Thursday, April 23, 2020

Not just friends, but brothers. How Russia helped Italy in a difficult moment


An image of the relief mission from Russia to Italy. The sign says "From Russia with Love" (Dalla Russia con Amore). As a name for the mission, maybe it wasn't such a great idea. It is the title of an old James Bond movie, where Russians are demonized as the evil guys of the plot. But, apart from the name, the relief mission was a success and it was appreciated both in Russia and in Italy. 


The arrival of a relief mission from Russia in Italy at the worst moment of the COVID epidemic was described with suspicion and suspect by the Western media. Yet, it was clearly seen with gratitude by most Italians, the propaganda effort to make it look like an invasion was a flop. That might be a little strange because Italians are subjected to a daily barrage of anti-Russian propaganda (although presently more focused against China). But, apparently, the efforts to turn Russians into evil monsters in the minds of Italians mostly failed.

If we think about reciprocal feelings, we may remember that Italian troops invaded the Russian territory at least three times in history. The first was with a contingent in Napoleon's army, the second as part of the Western coalition that invaded Crimea, the third as part of the Axis armies that invaded Russia in 1941. On their part, the Russians have never invaded Italy in recent times, although, if we really want to find a historical precedent, a Russian army fought the French in Northern Italy in 1799.

But, just as propaganda was ineffective, these ancient wars seem to have been forgotten. Right now, there is no detectable hostility in the way Italians and Russians see each other. Italians and Russians don't look very similar in terms of individual characters. Nevertheless, they seem to be able to get along together. So, the current epidemic is not the only case when the Russians intervened to help Italians. They did that more than a hundred years ago, after the great Earthquake of Messina, in 1908.

The Russian mission in Messina was a long time ago, but we can still read about how it went beyond a simple relief operation. It involved true heroism and abnegation; that was noted and it is still remembered to this day both in Italy and in Russia. This story is little known in English, so I thought it was worth translating here a post by Giuseppe Iannello written for the centennial of the earthquake. Hopefully, the Russian help with the COVID epidemics will be remembered in the same way.


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The Russian Sailors in Messina: Beyond the Myth

by Giuseppe Iannello - 25 Dicembre 2008
(translation by Ugo Bardi)



A Russian sailor from the ship "Slava" standing in front of the rubble of the Messina Earthquake of Dec 28th, 1908.


These were days of true glory in Messina. But organization and discipline are not enough to explain the undisputed fame of saviors and heroes of the Russian sailors 

Six days of glory. Real glory, glory able to challenge time and the judgments of the scholars in retrospect. A glory told to us by the press, but above all told by the people, by the people who saw with their eyes and heard with their ears. The Russian sailors entered the collective memory as heroes, as saviors, obscuring all the other rescuers. Why? A useless question if we ignore the narration of those six days and embark on historical and psychological analysis. Because the answer lies, in fact, in the deeds of those thousands of sailors who arrived on six ships of the Russian military fleet. 

There are many myths to dispel and "adjustments" to be made to avoid that the heroism of a people is identified with that of individual figures who, in reality, were only catalysts of needs that were born from a collective soul. We refer, for example, to generals and admirals. The command of the expedition of the Baltic Sea Fleet in the Mediterranean had been entrusted to Admiral Litvinov and while in the port of Augusta he received a request from the local authorities to provide assistance to the people of Messina. But it was not he who "decided" to move, he needed approval from his superiors, he needed an order; which would mean the loss of many hours waiting for that order. It was because his subordinates, officers, ensign, simple sailors, understood the situation and pressed to leave for the Strait of Messina. And so they did. In his memories ("The Imperial fleet of the Baltic between two wars, 1906-1914"), Garald Graf, then ensign on the Admiral Makarov, the first of the Russian ships to leave, tells us, "Litvinov was not a man who knew how to make up his mind," but in the end, he was persuaded. 

