Read The Vatican Pimpernel Online
Authors: Brian Fleming
The Vatican Pimpernel (24 page)
History was being made at our very door; the importance of our additions and subtractions paled into insignificance. We sat up, startled, as the door bell sounded our old familiar signal; for the last month or more we had used a new ring. Could this be a trap, a last minute effort by the Gestapo or Koch's gang? We waited tensely while Peppina opened the door. We heard a scream.
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In fact it was Simpson, who had walked to freedom from the prison.
As they left the prison, the Gestapo took with them fourteen prisoners of war as hostages. However, they swiftly concluded that minding those prisoners on the journey north was a handicap and they were unloaded near the Rome suburb of Lastorta and executed on 4 June. The bodies were discovered by local people and, after a funeral service, buried some days later. A remembrance service is held on that day each year at the site. A memorial has been erected containing the names of some of those executed. However, one plaque refers to âthe unknown Englishman'. Research completed in March of 2007 fairly conclusively suggested this, in fact, is the grave of Captain Armstrong, whom O'Flaherty so nearly rescued. However, there are now suggestions that his name was not Armstrong but in fact he was a secret agent working under the code name âGabriel'.
With admirable restraint, the Romans looked on, spectators of the reverse of what they had seen in September: the boot was on the other leg, the wheel had gone full circle, and the defeated Huns were escaping in disorder ⦠The Germans went on, wild eyed, unshaven, unkempt, on foot, in stolen cars, in horse drawn vehicles, even in carts belonging to the street cleaning department. There was no attempt at military formation ⦠Whereas last September they came with machine guns trained on the Romans, it was a different matter now. They were frightened. They had a clear idea of the strength of the underground movement, the power of the armed patriots and their determination to take action when and if necessary ⦠A current report ran that the Germans had promised the Pope that they would not destroy anything in Rome if he would be personally responsible for the welfare of the wounded whom they might leave behind ⦠By five o'clock in the afternoon the streets were almost empty of Germans; a few were still going along the Corso d'Italia ⦠From one of our windows we looked down on Rome. The electric light which had been cut off was turned on abruptly, and un-curtained windows flashed out brightly like a signal of liberation to come. Then, as if on the stage, all was dark once more; except for the moonlight shining through a veil of mist. Suddenly, from the Porta Pia came a burst of wild cheering. The Allies had entered Rome ⦠after that the whole town came to life. There was talk and laughter in all the streets, even in the narrowest ones; there was cheering and the sound of clapping everywhere.
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(
Mother Mary St Luke
, 4 June 1944)
Another observer of these events was the journalist de Wyss:
Finally, I saw the beaten German Army retreating. There were lorries and wagons so overloaded with soldiers that they all hung around in bunches; carts with soldiers, also soldiers on horseback, peasant vehicles crammed with dead-tired men ⦠and finally once soldiers passed by riding on oxen, endless rows of those going on foot. Their faces grey with fatigue, eyes popping out, mouths wide open, they limped, barefoot, dragging their rifles after them. I remember the same army entering France â contemptuous, almighty, trampling over the weaker. I remembered being thrown into a ditch by them. Now I was witnessing their defeat. My jaws clenched.
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The tumult and the shouting died about 1.00 a. m. and we scattered from our observation post. My own first sight of the Allies was dramatic in its simplicity. Opening a window at about six o'clock, I saw one little jeep with four American soldiers in it, making its way slowly and soundlessly along the street. No one else was about. The thing looked so solitary, yet so significant in the cool stillness of dawn. I had it all to myself for a few seconds. It was so small, yet so secure; a vignette on the page of history; a full stop at the end of the chapter of oppression and fear ⦠The population of Rome seemed double what it had been; men who had been hiding for months â patriots, Italian soldiers, Allied prisoners of war who had escaped from their prison camps, young men of military age and persecuted Jews â were out and about. Bicycles appeared from their hiding places as if by magic.
Rome had not seen such animation and laughter since the beginning of the War.
