights.
I saw them silhouetted against the skyline. As we came
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close to them, I saw one of the officers point
to a man in the column. A carbinere went in
after him and came out, holding the man by the arm.
He took him away from the road. We came almost
opposite them. The officers were scrutinizing everyone in the column,
sometimes speaking to each other, going forward to flash a
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light in someone's face. They took someone else out just
before we came opposite. I saw the man. He was
a lieutenant colonel. I saw the stars in the box
on his sleeve as they flashed a light on him.
His hair was gray and he was short in fat.
The karabinere pulled him in behind the line of officers.
As we came opposite, I saw one or two of
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them look at me. Then one pointed at me and
spoke to the carrabinerre. Oh, the Carbinera's start for me.
Come through the edge of the column toward me. Then
felt him take me by the collar. What's the matter
with you, I said, and hit him in the face.
I saw his face under the hat upturned mustachus and
blood coming down his cheek. Another one dove in towards us.
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What's the matter with you? I said. He did not answer.
He was watching a chance to grab me. I put
my arm behind me to loosen my pistol. Don't you
know you can't touch an officer. The other one grabbed
me from behind and pulled my arm up so that
it twisted in the socket. I turned with him, and
the other one grabbed me around the neck. I kicked
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his shins and got my left knee into his groin.
Shoot him if he resists, I heard some one say,
what's the meaning of this? I tried to shout, but
my voice was not very loud. They had me at
the side of the road. Now shoot him if he resists.
An officer said, take him over back. Who are you?
You'll find out who are you? Battle police? Another officer said,
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why don't you ask me to step over instead of
having one of these airplanes grabbed me. They did not answer.
They did not have to answer. They were battle police.
Take them back. There were the others. The first officer said,
you see he speaks Italian with an accent, So do
you you blank? I said, take him back with the others.
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The first officer said. They took me down behind the
line of officers below the road, toward a group of
people in a field by the river bank. As we
walked toward them, shots were fired. I saw flashes of
the rifles and heard the reports. We came up to
the group. There were four officers standing together with a
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man in front of them, with the carribinara on each
side of him. A group of men were standing guarded
by cardabinere. Four other carterbineres stood near the questioning officers,
leaning on their carbines. They were wide hatted carterbinet. The
two who had me shoved me in with a group
waiting to be questioned. I looked at the man the
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officers were questioning. He was the fat, gray haired little
lieutenant colonel they had taken out of the column. The
questioners had all the efficiency, coldness and command of themselves.
Of Italians who were firing and not being fired on
your brigade, He told them, regiment, He told them, why
are you not with your regiment? He told them, do
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you not know that an officer should be with his troops?
He did? That was all. Another officer spoke it is
you and such as you that have let the barbarians
on to the sacred soil of the fatherland. I beg
your pardon, said the lieutenant colonel. It is because of
treachery such as yours that we have lost the fruits
of victory. Have you ever been in a retreat, the
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lieutenant colonel asked, Italy should never retreat. We stood there
in the rain and listened to this. We were facing
the officers and the prisoners in front and a little
to one side of us. If you are going to
shoot me, the lieutenant colonel said, please shoot me at once,
without further questioning. The questioning is stupid. He made the
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sign of the cross. The officer spoke together, one wrote
something on a pad of paper. Abandon his troops. Ordered
to be shot, he said. Two karabineri took the lieutenant
colonel to the river bank. He walked in the rain,
an old man with his hat off, a carabineir on
either side. I did not watch them shoot him, but
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I heard the shots. They were questioning some one else.
This officer, too, was separated from his troops. He was
not allowed to make an explanation. He cried. When they
read the sentence from the pad of paper, and they
were questioning another when they shot him. They made a
point of being intent on questioning the next man, while
(27:53):
the man who had been questioned before was being shot.
In this way, there was obviously nothing they could do
about it. I did not know whether I should wait
to be questioned or make a break. Now I was
obviously a German in Italian uniform. I saw how their
minds worked, if they had minds, and if they worked.
They were all young men, and they were saving their country.
(28:15):
The Second Army was being reformed. Beyond the Tagliamento. They
were executing officers of the rank of major and above
who were separated from their troops. They were also dealing
summarily with German agitators. In Italian uniform. They wore steel helmets.
Only two of us had steel helmets. Some of the
(28:35):
Carabineri had them. The other Carrabinari wore the wide hat
airplanes we called them. We stood in the rain and
were taken out one at a time to be questioned
and shot. So far they had shot everyone they had questioned.
