By January 1944, the men who had escaped from the Italian POW camp had been on the run for three months. Unable to get through German lines, many had split up and taken shelter in caves outside the Italian village of Falciano. They had also found allies in the village who helped them as much as they could. That January, snow and bitter cold forced the POWs out of the caves and into the village for shelter. Six Americans – Warren Decker, Keith “Doc” Argraves, Al Natassi, Mahlon Black, and brothers Tony and Dan Cole – left their cave, made their way to the village and stayed with their friend, former Italian Army Capt. Saturino Brandimarte.
Although the villagers were friendly toward the men, there was always the danger that someone might turn the prisoners over to the Germans for reward money. After the war, Decker told his family that the villagers had planned for this and used harmonicas to communicate when there was danger to the escapees.
In the book “Keith Argraves, Paratrooper,” Argraves stated that a priest lived in the village and claimed he had been driven from his home in Germany because of his religion. According to Argraves, however, the priest was actually a spy. He relayed information to the fascists, who then reported to the Germans that the escaped prisoners were leaving their caves and staying in the village.
On Jan. 9, Decker later told his family, he and Argraves were in a home when they heard the harmonica alarm. They ran out the back door and straight into the arms of German soldiers on ski patrol, who were dressed in white uniforms for camouflage. Over the next few days, the Germans rounded up their friends and other escapees. By the time the roundup ended, the Germans had captured about 80 escaped prisoners, along with several Italian villagers.
According to Argraves’ book, before the prisoners were taken away, the German soldiers lined them up in the snow and ordered them to produce identification. As the men searched for their IDs, they were interrogated. Argraves said that while he had been on the run, he had almost thrown away his dog tag but “was impressed to keep it.” He was thankful he had not done so because it was the only identification he had. Fortunately, Decker and the other men with Argraves also still had their identification.
Argraves provides the chilling details of what happened next. After the prisoners’ identification was checked, the Germans found 40 men who had no identification. These men were separated from the group and lined up in the snow. Argraves recalled: “Then, while men who possessed identification looked on in horror, five German ski troopers shot the lined-up men down in cold blood, leaving them where they fell. With the grisly memory of it haunting us, we were marched away under the watchful eyes of our captors.”
Once again, Decker and the others were bound for a prison camp – but this time, the road ahead led only to captivity, with no escape waiting beyond it.
Doug Stout is a Licking County historian and can be contacted at dalan3060@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Pvt. Warren Decker faced a deadly betrayal in Italy | History
Reporting by Doug Stout, Guest columnist / Newark Advocate
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Doug Stout, Guest columnist | USA TODAY Network
