We carry on walking. (...) We arrive at the chapel of the "colloquio"; a red cross is painted on its walls, it’s been made into a first-aid station. Our wounded are seen to. We all receive bread and ham. Bombs are exploding all around us, but luckily not on top of us. Some soldiers from the front line (Albaneta) are there too. I tell them our situation and of the necessity to get in contact with the Command post - especially for our wounded. The telephone line is down, but there is a Command post just before Villa S. Lucia, 2 to 3 miles away. They tell us to leave immediately even though the artillery fire is getting worse. They also tell us to take the road nearest the base of the mountain - it's not controlled by the Anglo-Americans. According to them it is better for us to leave in groups of 3 or 4, and to throw ourselves onto the ground when the bombs explode, which is about two every five minutes now. Some other soldiers come down from the mountain, having been on the front line. While a soldier shows me the road to take, a bomb explodes very close to us. Instinctively we turn away. As a result some shrapnel hits us. I am slightly wounded on the arm, the soldier on the back. Luckily it's not serious.
We start leaving in groups, dom Agostino going first. In the meantime they kindly offer the Abbot some coffee. He is somewhat fatigued after the descent. He has decided to leave with me in the last group, to ensure that no-one would be hit or, more especially, abandoned on the way.
- Other soldiers inform us that an ambulance will be coming this afternoon to take the wounded, and they will also take the Abbot. I can see that he cannot continue for another 2 or 3 miles so I advise him to wait here, and see what Providence will have in store for us.
As the last group leaves, a soldier arrives informing us that the German Command is looking for the Abbot. He informs us that at the Regimental Command Station, a radio message had come from General Command with explicit orders, solicited by the Holy Father himself, to look for the Abbot of Montecassino and bring him to the Vatican. (...)
All have gone from our group; only the paralyzed boy remains with us. As we wait old Mrs Marone and her daughter, along with another lady, - all from Cassino, - arrive. They refuse to continue. The Abbot and I recite all of the Divine Office de Octava S. Scholasticae, surrounded by the fury of cannon fire. The only thing I brought with me is this volume of the Breviary. (...)
At about 16.30 the ambulance arrives. The driver gives the Abbot a letter. It informs him that the Commandant of the area has been looking all morning for him and wishes to bring him to safety. We leave, the paralyzed boy, the three women, the Abbot and myself, at high speed. It is dangerous being on the Casalina road. As we drive away I notice allied planes dropping bombs on the Monastery, long columns of smoke, and terrible explosions. This is my last view of Montecassino.
We arrive at the general headquarters of the "Gunther Baade Brigade". The General of this Headquarters had sent us the letter. We are all well received, given cake and coffee. We stay there about half an hour and are told that the Abbot will this evening be the host of Lt. General Von Senger und Etterlin. The Abbot asks the General to look for the other monks and civilians, asking him to bring them to safety too.
It is almost dark when we leave. Late that evening we arrive at Castelmassino near Veroli, general quarters of Lt. General Von Senger und Etterlin, commander of the XIV Army.
The General, who speaks very good Italian, greets the Abbot by saying "what a sad meeting!" (che triste incontro). We are invited to supper, along with another three officers. During the meal the Abbot speaks about the bombing; the General tells us that the Germans had counted 120 Allied planes coming over the Monastery in waves of 5. He also informs us that no German soldier had died as a result of the bombing either. (...)
Here
too, the Abbot pleads with the General for the safety of the monks and
civilians, especially for Brother Carlo who had not been seen at all.
(Fra Carlo Pellagalli, 79 years old, returned to Montecassino, where
he died at the beginning of April 1944.) The Abbot spends the night
at the General's headquarters. I go to sleep in a building close by.
(...)
Resume of Friday 18th February 1944.
In the morning after breakfast, the Abbot gave a radio interview during
which he affirmed once again that no German soldiers were in or near
the Monastery at the time of the bombings. Amongst other things he said:
" I have to say that the terrible bombing of the 14th inst., has
completely destroyed Montecassino, and there was no real military reason
to do so".
The Abbot and dom Martino were then driven to Rome, first to the offices of the German Ambassador accredited to the Holy See, and then to the Benedictine Monastery of Saint Anselmo. Dom Martino ends his diary by saying: "We are reunited with our Community, thanking God that through the intercession of our Holy Patriarch we have been miraculously protected. Amen".
Dom Gregorio Diamare, Abbot of Montecassino from 1909 would die little over a year later, in August 1945.
Dom Martino Matronola, would become Abbot of Montecassino, dying at the age of 90.
