The Vatican Pimpernel

by Brian Fleming

  Among those in attendance were members of the diplomatic corps including both the German Ambassador and the British Minister who had all been invited to the reception for the Pope’s birthday. Without blinking an eye, O’Flaherty introduced Gambier-Parry as an Irish doctor to the German Ambassador and First Secretary Prince Bismarck who at all times made an effort to be friendly with everyone. The Prince invited ‘the Doctor’ to visit him sometime and Gambier-Parry replied with a promise that he would try. The Monsignor found it difficult to contain his amusement. Needless to say, Derry was appalled by this level of risk but he was not in a position to criticise the Monsignor because his senior officer, the General, had agreed to go along with it. As O’Flaherty remarked to Simpson, ‘Sam’ll be mad at me for this, bringing the General out of hiding, but I thought he should hear the Pope.’7

  At the first opportunity he got, Derry took the Monsignor to task about this episode.

  ‘Ah, the poor fellow needed a breath of air’, he replied simply. ‘He has been cooped up for weeks. Not good for him, you know.’ ‘Now look, Monsignor’, I said earnestly, ‘you know damn well I can’t give him orders. He is a General, and if he chooses to go out and get himself recaptured, there isn’t much I can do about it. But I have every reason for wanting you to stay in circulation, and, heaven knows, you have attracted quite enough attention already. I do beg you to be as cautious as you possibly can, at least until the German interest in you has died down a bit.’ ‘Never fear, me boy’, said the Monsignor, treating me to one of his vast room-filling grins. ‘Ah, a pity it is I haven’t brought me clubs. We could have done a bit of putting practice. Nothing like golf for knocking all the troubles of this poor world out of your mind.’This was as far as we got. I sometimes suspected that Monsignor O’Flaherty’s overriding interest in golf was his sort of secret weapon which enabled him to change the subject at will.8

  Some time later, the General was moved to a hospital on San Stefano Rotundo run by the Little Sisters of Mary where he could exercise in the grounds and he stayed there until the Allies took over Rome.

  By the middle of January, the number of escapees coming into Rome was reaching peak proportions and placing additional pressure on the organisation. Aside from prisoners of war who were the early clients of the organisation, there were now hundreds of civilians avoiding the authorities. These included former Italian soldiers or policemen and indeed others who had been called up for labour camps but had gone on the run.

  In the meantime, the long-serving and heroic Mrs Chevalier had another narrow escape.

  It was ten minutes before curfew one evening when Mrs Chevalier heard a knock on her door. When she answered there was a lame Italian youth outside whom she knew vaguely by sight. He warned her that the Germans were coming to raid after curfew time. He offered to bring her lodgers to a safe location. A quick decision then had to be made as to whether this was genuine or a trap. Her five lodgers at that stage, four British and one South African, were mindful of Derry’s strict instruction that in the event of danger Mrs Chevalier had to be protected at all costs so they decided to go with the young Italian. Within ten minutes they were gone and the tiny apartment was set out to look as if it had just a family in occupation. Almost exactly on curfew hour, the Gestapo arrived and came in to carry out a search. They checked the papers of the Chevalier family which were all perfectly in order. Given the size of the accommodation the officer in charge was willing to accept that Mrs Chevalier was telling the truth when she claimed they were the only occupants. He made the assumption that the report of unusual movements into her apartment had been mischievous and asked had she noticed anything. The Maltese woman suspected that the information may have come from an apartment in a neighbouring block where well-known Fascist sympathisers lived. She directed the Germans to that location, advising that she had seen some strangers going in and out. For the next half hour, she and her family enjoyed the disturbance which emanated from the neighbouring apartment as a detailed and noisy search was carried out. When Simpson called the next day, he found that Mrs Chevalier wanted to have her lodgers back. As always, she was very difficult to dissuade, but Derry and O’Flaherty decided they would have to insist. Even though it was putting himself at considerable risk, O’Flaherty called the next day and insisted that her accommodation would have to remain empty of lodgers from now on. However, he agreed to transfer the five men to her friend Cecarelli, who was a butcher, and had been supplying meat to feed her lodgers since she got involved in the organisation.

