Apparently they had stored a load of weapons, ammunition and demolition explosives in a gap between the walls of a barn and a house. Back in the 1960's I remember the Army came to our village and cleared everyone out for a few days while they dealt with the remains of the Partisans' weapon supplies. The chap on the left is a relative of mine and the rifle being held by the fellow (we're pretty sure it's the same one) on the right is still in my cousin's family's possession. In the photograph below taken sometime after 1942, you can see some of the Val D'Arda partisans, two of whom are armed with the same version of the Mills grenade that you have uncovered on your property, along with a few other toys of course. Either that, or as is more likely a number of empty grenade casings were taken from storage in the UK, refurbished and dropped by parachute to supply the local partisans during WWII. What is particularly curious about them is that this version of the Mills Bomb is of WWI vintage and was declared obsolete in 1918, so by my reckoning they are at least 93 years old.ěritish forces were deployed in Italy during the 1914-18 War and so it is possible that some light fingered Luigi decided to hang on to a few just in case. What you have there would, on closer inspection (and without actually getting my hands on one) appear to be four No5 MkII British Mills Bombs. I also wonder if anyone has heard of a place in Parma used as a hospital for foreign prisoners of war. Can anyone elighten us or suggest some reading material?Ělso my late father in law (Aussie) was a prisoner in a hospital in the Parma area and was exchanged and sent to UK, my mother in law knows no more than that.
Does anyone know what action occurred around the area - Modena is our largest city and I do know Bologna was heavily bombed.
We have asked the former owner if he is aware of what activities occurred in the area - Polinago in Emilia Romagna, but he stated that his father never discussed the war. We are not sure whether they are allied or german/italian grenades and we are waiting for the appropriate people to come and collect/difuse them and to check the site for any further munitions. Friday 13 May (is there an omen?) we received notification that all work had to be stopped and the site closed as in the rubble the workmen found 4 four WW11 hand grenades. Unfortunatley as part of our ruin was lacking foundations we have had to demolish the house to rebuild.
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