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(
Mother Mary St Luke
, 5 June 1944)
Other individuals and groups had similar experiences. Harold Tittmann notes:
Early the next morning, June 5
th
, our entire family went to the spot in the nuns' garden where I had been watching the Germans the previous day, and joyfully witnessed the passage of American vehicles heading north in the pursuit of Germans. A jeep stopped briefly below us, and we shouted welcoming words in English to its occupants. Obviously surprised, one of the soldiers asked us who we were. When he learned that we were Americans, he reached to the back of the vehicle, pulled out a carton of cigarettes, a box of Hershey bars and a copy of Time magazine which he proceeded to toss over the wall in our direction. This was our first, happy contact with American soldiers.
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John Furman was also on the move on this historic day. He walked up to a jeep to shake hands with the driver and congratulate him on the success of the Fifth Army.
Say, you speak good English for an Italiano, he said. Perhaps because I am English, I replied, smiling. He looked at me amazed. Well, whadda ya know? Say what are you doing here anyway? I thought for a moment. It was an apt question. What was I doing here? Why was I not at home with my wife, playing with the two year old daughter I had never seen? Why were we all here? Why had the world gone mad? I was suddenly tired and in no mood to answer the philosophical questions I was ready to pose to myself. I slapped the driver on the back. Just playing a game I said, a game of hide and seek. But it is all over now. As I turned away, the driver leaned across to his mate. I heard a mutter, say, that guy's crazy. Playing hide and seek!
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Denis Johnston, the Irish playwright, was then travelling with the British army as a BBC War Correspondent. Some days later he was in the Irish Legation.
On the neutral territory of the Irish Legation a small party of un-neutral Hibernians gathered to greet the Minister and his handsome, Rabelaisian wife ⦠What was the first sign you had that we had arrived? I asked of Delia. She tossed her head of black curls, and smiled the smile that must have baffled many an Axis official. They call me your Excellency here. It is the way they have in the Diplomatic, d'ye know. Well, I was out taking a walk in the morning to see what was going on. And there was a lot of lads in uniform lying on the pavement in front of the railway station, taking a rest, d'ye know. And I thought they were Germans, until suddenly one of them sat up and said, âSay, sister. Come and park your arse beside me'. So then I knew I was liberated.
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He also heard some stories of the Monsignor. âAt the Kiernans' I was told stories of the fabulous Fr O'Flaherty â long sought by the Germans for his help to Allied prisoners and refugees.'
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Johnston and a colleague of his were also in the congregation when the Pope addressed the crowd in St Peter's Square. After the Pope's address, both felt they should celebrate the occasion.
We clasped hands and sang one of our favourite ballads for the delectation of the Roman populace â the Ould Orange Flute. It may be that this was the first time that the Ould Orange Flute has been sung on the steps of St Peter's. Its choice was a sincere tribute to the universality of the occasion. It seemed only fitting that we should sing one of our own tribal ballads in his honour, rather than something that was not ourselves.
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Critics and Admirers
The changed circumstances left the diplomats and indeed the Vatican authorities in a difficult position. Now the diplomatic representatives of the Axis powers, including Germany, Japan and Slovakia, were seeking the safe sanctuary of the Vatican accommodation. However, the Vatican authorities had no room to accommodate them until the representatives of the Allied powers moved out. The British were very conscious of the function that D'Arcy Osborne had been able to play from within the Vatican, and they were concerned that if von Weizsaecker, the German Ambassador, were to move in, he could perform a similar role for his government. Indeed, British intelligence had recommended to their Government that the German Ambassador should be not allowed inside Vatican City. The British took the view that they were not bound by the terms of the Lateran Pact as it was merely an agreement between Italy and the Holy See. It is surely one of the most ironic features of this entire episode that, by and large, the Germans had respected the terms of the Pact right throughout the War, when they must have been sorely tempted to do otherwise, whereas the British, when their turn came, tended to dismiss it. D'Arcy Osborne was in a very awkward position. He was unhappy with the view taken by his Government, but at the same time had a responsibility to represent it in negotiations with the Vatican authorities. He was conscious of the fact that the Italians and the Germans had treated the Vatican in a very proper manner by accommodating diplomats, such as himself and Tittmann, and he felt his own country should behave similarly. Kiernan was doing his best to assist his colleagues, the German and Japanese Ambassadors, who were now under pressure. Denis Johnston observes:
Ireland was sticking to its traditional policy of being on the side of the hunted rather than the hunter â whoever that might be ⦠I must confess to finding a certain pride in Kiernan's attitude, and I did my best to help him in his undertaking.
