Recently, photographs dating from the last years of WW2 have appeared on local Facebook pages.

I was particularly struck by this one showing the famed Ponte Del Diavolo / Ponte Della Maddalena at Borgo a Mozzano being crossed by Allied Jeeps in 1944.

Here is the fabulous bridge as I saw it the other week. How the weather changes from one day to the next!

With all the other bridges blown up by the retreating Nazi-fascist troops the mediaeval bridge at Borgo a Mozzano was the only way to cross the Serchio north of Lucca. I suspect Jerry didn’t blow it up because he thought no vehicles would be able to use it. He was obviously wrong…

Thank goodness Jerry thought that. It would have been another tragedy to have lost this lovely bridge to the ravages of war. For instance, there used to be an attractive mediaeval bridge at nearby Calavorno:

After the war a new bridge was built further upstream which anyone going from Bagni di Lucca to Gallicano will recognize:

I’m wondering whether the Devil’s bridge was tested for carrying capacity before the Jeeps crossed it. I would have loved to hear the conversation among the US troops at the time.

Of course, it’s impossible to cross this amazing bridge by car now as there’s a bollard stuck in the middle of its entrance. If it were possible to get past this I’m sure arrests would follow, quite apart from having one’s photo plastered on the regional newspapers.

It’s a sobering thought, however, that a bridge built in the twelfth century by that formidable woman, Matilde di Canossa, to facilitate the crossing of pilgrims to the Holy See via the Via Francigena was used in the twentieth century, not to save people’s souls but to save Italy from having to suffer further years of fascist-Nazi hell and help to found a new peaceful vision of Europe.

Here are some further photos taken during that ever more tragic last year of WW2 when Allied troops were fighting the final battles against the Axis powers along the Gothic line crossing our part of the world.

Let us remember the over sixty years of peace we have enjoyed as a result of Robert Schuman’s vision (not to be confused with the romantic composer who has 2 ‘n’s at the end of his name).

The terrible thing about what is happening in the UK right now is not just the false promises proffered by a rapidly weakening government but the division it’s causing in families, constituencies, political parties and, ultimately, the country itself. The wounds inflicted by this atrocious dogmatic nonsense are, in my opinion, similar to those caused by the policy of appeasement in the 1930’s and the changed imperial outlook after the last conflict.