Sturmgeschütz III (StuG III)

In the early summer of 1944 a retreating German column has an accident; the Capannacce bridge gives way under the weight of the armored vehicles and one of these falls below. The moment for the Germans is dramatic, pursued by the allied avant-gardes and constantly under attack by the enemy aviation. There is no time for an attempt to recover the wagon or to rebuild the bridge, so the commander of the column has an idea: the damaged wagon, now lost, would at least serve as a support for the transit of the rest of the vehicles. And so it happens; the German vehicles pass over the Stug III and then continue their race towards the north.

The locals knew about this abandoned war wreck, which was effectively stripped of everything that could be removed. The vegetation did the rest and in the following years the wagon "disappeared" from everyone's view, remaining hidden until July 27, 1991 when, on the initiative of the local Carristi in Congedo Section, the recovery work was started which was possible thanks to the collaboration of Menci SpA and the Ministry of Defense. The latter provided the drawings and cross-sections of the vehicle necessary for the restoration which, thanks to computer processing, allowed the reconstruction of the missing parts to the millimeter, including the tracks, cast in Sesto Fiorentino and for which the expense and the work were not indifferent. The Sturmgeschutz III, returned to its former glory, would become a monument to the tankmen.

Thus we arrived in the morning of May 30, 1993 when the inauguration of the monument takes place, celebrated with an event that saw the intervention of civil and military Authorities, of the Regimental Band of Arezzo and ended with a parade through the streets of the town up to the Church of the Collegiate Church, where a solemn mass was celebrated. A photographic exhibition was set up alongside the event depicting the various phases of the restoration of the vehicle.

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Source

• Text: Fed & local inhabitants
• Photos: Jimmy Hilgen