  A couple of nights later, there was a raid on the flat of Renzo and Adrienne Lucidi when everyone was in bed. Simpson and Fane-Hervey were living there, together with a Polish saboteur, Rafaelo, who had stored a bag of gelignite in the flat. In the time which it took for Renzo to open the door, the bag of explosives was hidden and Rafaelo was put into bed with Peppina the housemaid and told to pretend to be her lover. Simpson was told to act the part of the Lucidi’s nephew. All of this worked to perfection, as it appears the Germans were concentrating on arresting Renzo Lucidi. It seems that they had found his name and details among others when searching the house of a Communist underground leader. In the rush, Fane-Hervey had not been alerted to this raid and did not know anything about it until a German arrived in his bedroom. Simpson’s papers, provided by Monsignor O’Flaherty, which described him as a Milanese named Guglielmo Del Monte were examined and proved equal to requirements. In the confusion, the officers never asked Fane-Hervey for his papers. Immediately after the men left with Renzo, Simpson, Fane-Hervey and the Pole abandoned the accommodation. They had just gone a couple of hundred yards down the street when the Germans arrived back looking for them. The Lucidi’s son, Gerald, concocted a story that Simpson and Fane-Hervey had come to play cards the previous night and were not really that well known to him or his family. The story about Simpson being a nephew seemed to have been forgotten by everyone, particularly the Germans, in the interim. However, on the second visit the raiders found an issue of a Communist Party newspaper in Gerald’s room and they arrested him also. The boy was Adrienne’s son by her former marriage and was French by birth so de Vial persuaded his Ambassador, Bérard, to intervene with the German authorities on behalf of the French embassy. This he did successfully and a few days later both were released.

  The same night as the raid on the apartment, news came through to O’Flaherty of the arrest of Concetta Piazza who was a district nurse in a village north of Rome. She was the link between the Monsignor and approximately two dozen British prisoners of war who were hidden in various farms and villages around the area bringing them money and supplies. As luck would have it, she was at the end of a delivery run when she was arrested and so had no money or supplies on her that would be incriminating. She was taken to the Regina Coeli prison where she was charged with giving aid to Allied escapees.

  On prison toilet paper she wrote a long letter to Field Marshal Kesselring setting out all she had done as a nurse to the benefit of all patients, including Germans, and protested that she was being prevented from continuing this work by her imprisonment. She persuaded a prisoner who was being released to smuggle her letter to O’Flaherty, who arranged for it to be typed up with a view to passing it on to the German commander. The question then arose as to how to get it to him. De Vial felt he could not go to Bérard again so soon after the previous case. An obvious choice, then, was Dr Kiernan in the Irish Legation. Because Kiernan had been seen to implement his country’s neutrality policy to the letter, he would not have aroused suspicion among the German authorities. O’Flaherty used his friendship with Blon Kiernan to pass the letter on to her father and he in turn dispatched it, marked for the personal attention of Field Marshal Kesselring. Within two days the little nurse was released. Meanwhile, a new chief of police took up duty early in February.

  Pietro Caruso, another of the original fascists, dyed in the wool, one hundred per cent out and out … He is full of zeal in his new office and burning to show the rep
ublic what he can do in support of it.9

  (Mother Mary St Luke, 2 February 1943)

  Caruso and Koch began to plan a major initiative. On the night of 3 February, an ex-monk who was part of Koch’s group began to knock on the doors of St Paul’s Outside-the-Walls crying for help. When the door was opened, Caruso and his men immediately swarmed into the building. The place was looted. Sixty-six people in hiding in the accommodation were arrested, many disguised as priests. They included a general, nine officers and other soldiers of the Italian army, former policemen and nine Jews. The Vatican made a strong and clear public protest at this incursion onto their property. The German authorities in the shape of the Ambassador denied any involvement. When the integrity of the Vatican was threatened, invariably the Irish Government lodged a protest. Kiernan was happy to be able to report back on 7 February 1944 to the Dublin Government that Cardinal Maglione had accepted these assurances and was satisfied that the intrusion was the work of Fascists. This whole episode was embarrassing from the point of view of the German authorities. At the same time, there was of course great concern in the Vatican that it might be the first of many such raids. Altogether at that stage 55 monasteries, 100 convents and other Vatican properties were hiding Jews. One of the leading authorities on the situation of the Jews in Rome is a survivor of the October 1943 raid, Michael Tagliacozzo. He estimates that 477 Roman Jews were sheltered in the Vatican while another 4,238 found refuge in the monasteries and convents in Rome. Some were employed in the Vatican Library and museums. Others were protected by being enrolled in the Palatine Guard. This is an honorary institution of guards and membership automatically confers Vatican citizenship. As Jewish people came under pressure, many were enrolled in the Guard and its membership increased from 300 in 1942 to over 4,000 by the end of 1943.