The questioners had that beautiful detachment and devotion to stern
justice of men dealing in death without being in any
(28:56):
danger of it. They were questioning a full colonel of
the line regiment. Three more officers had just been put
in with us. Where was his regiment? I looked at
the CATAMINERI they were looking at the newcomers. The others
were looking at the kernel. I ducked down, pushed between
two men, and ran for the river, my head down.
I tripped at the edge and went in with a splash.
(29:19):
The water was very cold, and I stayed under as
long as I could. I could feel the current swirl me,
and I stayed under until I thought I could never
come up. The minute I came up, I took a
breath and went down again. It was easy to stay
under with so much clothing in my boots. When I
came up the second time, I saw a piece of
timber ahead of me and reached it and held on
(29:42):
with one hand. I kept my head behind it and
did not even look over it. I did not want
to see the bank. There were shots when I ran,
and shots when I came up. The first time I
heard them when I was almost above water. There were
no shots now. The piece of timber swung in the current,
and I held with one hand I looked at the bank.
(30:03):
It seemed to be going by very fast. There was
much wood in the stream. The water was very cold.
We passed the brush of an island above the water.
I held on to the timber with both hands and
let it take me along. The shore was out of
sight now. End of chapter thirty
Book three, chapter thirty of a Farewell to Arms by
Ernest Hemingway. This LibriVox for courting is in the public domain.
Later we were on a road that led to a river.
There was a long line of abandoned trucks and carts
on the road leading up to the bridge. No one
was in sight. The river was high and the bridge
(00:23):
had been blown up in the center. The stone arch
was fallen into the river, and the brown water was
going over it. We went on up the bank looking
for a place to cross. Up ahead, I knew there
was a railway bridge, and I thought we might be
able to get across there. The path was wet and muddy.
We did not see any troops, only abandoned trucks and stores.
(00:46):
Along the river bank. There was nothing and no one
but the wet brush and muddy ground. We went up
to the bank and finally we saw the railway bridge.
What a beautiful bridge, I most said. It was a
long playin iron bridge across what we usually a dry
river bed. We'd better hurry and get across before they
blow it up. I said, there's nobody to blow it up.
(01:07):
Piani said, they're all gone. It's probably mine. Bonello said
you cross first, Tenente, listen to the anarchist, I Mos said,
make him go first. I'll go. I said, it won't
be mine to blow up with one man. You see.
Piani said, that is brains. Why haven't you brains, anarchist?
(01:28):
If I had brains, I wouldn't be here. Bonello said
that's pretty good, Tenente. I Mos said, that's pretty good.
I said. We were close to the bridge now. The
sky had clouded over again and it was raining a little.
The bridge looked long and solid. We climbed up the embankment.
Come one at a time, I said, and started across
(01:50):
the bridge. I watched the ties and the rails for
any trip wires or signs of explosive but I saw
nothing down below the gaps and the ties. The river
and muddy and fast I had across the wet countryside.
I could see oudin in the rain across the bridge.
I looked back. Just up the river was another bridge.
(02:11):
As I watched, a yellow, mud colored motor car crossed it.
The sides of the bridge were high, and the body
of the car, once on, was out of sight. But
I saw the heads of the driver, the man on
the seat with him, and the two men on the
rear seat. They all wore German helmets. Then the car
was over the bridge and out of sight behind the
trees and the abandoned vehicles on the road. I waved
(02:34):
to Aimo, who was crossing, and to the others to
come on. I climbed down and crouched beside the railway embankment.
Amo came down with me. Did you see the car,
I asked, no, we were watching you. A German staff
car crossed on the upper bridge. A staff car, yes,
Holy Mary. The others came and we all crouched in
(02:56):
the mud behind the embankment, looking across the rails at
the bridge, line of trees, the ditch and the road.
Do you think we're cut off, then, Tenante, I don't know.
All I know is a German staff car went along
that road. You don't feel funny, Tenante, you haven't got
strange feelings in the head. Don't be funny, Bonello, what
(03:17):
about a drink, Piani said, if we're cut off, we
might as well have a drink. He unhooked his canteen
and uncorked it. Look look imost sin and pointed toward
the road along the top of the stone Bridge. We
could see German helmets moving. They were bent forward and
moved slowly, almost supernaturally along. As they came off the bridge,
(03:38):
we saw them. They were bicycle troops. I saw the
faces of the first two. They were ruddy and healthy looking.