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Eventually the Americans broke ranks and ordered Tittmann to move out of the Vatican leaving the British with no option but to follow suit. As they left, von Weizsaecker and Herada, the Japanese Ambassador, moved in. The German Ambassador was lucky that he made that move. On 20 July 1944, an assassination attempt on Hitler failed. It was suspected by the authorities in Berlin that von Weizsaecker was one of the conspirators. The fact that he was within the Vatican, and out of reach, probably saved his life. Whether he was opposed to Hitler or not, Kiernan certainly gave credit to his German counterpart for his work:
All through the period of the German occupation of Rome, von Weizsaecker was a moderating influence on the military and police authorities ⦠It was largely due to von Weizsaecker and a triumph of diplomacy over the horrors of war, that the German troops and the SS respected the sovereign rights and the integrity of the Vatican City state, including the buildings outside the Vatican which, being Vatican property, enjoyed extra-territorial rights.
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D'Arcy Osborne was now the senior diplomatic representative of the Allied countries in Rome. So the British Legation became the centre of activity in contrast to its previous existence as something of a backwater. Many of the requests coming to the Legation were from the Allied military authorities who were now in charge of Rome. D'Arcy Osborne appointed Derry as Liaison Officer, filling the role of temporary Military Attaché to the British Legation. Derry also had the role of dealing with the repatriation of those escapees whom the organisation had been supporting. A repatriation unit was established, headed by Derry, assisted by Simpson, Furman, Captain Burns and the Greek, Meletiou. They started work immediately, providing continuing funds for the escapees living in and about Rome and arranging for them to return to their units or indeed to their home countries. The person in their care who was most quickly re-united with his family was young Paul Freyberg. His father, the General, came into Rome to collect his son and a few days later they were joined by his mother.
Aside from arranging the repatriation of those for whom they had been caring over the previous months, the group turned its attention to repaying money which had been given to O'Flaherty over the years and which he, in turn, had spent on escaped Allied soldiers. They also began to make payments to individual Italians who had spent their own money directly on escapees and evaders. So the biscuit tins, which contained the records of the organisation from the time Derry became involved and had been carefully buried in the Vatican Gardens, were now dug up. His foresight in arranging a record-keeping system had proved very valuable. This screening committee headed by Derry continued to work for three years and during the course of its existence investigated more than 90,000 cases, presented 75,000 certificates of thanks signed by Field Marshal Alexander on behalf of the British Government and repaid
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million in cash to those who had given money to O'Flaherty and his associates and others who had helped in this sort of work (in excess of â¬40 million in current terms). In relation to British Government funds which had been expended on military personnel from other jurisdictions, the first to repay was the Russian Government which refunded £25,000 (in excess of â¬1 million in current terms).
The arrival of the Allies in Rome changed the direction of Derry's work. It had a similar impact on the focus of O'Flaherty's. Sam Derry recalls a conversation between the Monsignor and the US General, Mark Clark, when the Irishman quizzed the American sharply to make sure German prisoners were well treated. The Englishman also recalls meeting the Monsignor on the day Rome was liberated.
Well my lad there is work to be done and off he went into the City to visit some of our helpers and their relations who had suffered so much as a result of their activities on our behalf. In the evening he was back in the British Legation to see the Minister and myself with a list of requests for immediate action, some of which were not so easy to meet, considering the general chaos in Rome immediately after the liberation.
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