Silvio Ortona - Operations and tactics of the partisans
Transcript: The operations were always the same; they were fundamentally sabotage operations. The combat operations were more defensive than offensive because, in any case, the military were now entrenched. They didn't move anymore. Therefore, our operations in that period were essentially to interrupt the railway and the roads in the plains. That was it. For the rest, instead, it was them that tried to avoid this, this interruption of the services, the communication systems. They were were obliged to counterattack or attack. And then, in that case there, our task was to defend ourselves during the day and then disappear at night. Because, in terms of ammunition, we didn't have a lot. Our ammunition arrived from the sky when it arrived. Therefore, our tactic was to never combat more than a day. And these battles were when they wanted and we defended ourselves and at night, disappeared, because we were in charge at night. Because we had people who knew everything about the region. And they didn't move at night because they were afraid of the night because their weapon superiority was no longer applicable at night.