Their helmets came low down over their foreheads, in the
side of their faces. Their carbines were clipped to the
frame of the bicycles. Stick bombs hung handled down from
their belts. Their helmets and their gray uniforms were wet,
(04:00):
and they rode easily, looking ahead into both sides. There
were two, then four in line, then two, then almost
a dozen, then another dozen, then one alone. They did
not talk, but we could not have heard them because
of the noise from the river. They were gone out
of sight up the road. Holy Mary Imost said they
(04:20):
were Germans. Pianni said, those weren't Austrians. Why isn't there
somebody here to stop them? I said, why haven't they
blown the bridge up? Why aren't there machine guns along
this embankment? You tell us? Tenante Bonello said, I was
very angry. The whole bloody thing is crazy. Down below.
They blow up a little bridge here, they leave a
(04:41):
bridge on the main road. Where is everybody? Don't they
try and stop them at all? You tell us? Tenante?
Bonello said, I shut up. It was none of my business.
All I had to do was to get to por
Denone with three ambulances. I had failed at that. All
I had to do now is to get to Portanone.
(05:02):
I probably could not even get to Udin the hell
I couldn't. The thing to do was to be calm
and not get shot or captured. Didn't you have a
canteen opened, I asked Pianni. He handed it to me.
I took a long drink. We might as well start,
I said. There is no hurry, though, Do you want
to eat something? This is no place to stay. Bonello said,
(05:25):
all right, we'll start. Should we keep on this side
out of sight, we'll be better off on top. They
may come along this bridge too. We don't want them
on top of us before we see them. We walked
along the railroad track. On both sides of us stretched
the wet plain. Ahead across the plain was the Hill
of Udine. The roofs fell away from the castle. On
(05:47):
the hill we could see the campanile and the clock tower.
There were many mulberry trees in the fields. Ahead. I
saw a place where the rails were torn up. The
ties had been dug out too, and thrown down on
the embankment. Down down, Imo said. We dropped down beside
the embankment. There was another group of bicyclists passing along
(06:08):
the road. I looked over the edge and saw them
go on. They saw us, but they went on. Imo said,
we'll get killed up there. Tenante Bonello said, they don't
want us. I said, they're after something else. We're in
more danger if they should come on us. Suddenly. I'd
rather walk here out of sight. Bonello said, all right,
(06:28):
we'll walk along the tracks. Do you think we can
get through? I'm ovesked sure. There aren't very many of them, yet,
We'll go through in the dark. What was that staff
car doing? Christ knows, I said. We kept on up
the tracks. Bonello tired of walking in the mud of
the embankment and came up with the rest of us.
The railway moved south away from the highway now, and
(06:50):
we could not see what passed along the road. A
short bridge over a canal was blown up, but we
climbed across on what was left of the span. We
heard firing ahead of us. We came up on the
railway beyond the canal. It went on straight toward the town.
Across the low fields, we could see the line of
the other railway ahead of us. To the north was
(07:12):
the main road where we had seen the cyclists. To
the south, there was a small branch road across the fields,
with thick trees on each side. I thought we had
better cut to the south and work around the town
that way and across country toward Campoformio and the main
road to the Taglimento. We could avoid the main line
of the retreat by keeping to the secondary roads. Beyond Oudin.
(07:36):
I knew there were plenty of side roads across the plain.
I started down the embankment. Come on, I said, we
would make for the side road and work to the
south of the town. We all started down the embankment.
A shot was fired at us from the side road.
The bullet went into the mud of the embankment, going back,
I shouted. I started up the embankment, slipping in the mud.
(08:00):
The drivers were ahead of me. I went up the
embankment as fast as I could go. Two more shots
came from the thick brush, and Emil as he was
crossing the tracks, lurched, tripped and fell face down. We
pulled him down on the other side and turned him over.
His head ought to be up hill, I said, Pianni
moved him around. He lay in the mud on the
(08:22):
side of the embankment, his feet pointing down hill, breathing
blood irregularly. The three of us squatted over him in
the rain. He was hit low in the back of
the neck, and the bullet had ranged upward and come
out under the right eye. He died while I was
stopping up the two holes. Pianni laid his head down,
wiped at his face with a piece of the emergency dressing,
(08:45):
then let it alone the blank He said they weren't Germans.
