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BRAIDED IN FIRE: Black GIs and Tuscan Villagers on the Gothic Line 1944
BRAIDED IN FIRE is the stirring author’s search to understand the drama that unfolded between the Italian peasants and African-American infantrymen of the 366th Infantry Regiment, - attached to the celebrated "Buffalo Division, 92nd Infantry"- whose lives were lost, or changed irrevocably by a village battle in Tuscany during the Battle of Garfagnana.
Cultures and relationships are intertwined to become BRAIDED IN FIRE in Sommocolonia, a medieval Tuscan village in the Apennines directly on the highly fortified Third Reich’s ‘Gothic Line’ stretching across northern Italy. Only at Sommocolonia did attacking German troops break through that formidable line, with dire consequences to the inhabitants and their defenders, a handful of black GIs, who were outnumbered three to one by the Axis troops. In the desperate fight, Lt. John Fox sacrificed himself with supreme heroism. (He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor 52 years later.) Although the military action, (and tragic inaction of certain senior white officers), is described in detail, BRAIDED IN FIRE is not just military history, but tells of the human toll of war: the drama, the folly, the heartache – all present in grand measure for two peoples marginalized over the years for reasons of race and economic circumstances.
BRAIDED IN FIRE is a celebration of human dignity in desperate circumstances. This book is painted in a narrative befitting the beauty and rich hues of the Tuscan hills and its people, juxtaposed by the toils of a segregated America in black versus white, even while in Army green. Together these two worlds are BRAIDED IN FIRE with all of the passion, heartbreak, and violence of war, ultimately providing the reader with a redemptive peace, and cultural harmony.
Praise for BRAIDED IN FIRE
Braided in Fire tells the story of Lieutenant John Fox, a forward artillery observer and posthumous Medal of Honor recipient, who directed friendly artillery fire on his own position as German troops overran Sommocolonia, Italy, on December 26, 1944. Fox’s selfless sacrifice went unrecognized by the U.S. government for half a century simply because he was black. Solace Wales has invested decades in researching this instance of forgotten valor, producing a rich tapestry that interweaves the experiences of the black GIs and Italian villagers caught in the hellish maelstrom that engulfed Sommocolonia the day John Fox died. The result is a moving meditation on the cost of war and a tribute to the African Americans who fought for a country that treated them like second-class citizens. ~ Gregory J.W. Urwin, Professor of History, Temple University, author of Facing Fearful Odds: The Siege of Wake Island
Braided with Fire vividly recounts the intertwined histories of the small Italian town of Sommocolonia and the black 366th Infantry Regiment, which intersected during the German Winter Storm Offensive in December 1944. At the center of Solace Wales’ story are the brave Biondi family and forward artillery observer Lieutenant John Fox, who won the Medal of Honor for his heroism in Sommocolonia. Thoroughly researched and dramatically retold, Braided with Fire adds a valuable new page to our understanding of the Second World War. ~ Ian Ona Johnson, P.J. Moran Assistant Professor of Military History, the University of Notre Dame
Solace Wales contributes a remarkable, unique account which is not available anywhere else. . . Because of her gracious literary style, she vividly captures the ways in which the African American soldiers and the Italians of Sommocolonia’s lives became intertwined. The book breaks new ground. ~ Carolyn Ross Johnston, author of My Father's War: Fighting with the Buffalo Soldiers in World War II
Cultures and relationships are intertwined to become BRAIDED IN FIRE in Sommocolonia, a medieval Tuscan village in the Apennines directly on the highly fortified Third Reich’s ‘Gothic Line’ stretching across northern Italy. Only at Sommocolonia did attacking German troops break through that formidable line, with dire consequences to the inhabitants and their defenders, a handful of black GIs, who were outnumbered three to one by the Axis troops. In the desperate fight, Lt. John Fox sacrificed himself with supreme heroism. (He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor 52 years later.) Although the military action, (and tragic inaction of certain senior white officers), is described in detail, BRAIDED IN FIRE is not just military history, but tells of the human toll of war: the drama, the folly, the heartache – all present in grand measure for two peoples marginalized over the years for reasons of race and economic circumstances.
BRAIDED IN FIRE is a celebration of human dignity in desperate circumstances. This book is painted in a narrative befitting the beauty and rich hues of the Tuscan hills and its people, juxtaposed by the toils of a segregated America in black versus white, even while in Army green. Together these two worlds are BRAIDED IN FIRE with all of the passion, heartbreak, and violence of war, ultimately providing the reader with a redemptive peace, and cultural harmony.
