“Flames on the Don – Diary of a flamethrower who survived the war” (Publisher Tralerighe) is the new book by the Marsala author Giovanni Di Girolamo and Enia Accettura.
The diary tells the authentic experience of Rocco Mazzeo, known to all as Rino, sent to fight in Russia in 1942 by the fascist regime, as a flammiere, a specialist in the use of flamethrowers. Wounded in battle during the winter battle that took place in the frozen steppe near the infamous Don River, he managed to return home in the summer of 1943. He married his beloved Carmela and from their union four children were born, who today wanted to share with feeling and emotion their father’s direct experience, in the hope that it would become a story.
The diary is accompanied by period photos and extensive historical research. The volume is completed by the biographies of some flammieri, including that of a citizen of Marsala, one of the one hundred and thirty-two Fallen of our City during the infamous Russian Campaign.
For Di Girolamo this is a new editorial experience, following “Prigionieri della Steppa” (Gaspari, 2019), “Armir – Il Ritorno dall’Oblio” (Tralerighe, 2022), published together with Enia Accettura and Cristiano Maggi, and other contributions in the historical field.
For Enia Accettura, coordinator of the “Armir – Il Ritorno dall’Oblio” group, it is a new step in the intense research activity of historical testimonies on the victims of the war that she has been carrying out for several years, with extraordinary commitment and tireless passion.
“I am honored to have contributed to bringing to light the direct testimony of a man who survived the horror of war and who had to deal with the after-effects of that tragic experience for his entire existence. Thanks to Enia and the Mazzeo family, his story has not been forgotten, and accompanies the sacrifice of many of our fellow countrymen, who sadly paid with their lives or, in the best of cases, while surviving, carried with them the trauma of the tragic experience of war”, commented Di Girolamo.