I said, there can't be any Germans over there. Italians,
Pianni said, using the word as an epithet. Italiani. Bonello
said nothing. He was sitting beside Ayimo, not looking at him.
(09:05):
Bianni picked up IMO's cap where it had rolled down
the embankment, and put it over his face. He took
out his canteen. Do you want a drink? Bianni handed
Bonelo the canteen. No, Bonello said, He turned to me.
That might have happened to us any time on the
railway tracks. No, I said, it was because we started
(09:27):
across the field. Bonello shook his head. IMO's dead, he said,
who's dead next? Tenante? Where do we go now? Those
were Italians that shot. I said they weren't Germans. I
suppose if they were Germans, they'd have killed all of us.
Bonello said, we are in more danger from Italians than Germans.
(09:48):
I said, the rear guard are afraid of everything. The
Germans know what they're after. You reason it out, Tenante.
Bonello said, where do we go now, pianni A. We'd
better lie up some place till it's dark. If we
could get south, we'd be all right. They'd have to
shoot us all to prove they were right the first time.
(10:10):
Bonella said, I'm not going to try them. We'll find
a place to lie up as near to Oudine as
we can get, and then go through when it's dark.
Let's go then, Bonello said, we went down the north
side of the embankment. I looked back. Aimo lay in
the mud with the angle of the embankment. He was
(10:30):
quite small, and his arms were by his side. His
pattee wrapped legs and muddy boots together, his cap over
his face. He looked very dead. It was raining. I
liked him as well as any one I ever knew.
I had his papers in my pocket and would write
to his family. A head across the fields was a farmhouse.
(10:51):
There were trees around it, and the farm buildings were
built against the house. There was a balconell on the
second floor, held up by columns ter keep a little
way apart. I said, I'll go ahead. I started toward
the farmhouse. There was a path across the field, crossing
the field. I did not know but that some one
would fire on us from the trees near the farmhouse,
(11:13):
or from the farmhouse itself. I walked toward it, seeing
it very clearly. The balcony of the second floor merged
into the barn, and there was hay coming out between
the columns. The courtyard was of stone blocks, and all
the trees were dripping with rain. There was a big,
empty two wheeled cart, the shafts tipped high up in
(11:34):
the rain. I came to the courtyard, crossed it, and
stood under the shelter of the balcony. The door of
the house was open, and I went in Bonello and
piano came in after me. It was dark inside. I
went back to the kitchen. There were ashes of a
fire on the big open hearth. The pots hung over
the ashes, but they were empty. I looked round, but
(11:57):
I could not find anything to eat. We ought to
lie up in the barn. I said, do you think
we could find anything to eat? Peanny and bring it
up there. I'll look. Peany said I'll look too. Bonello
said all right. I said, I'll go up and look
at the barn. I found a stone stairway that went
up from the stable. Underneath the stable smelt dry and
(12:19):
pleasant in the rain. The cattle were all gone, probably
driven off when they left. The barn was half full
of hay. There were two windows and the roof. One
was blocked with boards. The other was a narrow dormer window.
On the north side. There was a shoot so that
hay might be pitched down to the cattle. Beams crossed
the opening down into the main floor, where the hay
(12:42):
carts drove in. When the hay was hauled in to
be pitched up, I heard the rain on the roof
and smelt the hay, And when I went down, the
clean smell of dried dung. In the stable, you could
pry a board loose and see out of the south
window down into the courtyard. The other window looked out
on the field toward the north. We could get out
of either window on to the roof and down, or
(13:04):
go down the hay chute if the stairs were impractical.
Was a big barn, and we could hide in the
hay if we heard anyone. It seemed like a good place.
I was sure we could have gotten through to the
south if they had not fired on us. It was
impossible that there were Germans there. They were coming from
the north and down the road from Cividale. They could
(13:25):
not have come through from the south. The Italians were
even more dangerous. They were frightened and firing at anything
they saw. Last night on the retreat, we had heard
that there had been many Germans and Italian uniforms mixing
with the retreat and the north. I did not believe it.
That was one of those things you always heard in
the war. Was one of the things the enemy always
(13:47):
did to you. You did not know anyone who went
over in German uniform to confuse them. Maybe they did,
but it sounded difficult. I did not believe the Germans
did it. I did not believe they had to. There
was no need to confuse our retreat. The size of
the army and the fewness of the roads did that
nobody gave any orders, let alone Germans. Still they would
(14:10):
shoot us for Germans. They shot Aimo. The hay smelt good,
and lying in a barn in the hay took away
all the years in between. We lain in hay and
talked and shot sparrows with an air rifle when they
perched in the triangle cut high up in the wall
of the barn. The barn was gone now, and one
year they had cut the hemlock woods and there were
(14:31):
only stumps, dried tree tops, branches and fireweed where the
woods had been. You coundnot go back. If you did
not go forward, what happened? You never got back to Milan.