  During autumn 1943 and early 1944, fierce fighting was under way between the Allied and German forces in the south of Italy. Indeed there was ongoing debate at military and political level among the Allies as to whether trying to secure the capture of Rome was a viable proposition and should be receiving significant priority. There was certainly a view among the US authorities that all spare resources should be directed towards the upcoming Operation Overlord which was the cross-channel invasion of France. Roosevelt was ready to accept this view and indeed Stalin repeatedly called on the Allies to take pressure off his army by bringing forward the date for the invasion of France. Churchill, meanwhile, was arguing for a continuance of the policy which had the capture of Rome as a high priority. The three had met in Tehran during late November and while the capture of Rome remained on the lists of objectives, it very much now took second place to the invasion of France in the allocation of any spare resources. Meanwhile, the American Fifth Army, under General Mark Clark, had continued to make painstakingly slow progress towards Rome in November and December. It was then decided to make an amphibious attack on Anzio which was north of the defensive line that the Germans had taken up. The hope was that this attack would sever their supply lines and force them into a rapid retreat. The American forces landed on the Anzio beaches on 22 January and met little or no initial resistance.

  This created great hope among the Allies then resident in Rome, and those favourable to their cause, as Anzio was approximately 30 miles south of Rome.

  During the night the Allies made a landing at Anzio … it seems too good to be true … people in the streets look happier than they have for a long time.10

  (Mother Mary St Luke, 21 January 1944)

  The Duchess of Sermoneta reflected the general mood in her record of events:

  And then at last! After so much weary waiting … came the news that the British had landed in Anzio. Hope, ever flying with swift wings far ahead of events, convinced me and many others that the liberation of Rome was only a question of a few days.11

  Within a week or so she was arrested herself and placed in detention. In fact, 50,000 men and 5,000 vehicles had landed, completely surprising the Germans. General Westphal, Kesselring’s Chief of Staff, recorded:

  At the moment of the landing south of Rome, apart from certain coastal batteries there were only two battalions. There was nothing else in the neighbourhood which could be thrown against the enemy on that same day. The road to Rome was open. No one could have stopped a bold advanced-guard entering the Holy City. The breathtaking situation continued for the first two days after the landing.12

  MacWhite was one of the many who were mystified,

  It appears that they encountered no opposition on their way. Why the Allies did not push forward at once … is a mystery which only the Allied High Command can explain … here was one of the opportunities which Napoleon would have not have missed.13

  (MacWhite, 26 January 1944)

  Unfortunately, the Allied Commander did not take advantage of this opportunity and the initial optimism was dashed as the German forces managed to re-group and counter-attack, effectively containing the threat, and a stalemate situation developed which lasted for months.

  Despite the surprise landing and eight days without encountering any serious resistance the Allied situation on the bridgehead has deteriorated and important ground has been lost. They failed to exploit initial advantage and gave adversary plenty of time to bring up reinforcements … Failing the unforeseen it may well take months before the Allies reach Rome … The skirmishing between the Germans and the Vatican has taken a turn for the worst since the violation of the Basilica of St Paul. Italian newspapers which are under German control are bitterly attacking the Vatican for sheltering Jews and renegades from which colleagues conclude that a more serious violation of Vatican neutrality is not to be excluded.14

  (MacWhite, 11 February 1944)

  Churchill had hoped for more success as he was the main proponent of this strategy. ‘I had hoped that we were hurling a wild cat on the shore, but all we got was a stranded whale.’15

