a celebration of human dignity in desperate circumstances
BRAIDED IN FIRE
Black GIs and Tuscan Villagers on the Gothic Line
By Solace Wales
$20.00 US
Paperback, 478 pages
maps, 24 pages of B&W photographs
Publisher: Knox Press
Publication: June 30, 2020
Language: English
ISBN: 9781948496032
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Braided in Fire is a celebration of human dignity in desperate circumstances. This stirring memoir follows one woman’s search to understand the drama that unfolded between the Italian peasants of Sommocolina and the African-American infantrymen of the 366th Infantry Regiment. The soldiers whose lives were lost or changed irrevocably by a village battle in Tuscany during the Battle of Garfagnana were attached to the the legendary “Buffalo Division” 92nd Infantry; however, their story remains largely untold. With Braided in Fire, Solace Wales shines a light on this timeless story of bravery, resulting in necessary reading for everyone. Braided in Fire is not just military history, but tells of the human toll of war: the drama, the folly, the heartache —all present in grand measure for two peoples marginalized over the years for reasons of race and economic circumstances.
Cultures and relationships are intertwined to become Braided in Fire in Sommocolonia, a medieval Tuscan village in the Apennines directly on the Third Reich’s highly fortified ‘Gothic Line’ which stretched across northern Italy. Only at Sommocolonia did attacking German troops break through this formidable line of defense, with dire consequences for the inhabitants and their defenders, a handful of black GIs, who were outnumbered three-to-one by Axis troops. In the desperate fight, Lt. John Fox sacrificed himself with supreme heroism. (He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor 52 years later.) The military action, and tragic inaction of certain senior white officers, is described in detail.
Braided in Fire paints a narrative befitting the beauty and rich hues of the Tuscan hills and its people, juxtaposed by the toils of a segregated America in black versus white, even while wearing Army green. These two worlds are woven together in the passion, heartbreak, and violence of war, ultimately providing the reader with the potential for redemptive peace and cultural harmony.
