“LUIGI SBAIZ” GOLD MEDAL OF MILITARY VALOUR

This rifleman, who fell heroically at Poggio Scanno (BO) on April 21st, 1945, was the last Italian soldier of the Liberation War, 1943-1945, to be awarded with the Gold Medal of Military Valour. Born in Muzzana del Turgnano in 1918, he was called to arms on April 5th, 1939 with the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment. In 1940 he participated in the Battle of the Western Alps against France and in April 1941 he was in Croatia during the Italian occupation of Yugoslavia. Repatriated shortly thereafter, he was integrated into the C.S.I.R, the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia. On the Russian Front with the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment, he fought to prove his worth and sacrifice’ However in 1942 Luigi Sbaiz was repatriated due to frostbite. After a period of convalescence he returned to service and was transferred to a Bersaglieri battalion stationed in Sardinia. In March 1944, Luigi Sbaiz returned to the continent to join, as sergeant, the CIL - the Italian Liberation Corps - and was placed in the 29th battalion of the 4th Bersaglieri Regiment of the reborn Italian Army in May 1945 after the conquest of Cassino and the fall of the Gustav front. Remaining with the 4th Bersaglieri Regiment, he was transferred to the Adriatic front as a dependency of the British Armed Forces. From June 8th he participated in the offensive push, and during the summer of 1944 he went back to the peninsula, participating in the battle for the reconquest of Ancona. Sbaiz, after the Winter break, passed behind the Gothic front and returned to the Combat Group of Legnano named "Special Infantry Regiment - Goito Riflemen Battalion”. He entered the front on March 23rd 1945 in the valley of Idice, south of Bologna, between Poggio Scanno and Mount Armato, a front dominated by German troops. On 19th April 1945 with a unit of assault infantrymen from his "Goito Battalion", Luigi Sbaiz was seriously injured in the leg whilst fighting in Poggio Scanno, near Bologna. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he asked a companion to amputate his wounded limb, and waving his crest he incited his fellow soldiers to advance. Transported to a place where he could receive treatment and subjected to two surgeries, on 21st April while his battalion was liberating Bologna, Luigi Sbaiz breathed his last breath at the field hospital. A local square, a primary school, a street in Udine and a barracks in Visco (Ud) were named after the heroic infantryman.

Justification for the Gold Medal of Military Valour given to Luigi Sbaiz

“At the beginning of the attack against the armed enemy, he was injured in the leg. With serene stoicism, while trying to re-order his squadron, he pulled out his dagger, and, after attempting it himself, ordered a fellow infantryman to come closer and cut off the mangled limb for him. He eventually escaped to those who could help him, crawling on the ground as artillery fired around him. He recovered his crest and, after kissing it, waved it whilst saying noble and serene words to encourage the other soldiers around him who were about to attack. Exhausted by the loss of blood, he agreed to be transported to the field hospital only after giving his men the commands for battle. This legendary gesture, carried out at a time when the onslaught of enemy fire was relentless, was the key to his battalion returning to action. When close to death, perfectly aware of his state and after having sustained two successive operations with stoic pride, all the time gaining the admiration of the doctors, he asked not to be separated from his crest, for him a symbol of his noble life as a soldier.”

Poggio Scanno (Valle Idice), 20th April 1945