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The birth of the Kingdom of Italy, March 17, 1861, will be by the end of the siege of Gaeta. I, like all of us, and I'm not ready to defend our homeland with its life but this does not prevent me to remember with respect those who have fallen in defense of a fortress, until February 13 1861, was one of the worst in Europe.








I'm not an original type and are in good company: in 1868 the General Lanzavecchia Buri to put this inscription in what was once the battery Philipstad Gaeta:

PRODI TO THAT IN 'SIEGE OF GAETA 1860-61
BETWEEN THE FIST WEAPONS AGAINST THE MEMORY
valiant DROPPED THE ITALIAN ARMY CONSECRATES 1868

King who defended his kingdom was Francis II of Bourbon, Frankie ... yes really him but maybe it was not so ridiculous if his men received the honor of arms of Savoy commanded by the Carabinieri General Enrico Cialdini (later Duke of Gaeta), which, in truth, it was a much softer!
With the King, there was the young Queen Maria Sofia (the sister of Sissi, Empress of Austria) who live to go to find the Italian prisoners in Austria during World War I to find the Neapolitans and speak their dialect. Some say that years earlier had funded Gaetano Brescia, but that's another story.
As the plaque says, were the countless acts of bravery on both sides but the guns were ruled Piedmont-perhaps for the first time in military history-and shrapnel shells bursting in air, splashing by all parties, the History had already decided, and so the poor Frank could only stop it by September 7, 1860 to February 13 the following year.
And to say that September 7 Garibaldi had the courage to go alone to Naples and was presented in a carriage in what is now Piazza Plebiscito; of service to the artillery guns of Castel S. Elmo saw him well, but Frankie told not to shoot because he did not want death and destruction in Naples him! And so to the students of Nunziatella and Colonel De Liguori, who commanded the garrison of Castel Nuovo (Maschio Angioino laws), there is nothing that they also go to Gaeta with drums and flags in my head.
Up the month of November, the operations took place around Capua on the Volturno and Mola di Gaeta, where the flag of the 1st Regiment. Grenadiers was decorated with the Gold Medal at the V: M. Also on the Volturno, the battle was long and uncertain only the charisma of Garibaldi handed the victory to the Red Shirts. The remains of the Bourbon Army gathered in the front walls of Gaeta and some crossed the border with the Papal State Department and then dissolve.

In mid-November, the strength of the Army closed in Gaeta Bourbon compounded to 934 officers and 12,000 enlisted men. With them, to share hardships and dangers, as well as the King and Queen, were also members of the Court, the Apostolic Nuncio and the Diplomatic Corps accredited yet. The artillery had 506 pieces, but of these, only 329 could be placed in drums and many had little use for range and accuracy, with only four stripes
In November, the Army Corps of Savoy had 808 officers, 15,755 enlisted men, 1669 horses and 42 cannons. At 1 January 1861, had 166 artillery pieces with big guns Cavalli divided into 23 batteries of these 153 fired simultaneously in the last days.
The significant events during the siege were made a sally with about 2000 men from Gen.Bosco and a subsequent action to clear the firing range of the front of land. For the besieged was the worst day of Christmas when it rained gunfire on the city 500. Besides the artillery, had to withstand a typhus epidemic which caused many casualties among military and civilians, regardless of age, wealth and rank. Under these conditions there were episodes of picturesque Neapolitan sailors, in the stands and under fire, playing tresette or dancing the tarantella to ridicule the besiegers.
The capitulation came when, in late January and early February, occurred frightening explosions caused by precise shots that hit it a few deposits of dust, causing untold havoc.
On completion of the shots 56,727 were fired by Savoy and 35,244 by Napoletana. The losses were 46 dead and 321 wounded in one of the Piedmont and 826 dead and 569 wounded over 200 missing and 800 patients between the besieged. It has never been possible to trace the loss of civilians, and again in early 900, the Gaetani demanded compensation for war damages suffered. This question I got to see an old guide of parliamentary held to resolve this long outstanding issue.
During the siege, the young Queen was that animated the defenders, rushing where the battle was more intense and he earned the affection and admiration of the soldiers in foreign courts: the Army also recognized the Sarda brave the abnegation of Maria Sofia.
in arming the Savoy, was the Commander, General Cialdini, the tireless promoter, soliciting and directing his officers to continue the action that had to be so effective, but without unnecessary cruelty because

"We fought against the Italians, and This was necessary, a painful motion. Epper I could not invite demonstrations of joy, I could not invite the insulting triumph of winning ... ... .. The soldier fights Vittorio Emanuele and forgiving. "

As I have always liked this story, one summer I was ten days in Gaeta, on the beach Serapo and I searched the sites of history, but these places are no more because a mayor in the 60s bomber demolished the fortress walls to get the waterfront. The only place of history and 'own beach Serapo is that instead of a hill plateau after 1806 because it was an obstacle to the eye and shot by the besieged.
Then I also tried something this time but what I could find and 'a commemorative medal of the 3rd Regiment. Genius telegrapher and a topographic map of Gaeta and its surroundings that is dated February 4, 1861 and the signing of the Higher Commander Lieutenant General Louis Frederick Menabrea Army Corps of Engineers. These objects are not certain memorabilia siege but remember him with particular force, at least for me.
Of course I was not there but what I tried to tell modestly from:
- The end of a Kingdom - Raffaele de Cesare - Citta 'di Castello
-1895 - The Siege of Gaeta, the War Department - Rome 1924
- Francis II of Bourbon, the last King of Naples - Pier Giusto Jaeger - A. Mondadori 1982
, and more and I 'happened to read on the subject.

John.

PS: From Jack, I'm not sure that the solid lines on the topographic map indicating the direction of fire of the batteries Piedmont that the Friends Artillery dissolve the doubt!