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Murder of Lieutenant Alfred Lyth

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The murder of Second Lieutenant Alfred R. Lyth was committed in Garfagnana, Italy, by Italian "Monte Rosa" Division soldiers during World War II.[1]

On February 6, 1945, Lieutenant Lyth's aircraft was hit during the bombing of a railroad tunnel, likely by German anti-aircraft fire, forcing Lyth to parachute to the ground and landing in the village of Torrite. He was later captured by "Monte Rosa" soldiers of the Italian Social Republic and conducted to their headquarters in Camporgiano, where he was interrogated. Two days later, interrogation, Lyth was being transported when he was suddenly shot.

After the war ended, the Allies investigated Lyth's death. From September 25 to October 4, 1946, a U.S. military court tried three Italian soldiers for murder: Captain Italo Simonitti, Private Benedetto Pilon, and General Mario Carloni. Newspapers noted that in an unusual move, the prosecutor in a U.S. war crimes trials, for the first time, was an African American. The prosecutor was Lieutenant Clarence W. Burks of Pittsburgh. Two days after Lyth's murder, Burks himself had been captured, but he and two others managed to escape with the help of Italian partisans.[2]

The Italians initially claimed that Lyth had been trying to escape. However, witnesses said Lyth had clearly been limping. According to them, Lyth had been marched to a grave which had been dug in advance near the local cemetery. He was then shot twice by Pillon, on the orders of Simonitti. Pilon had previously said, "I shot him at a signal from Captain Simonitti because I saw what these people were doing to my country."[3] Simonitti then shot Lyth two more times himself.[4]

Simonitti and Pilon were found guilty, but Carloni was acquitted. Simonitti was sentenced to death, while Pilon was sentenced to life in prison with hard labor. Simonitti, 38, was executed by firing squad on January 27, 1947. Six members of the firing squad were African-American. Before he was shot, Lyth requested that he not have to wear the customary black hood. The request was granted. Before he was shot, Lyth said he held no grudges against his executioners.[2]

Although Carloni was acquitted, he was remanded to Italian custody. He held at Forte Boccea in Rome. Carloni was released without any charges on May 19, 1951, but was demoted in rank to Colonel, and stripped of all his awards given to him by the Italian Social Republic between 1943 and 1945.[5][6]

Pilon and three other Italians who had been convicted of war crimes by U.S. military court were transferred to Italian custody. Under an agreement, the men were sent to an Italian prison on the Procida. However, in January 1951, to the shock and anger of local U.S. officials, Minister of Justice Attilio Piccioni declared the four men to be political prisoners and granted them amnesty.[7]

References

  1. ^ "Alfred R Lyth, Second Lieutenant from Kansas, World War II Casualty". www.honorstates.org. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
  2. ^ a b "Clipped From The New York Age". The New York Age. 1947-03-01. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  3. ^ "Alfred Lyth". Oakland Tribune. 1946-09-29. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  4. ^ "Sunday Chicago bee. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1925-19??, October 20, 1946, SECTION ONE, Page 6, Image 6 - Chronicling America - The Library of Congress". chroniclingamerica.loc.gov. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  5. ^ "La vera storia del Tenente pilota Lyth". digilander.libero.it. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
  6. ^ "Mario Carloni e figlio". digilander.libero.it. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  7. ^ "Italians released". The Daily Calumet. 1951-01-19. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
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