If you got back to Milan, what happened. I listened
to the firing to the north towards Oudin. I could
hear machine gun firing. There was no shelling. That was
(14:52):
something they must have gotten some troops along the road.
I looked down in the half light of the hay
barn and saw Pierre standing on the halling floor. He
had a long sausage, a jar of something, and two
bottles of wine under his arm. Come up, I said,
there is the ladder. Then I realized that I should
help him with the things, and went down. I was
(15:15):
vague in the head from lying in the hay. I
had been nearly asleep. Where's Bonello, I asked, I'll tell you.
Piani said. He went up the ladder. Up on the hay.
We set the things down. Pianni took his knife with
the corkscrew and drew the cork on a wine bottle.
They have sealing wax on it. He said, must be good.
(15:35):
He smiled. Where's Bonello, I asked. Pianni looked at me.
He went away, tenanty, He said he wanted to be
a prisoner. I did not say anything. He was afraid
we would get killed. I held the bottle of wine
and did not say anything. You see, we don't believe
in the war anyway. Tenanty, Why didn't you go, I asked,
(15:59):
I did not want to leave you. Where did he go?
I don't know, tenanty. He went away all right? I said,
will you cut the sausage? Piani looked at me in
the half light, I cut it. While we were talking,
he said, We sat in the hay and ate the
sausage and drank the wine. It must have been wine
(16:19):
they had saved for a wedding. It was so old
that it was losing its color. You look out this window, Luigi,
I said, I'll go look out the other window. We
had each been drinking out of one of the bottles,
and I took my bottle with me and went over
and lay flat on the hay and looked out the
narrow window at the wet country. I do not know
what I expected to see, but I did not see
(16:41):
anything except the fields and the bare mulberry trees and
the rain fallen. I drank the wine, and it did
not make me feel good. They had kept it too long,
and it had gone to pieces and lost its quality
and color. I watched to get dark outside. The darkness
came very quickly. It would be a black night with
(17:01):
the rain. When it was dark, there was no use
watching any more. So I went over to Piani. He
was lying asleep, and I did not wake him, but
sat down beside her for a while. He was a
big man, and he slept heavily. After a while, I
woke him and we started. That was a very strange night.
I do not know what I had expected death, perhaps
(17:23):
in shooting in the dark and running, but nothing happened.
We waited, lying flat beyond the ditch along the main
road while the German battalion passed. Then when they were gone,
we crossed the road and went on to the north.
We were very close to Germans twice in the rain,
but they did not see us. We got past the
town to the north without seeing any Italians. Then after
(17:46):
a while came on the main channels of the retreat
and walked all night toward the Tagliamento. I had not
realized how gigantic the retreat was. The whole country was moving,
as well as the army. We walked all night, making
better time than the vehicles. My leg ached and I
was tired, but we made good time. It seems so
(18:07):
silly for Bonelo to have decided to be taken prisoner.
There was no danger. We'd walked through two armies without incident.
If Aimo had not been killed, there would never have
seemed to be any danger. No one had bothered us
when we were in plain sight along the railway. The
killing came suddenly and unreasonably. I wondered where Bonello was.
(18:29):
How do you feel, Tenante, Pianni asked. We were going
along the side of a road, crowded with vehicles and troops. Fine,
I'm tired of this walking. Well, all we have to
do is walk now. We don't have to worry. Bonello
was a fool. He was a fool, all right? What
will you do about him, Tenante? I don't know. Can't
(18:52):
you just put him down as taken prisoner? I don't know.
You see, if the war went on, they would make
bad trouble for his family. The war won't go on.
A soldier said, we're going home. The war is over.
Everybody's going home. We're all going home. Come on, Tenant
di Piani said he wanted to get past them. Tenante,
(19:13):
who's a tenante? Abbaso gli UFICIALI down with the officers.
Piani took me by the arm I'd better call you
by your name, he said. They might try and make trouble.
They've shot some officers. We've worked up past them. I
won't make a report that will make trouble for his family.