  Of course, among the Allied leadership, Churchill was the architect of the Italian strategy, whereas Roosevelt and Stalin favoured invasions of western or southern France. So the British Prime Minister was making sure that the blame for the relative failure at Anzio was not going to be laid at his door. He was successful in this with the result that the senior officer on the ground, the American Major General John Lucas, took the brunt of the criticism. More recent considerations of these events, however, have suggested that maybe Lucas was not provided with sufficient resources to reach Rome successfully. Alternatively, others have suggested that he was the wrong man for this sort of a job and maybe somebody of a more adventurous nature should have been appointed. Certainly, consideration was given to moving General George Patton to take charge at Anzio at one stage. Wherever the fault lies, certainly the landing at Anzio raised expectations among those in Rome that the Eternal City would be liberated shortly. However, there was growing concern in Rome and in Vatican circles that the city itself could become a battlefield.

  Derry found himself having to discipline some of the Allied prisoners-of-war from time to time, usually because they were placing themselves or others in danger because of overindulgence in alcohol. A British Serviceman received the following letter:

  I have heard of the affair of a few nights ago when you were in an intoxicated condition. I really wonder if you can realise what is being done for you by various people (ie the people in whose house you live and the padre friends). Do you understand that as a result of an affair like that one of the other evening these people might have lost their lives and if anything like that had happened, you and you alone would have been responsible. It would have been a thing that would have been on your conscience all your life. From an official point of view I can assure you that such behaviour will not be tolerated. Any future conduct contrary to good order on military or naval discipline will have serious consequences afterwards.16

  10

  Chasing the Pimpernel

  On the very day that Italy entered the war, Cardinal Maglione had begun negotiations w
ith D’Arcy Osborne to ensure that Rome would not be bombed. While the British authorities could see good reasons for not bombing the Vatican they were unwilling to give an undertaking not to bomb Rome, particularly if Italian aircraft were to become involved in bombing British cities. This argument went to and fro for the next three years. The international laws that govern warfare recognise that there is the possibility for a city to be declared open. Under these circumstances, one of the warring parties undertakes not to use the city for military purposes. The opposing party then would accept that it had no reason to bomb the city, and the lives of innocent civilians and indeed, particularly in Rome’s case, the treasures of history would be safe. The Vatican began to explore whether it was possible to apply such an arrangement to Rome. In the meantime, the Allied Forces invaded Sicily in July 1943 and parts of Rome were bombed in that attack leading to the loss of approximately 1,500 lives. This led to wide-scale expressions of concern from the governments of Catholic countries and diplomatic pressure began to increase on the US and UK Governments. President Roosevelt, in a broadcast on 23 July 1943, claimed that Rome was being bombed to save the lives of Allied soldiers fighting in Sicily and it was not possible to reach an open city agreement because the Axis forces were not willing. The Allied landing at Anzio brought the warfare even closer to the city. The papal palace at Castelgandolfo south of the city was bombed. Hundreds who had taken refuge there were killed. At the same time, battle was raging around Cassino and, as Christmas approached, shells were beginning to drop on the monastery of St Benedict there. The Vatican protested to both D’Arcy Osborne and Tittmann. The senior Allied officer on the front line in February 1944 was a New Zealander, General Freyberg. There was a debate among the various officers as to whether destroying the monastery was warranted and indeed there were rumours that it housed many refugees. In the event, Freyburg sought permission to bomb the monastery and this was granted. Meanwhile, the German Ambassador, von Weizsaecker, was assuring the Vatican that there were no artillery, mortars, machine guns or troops in the monastery or its immediate surroundings so there was no justification for bombing. Allied aircraft dropped leaflets warning of the impending bombing and the abbot requested everyone to leave but, before the evacuation was complete, the bombing commenced and approximately 100 refugees were killed. A propaganda war ensued. While a number of months elapsed before the Allies eventually captured Cassino, the bombing of the monastery caused great concern in Rome, particularly in Vatican circles. It seemed to them that no property was now safe from the effects of war. When the abbot of the monastery arrived in Rome and confirmed the truth of the German claim that the monastery had been unoccupied by any military personnel or equipment, these anxieties increased.