From the beginning, obedience and discipline do not explain the efficiency and the success of the Russian relief work. In "La terra trema" (the ground shakes) by Giorgio Boatti, it is even possible to talk about an "almost inhumane discipline". It is true that, during the hours of navigation from Augusta to Messina, the Russians had the time to organize themselves in teams, to prepare everything that could have been necessary for them. But the same could have been done by others. The merit of the Russians is not there. And it is not in the discipline nor in the organization, it is not in the method of their remarkable action. Michail Osorgin, a compatriot of those sailors, debunks the myth of the "method". And he does so immediately, just a month after the catastrophe, in a long correspondence from Rome for his newspaper, the "Vestnik Evropy".  The reputation of the Russian navy had been nearly destroyed by the defeat that it had suffered in the Japanese-Russian war (1905). The only idea that led the sailors was for Osorgin to save as many "souls" as possible, the difference with everyone else was this tremendous need to wrest as many people as possible from death. 

The organization was dictated by this need: the schedules, the shifts, everything was functional for this purpose, the sailors placed no value in themselves; people's lives came before the orders and the simple sailors were the ones convincing their superiors to reshape orders. On the other hand, it must have sounded really strange in the ears of a Russian to feel exalted by the organization of their army: what to say then - says the Russian journalist - about the organization and discipline of the Germans, who were also present at the place of the disaster? 

The Russian sailors became the catalyst of all the positive energies against the resignation, the discomfort, which often turned into apathy, in a sort of indifference that was often transmitted to rescuers. On the contrary, the action of the Russians was contagious and the cadets of the Sutley, the first British military ship to arrive, perhaps a few tens of minutes before the Makarov, felt it and understood how to distinguish themselves.

No stain therefore on the work of the Russians? That of the immediate shooting of the looters, thieves caught in the act: it is interesting to note how this particular is expressed only in journalistic reports and has been judged irrelevant by the collective memory, the oral and written memory handed down by the survivors from father to son, from generation to generation. The Russians did not actually deal directly with the hunting of the looters, but they used their weapons to defend themselves and defend a population totally exposed to the evil of the profiteers or to despair. The Russians (and the English) did not take care of the defense of property and property - as they did not bother to bury the dead - they took care of the people whom they heard whining under the rubble and to cure the wounds of the survivors.


We discuss this story with Tatiana Ostakhova, a researcher at the University of Messina, who lets us read something from her work in progress: the letters of Russian sailors published in Russian newspapers and other articles published in the weeks immediately following the earthquake. The letters are in part those already published by the Province of Messina in 2006, which however were based on an original edition in French. They are letters all characterized by common feelings: the inability to describe the indescribable, the horror of the scenario in which they operate, the madness of the survivors and the absurdity of which every hour are witnesses. The sailors are not exalted, they do not glorify, they only narrate and at times with amazement, they also take note of the immobility of the Italian forces. The comparisons will be made by the others, the correspondents, the other rescuers, and above all the people who will not forget the good received. And the news of those good deeds will run like the wind: in Naples, the first landing of the wounded by the Makarov turns into a sort of apotheosis for the Russian sailors, who are acclaimed. Wherever they went, they were recognized in the city, the Russian sailors could not escape warm manifestations of gratitude.

Michail Pervuchin in his article "The Russians and the Italians", translated by Ostakhova, sums up the difference between the Russians and everyone else. The people of other nations, offering their help, proved to be friends to the Italians, while the Russians turned out to be brothers. The correspondent affirms it on the basis of the testimonies gathered and of what was read in the Neapolitan newspapers: "the others certainly helped; but the Russians have not only helped, they gave everything they had to the refugees, including their spare shirts". "In Palermo and Naples - continues Pervuchin - women and children, refugees from the destroyed cities, still show off their jackets and their sailor's jackets, the officers' jackets. There are no German or English clothes on refugees. Russian clothes, yes ". Then another testimony: "all have given, but while others gave the superfluous, the surplus, the Russians, and we saw it, they gave us what was necessary to themselves, even the last thing they had. Yes, to the last thing they had. This is what struck us ".

However, good does not always begets more good. In January, the Russian sailors were told, "thank you but your help is no longer necessary". A Russian correspondent speaks of envy in this regard, Colonel C. Delmè-Radcliff, military attaché of the British Embassy in Rome, in a confidential report speaks of jealousy of the Italian authorities. The fact remains that only the Italian soldiers and a few other volunteers remained in the rubble: the gates were blocked for everyone else, including Italian civilians. The same refrain was repeated to all: there is no need for more help, because the army has taken control of the whole city. For many, many, still alive under the rubble, the fate was sealed.

Giuseppe Iannello




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