I went on with our conversation. If the war is over,
(19:36):
it makes no difference, Piani said, But I don't believe
it's over. It's too good that it should be over.
We'll know pretty soon, I said, I don't believe it's over.
They don't think it's over, but I don't believe it.
Viva la pace. A soldier shouted out, we're going home.
It'll be fine if we all went home. Piani said,
wouldn't you like to go home? Yes, we'll never go
(19:58):
I don't think it's over. On the Ama Kaza, a
soldier shouted, they throw away the rifles. Piani said, They
take them off and drop them down while they're marching.
Then they shout they ought to keep their rifles. They
think if they throw away the rifles, they can't make
them fight. In the dark and the rain, making our
way along the side of the road, I could see
(20:20):
that many of the troops still had their rifles. They
stuck up above the capes. What brigade are you, an
officer called out, Brigata Dipachi. Some one shouted peace brigade.
The officer said nothing. What does he say? What does
the officer say? Down with the officer, Vive la Pachi,
Come on, Piani said, we passed two British ambulances abandoned
(20:43):
in a block of vehicles. They're from Garzi, and Piani said,
I know the cars. They got further than we did.
They started earlier. I wonder where the drivers are up ahead.
Probably the Germans have stopped outside Oudin, I said, these
people log it across the river. Yes, Piani said, that's
(21:04):
why I think the war will go on. The Germans
could come on, I said, I wonder why they don't
come on. I don't know. I don't know anything about
this kind of war. They have to wait for their transport.
I suppose I don't know, Piani said alone he was
much gentler when he was with the others. He was
a very rough talker. Are you married, Luigi? You know
(21:26):
I'm married. Is that why you did not want to
be a prisoner? That is one reason? Are you married? Tenante? No,
now there's Bonello. You can't tell anything by a man's
being married. But I should think a merried man would
want to get back to his wife, I said, I
would be glad to talk about wives. Yes, how are
(21:48):
your feet? They're sore enough. Before daylight we reached the
bank of the Tagliamento and followed down along the flooded
river to the bridge where all the traffic was crossing.
We ought to be able to hold at this river,
Piani said. In the dark, the flood looked high, the
water swirled, and it was wide. The wooden bridge was
(22:08):
nearly three quarters of a mile across, and the river
that usually ran in narrow channels in the wide stony
bed far below the bridge was close under the wooden planking.
We went along the bank and then worked our way
into the crowd that were crossing the bridge, crossing slowly
in the rain. A few feet above. The flood pressed
(22:28):
tight in the crowd the box of an artillery caisson
just ahead. I looked over the side and watched the river.
Now that we could not go on our own pace,
I felt very tired. There was no exhilaration in crossing
the bridge. I wondered what it would be like if
a plane bombed in the daytime. Piani, I said, here,
(22:49):
I am tenente. He was a little head in the jam.
No one was talking. They were all trying to get
across as soon as they could, thinking only of that
we were almost across. At the far end of the bridge,
there were officers and KARABINETI standing on both sides, flashing lights.
I saw them silhouetted against the skyline. As we came
(23:11):
close to them, I saw one of the officers point
to a man in the column. A carbinere went in
after him and came out, holding the man by the arm.
He took him away from the road. We came almost
opposite them. The officers were scrutinizing everyone in the column,
sometimes speaking to each other, going forward to flash a
(23:32):
light in someone's face. They took someone else out just
before we came opposite. I saw the man. He was
a lieutenant colonel. I saw the stars in the box
on his sleeve as they flashed a light on him.
His hair was gray and he was short in fat.
The karabinere pulled him in behind the line of officers.
As we came opposite, I saw one or two of
(23:54):
them look at me. Then one pointed at me and
spoke to the carrabinerre. Oh, the Carbinera's start for me.
Come through the edge of the column toward me. Then
felt him take me by the collar. What's the matter
with you, I said, and hit him in the face.
I saw his face under the hat upturned mustachus and
blood coming down his cheek. Another one dove in towards us.
(24:17):
What's the matter with you? I said. He did not answer.
He was watching a chance to grab me. I put
my arm behind me to loosen my pistol. Don't you
know you can't touch an officer. The other one grabbed
me from behind and pulled my arm up so that
it twisted in the socket. I turned with him, and
the other one grabbed me around the neck. I kicked
(24:38):
his shins and got my left knee into his groin.
Shoot him if he resists, I heard some one say,
what's the meaning of this? I tried to shout, but
my voice was not very loud. They had me at
the side of the road. Now shoot him if he resists.
