Sant’Anne di Stazzema, Italy – August 12, 1944
On August 12, 1944, the tiny hillside Tuscan village of Sant’Anna di Stazzema, Italy was attacked. An SS battalion and three SS regiments arrived early in the morning, woke the village residents and murdered 530 of them, almost the whole village. The provocation is thought to be linked to someone in the village collaborating against the German occupation.
It is not clear that this was confirmed, or that it was looked into by the SS as they did not waste time during their brief stay in the village. This, of course, makes it difficult to believe and does not explain the motive for the grim attack.
When the SS set out to the unassuming village that day, the soldiers immediately proceeded to round up villagers. It was slightly different from the incident in Oradour-sur-Glane. The men and women were not segregated and it played out in a less premeditated fashion. In this way, it was more like a random slaughter. The SS grouped as many individuals together as possible until they were cornered, at which point, machine guns were used to shoot the group. Alternatively, the SS relied on hand grenades to end the chaos in one fell boom.
The village priest, Fiore Menguzzo was shot at point-blank range. By the end, victims included at least 107 children and 8 pregnant women, one of whom was found with her stomach slashed. When the last villagers were killed, the livestock was also slaughtered. From under the smoke plumes rising from the pillaged village, the SS officers relaxed and had lunch before leaving.