Page 103 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

THE 1849 CAMPAIGN 101

However, apart from defects in the preparation and most of all the lack of
arrangements for the artillery, it was a serious mistake to deploy the Polish
legionnaires at the head of the column, since they had very poor knowledge
of the country. So they chose the wrong way and got lost and all of a sudden
found themselves in front of the Italian legion; some gunshots were shot in
the dark, causing general confusion, so that Garibaldi, doubting that he
could now achieve his main purpose, that is, to take the enemy by surprise,
was forced to order his troops to return to the city, but also did not spare his
harshest rebukes also to his legionnaires.
No one can say what might have been the outcome of the action of that
night without that unfortunate accident; it is certain, however, since it is
written in Vaillant’s report, that the French did not notice anything on that
night, nor did their sentries hear the shots.
A clash of outposts took place during the following days, among two com-
panies of the French Engineers and a battalion of the «Unione» regiment, car-
rying out some trenching work at Porta San Pancrazio: the young Major
Panizzi, a Modenese, who had been promoted the day before, did not hesi-
tate to order the putting aside of hoes and the raising of rifles, and he was the
first to launch himself against the enemies, struck dead by three bullets right
in his chest.
A touching competition then started among the hero’s followers to con-
tend with the enemies for his mortal remains; out of the some fifteen soldiers
who set about that pitiful task nine were killed by his corps. In the meantime,
the fight continued furiously, marked by heroic deeds. Climbed on a heap of
debris, Captain Wern, a Polish who had fought in Africa with the French,
cried out to Oudinot’s soldiers: «Strike here, right in my chest, where the
Cross of the Legion of Honour shines I won with you and for you», and he
fell seriously injured in the face; with real stoicism, Major Fanti from Ferrara
endured the amputation of his arm and then bled to death blessing Italy; and
private Poggi, after also enduring the amputation of his arm, seized his ampu-
tated limb with his other hand and threw it beyond the ramparts.
«The fight rages on the Gianicolo, and these people deserve their past
greatness. Here they live, they die and endure amputation shouting: Long live
the Republic! One hour of life in Rome is worth a hundred years».
So Garibaldi wrote on June 21 st to his beloved Anita, who after being
th
with him in Rieti from the end of February to April 13 , had gone back to