An officer said, take him over back. Who are you?
You'll find out who are you? Battle police? Another officer said,
(25:03):
why don't you ask me to step over instead of
having one of these airplanes grabbed me. They did not answer.
They did not have to answer. They were battle police.
Take them back. There were the others. The first officer said,
you see he speaks Italian with an accent, So do
you you blank? I said, take him back with the others.
(25:24):
The first officer said. They took me down behind the
line of officers below the road, toward a group of
people in a field by the river bank. As we
walked toward them, shots were fired. I saw flashes of
the rifles and heard the reports. We came up to
the group. There were four officers standing together with a
(25:44):
man in front of them, with the carribinara on each
side of him. A group of men were standing guarded
by cardabinere. Four other carterbineres stood near the questioning officers,
leaning on their carbines. They were wide hatted carterbinet. The
two who had me shoved me in with a group
waiting to be questioned. I looked at the man the
(26:05):
officers were questioning. He was the fat, gray haired little
lieutenant colonel they had taken out of the column. The
questioners had all the efficiency, coldness and command of themselves.
Of Italians who were firing and not being fired on
your brigade, He told them, regiment, He told them, why
are you not with your regiment? He told them, do
(26:28):
you not know that an officer should be with his troops?
He did? That was all. Another officer spoke it is
you and such as you that have let the barbarians
on to the sacred soil of the fatherland. I beg
your pardon, said the lieutenant colonel. It is because of
treachery such as yours that we have lost the fruits
of victory. Have you ever been in a retreat, the
(26:50):
lieutenant colonel asked, Italy should never retreat. We stood there
in the rain and listened to this. We were facing
the officers and the prisoners in front and a little
to one side of us. If you are going to
shoot me, the lieutenant colonel said, please shoot me at once,
without further questioning. The questioning is stupid. He made the
(27:11):
sign of the cross. The officer spoke together, one wrote
something on a pad of paper. Abandon his troops. Ordered
to be shot, he said. Two karabineri took the lieutenant
colonel to the river bank. He walked in the rain,
an old man with his hat off, a carabineir on
either side. I did not watch them shoot him, but
(27:33):
I heard the shots. They were questioning some one else.
This officer, too, was separated from his troops. He was
not allowed to make an explanation. He cried. When they
read the sentence from the pad of paper, and they
were questioning another when they shot him. They made a
point of being intent on questioning the next man, while
(27:53):
the man who had been questioned before was being shot.
In this way, there was obviously nothing they could do
about it. I did not know whether I should wait
to be questioned or make a break. Now I was
obviously a German in Italian uniform. I saw how their
minds worked, if they had minds, and if they worked.
They were all young men, and they were saving their country.
(28:15):
The Second Army was being reformed. Beyond the Tagliamento. They
were executing officers of the rank of major and above
who were separated from their troops. They were also dealing
summarily with German agitators. In Italian uniform. They wore steel helmets.
Only two of us had steel helmets. Some of the
(28:35):
Carabineri had them. The other Carrabinari wore the wide hat
airplanes we called them. We stood in the rain and
were taken out one at a time to be questioned
and shot. So far they had shot everyone they had questioned.
The questioners had that beautiful detachment and devotion to stern
justice of men dealing in death without being in any
(28:56):
danger of it. They were questioning a full colonel of
the line regiment. Three more officers had just been put
in with us. Where was his regiment? I looked at
the CATAMINERI they were looking at the newcomers. The others
were looking at the kernel. I ducked down, pushed between
two men, and ran for the river, my head down.
I tripped at the edge and went in with a splash.
(29:19):
The water was very cold, and I stayed under as
long as I could. I could feel the current swirl me,
and I stayed under until I thought I could never
come up. The minute I came up, I took a
breath and went down again. It was easy to stay
under with so much clothing in my boots. When I
came up the second time, I saw a piece of
timber ahead of me and reached it and held on
(29:42):
with one hand. I kept my head behind it and
did not even look over it. I did not want
to see the bank. There were shots when I ran,
and shots when I came up. The first time I
heard them when I was almost above water. There were
no shots now. The piece of timber swung in the current,
and I held with one hand I looked at the bank.
(30:03):
It seemed to be going by very fast. There was
much wood in the stream. The water was very cold.
We passed the brush of an island above the water.
I held on to the timber with both hands and
let it take me along. The shore was out of
sight now. End of chapter thirty
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