Praise for BRAIDED IN FIRE
Braided in Fire tells the story of Lieutenant John Fox, a forward artillery observer and posthumous Medal of Honor recipient, who directed friendly artillery fire on his own position as German troops overran Sommocolonia, Italy, on December 26, 1944. Fox’s selfless sacrifice went unrecognized by the U.S. government for half a century simply because he was black. Solace Wales has invested decades in researching this instance of forgotten valor, producing a rich tapestry that interweaves the experiences of the black GIs and Italian villagers caught in the hellish maelstrom that engulfed Sommocolonia the day John Fox died. The result is a moving meditation on the cost of war and a tribute to the African Americans who fought for a country that treated them like second-class citizens. ~ Gregory J.W. Urwin, Professor of History, Temple University, author of Facing Fearful Odds: The Siege of Wake Island
Braided with Fire vividly recounts the intertwined histories of the small Italian town of Sommocolonia and the black 366th Infantry Regiment, which intersected during the German Winter Storm Offensive in December 1944. At the center of Solace Wales’ story are the brave Biondi family and forward artillery observer Lieutenant John Fox, who won the Medal of Honor for his heroism in Sommocolonia. Thoroughly researched and dramatically retold, Braided with Fire adds a valuable new page to our understanding of the Second World War. ~ Ian Ona Johnson, P.J. Moran Assistant Professor of Military History, the University of Notre Dame
Solace Wales contributes a remarkable, unique account which is not available anywhere else. . . Because of her gracious literary style, she vividly captures the ways in which the African American soldiers and the Italians of Sommocolonia’s lives became intertwined. The book breaks new ground. ~ Carolyn Ross Johnston, author of My Father's War: Fighting with the Buffalo Soldiers in World War II
478 pages, Hardcover
Published June 16, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 11, 2020
What a pleasure to read Solace Wales' Braided by Fire! She actually wove the village life of Sommocolonia before it was destroyed and during the war after Mussolini was deposed, the training and wartime life of the black 366th Infantry regiment, the horror of World War II in Italy, and the heroism of Lt. John Fox, all alive in a stunning tapestry. How in the world did she manage to shape so much material into such a rich work of art.
I keep seeing and hearing Otto Zachary, Rothacker (Rock) Smith, Berto Biondi, Irma Biondi, the partisans, black GIs and their officers, their enemies on the Gothic line. The climactic battles over Sommocolonia between those Italian guerillas, their black American allies, the German and Austrian attackers made me feel that I had somehow become Ernie Pyle. How compelling her pictures of men at war and their suffering families. I could all but taste the iron tang of all that bloodshed. If her tapestry wasn’t rich enough, she wove in another enemy facing the 366th—racist superior officers including one who planned to send his black troops out again because only half of them were killed.
I was 7, living in Norfolk, Virginia in 1944, where my father was running a Jewish Welfare Board USO club, packed not only with Jewish sailors and soldiers but non Jews who flocked to it, they said, because the abundant food was absolutely wonderful — and so were the hostesses. The piano player, Banner, a Chief Petty Officer, let me sit on his lap to listen and told me of his experience on the troopship “Dorchester,” sunk by a U-boat in the North Atlantic. He said that the three chaplains on board gave their life preservers to drowning soldiers and sailors. World War II was woven into my mind then and there, inseparable from the timber of Banner’s voice and his amazing piano playing (he could play any tune the boys wanted). And now all that is inseparable from Braided in Fire!
I keep seeing and hearing Otto Zachary, Rothacker (Rock) Smith, Berto Biondi, Irma Biondi, the partisans, black GIs and their officers, their enemies on the Gothic line. The climactic battles over Sommocolonia between those Italian guerillas, their black American allies, the German and Austrian attackers made me feel that I had somehow become Ernie Pyle. How compelling her pictures of men at war and their suffering families. I could all but taste the iron tang of all that bloodshed. If her tapestry wasn’t rich enough, she wove in another enemy facing the 366th—racist superior officers including one who planned to send his black troops out again because only half of them were killed.
I was 7, living in Norfolk, Virginia in 1944, where my father was running a Jewish Welfare Board USO club, packed not only with Jewish sailors and soldiers but non Jews who flocked to it, they said, because the abundant food was absolutely wonderful — and so were the hostesses. The piano player, Banner, a Chief Petty Officer, let me sit on his lap to listen and told me of his experience on the troopship “Dorchester,” sunk by a U-boat in the North Atlantic. He said that the three chaplains on board gave their life preservers to drowning soldiers and sailors. World War II was woven into my mind then and there, inseparable from the timber of Banner’s voice and his amazing piano playing (he could play any tune the boys wanted). And now all that is inseparable from Braided in Fire!
July 19, 2020
An amazing story of multiple examples of extreme courage under fire!
I'm not someone who would normally choose to read a book about war, but I had visited this region in Italy and was intrigued by the title, BRAIDED IN FIRE: BLACK GIs AND TUSCAN VILLAGERS ON THE GOTHIC LINE. When I started reading this account of how these villagers were impacted by the war, I discovered the book is about far more than that particular event.
From the opening pages, the author, Solace Wales, takes the reader into the Tuscan world during a critical moment in the struggle. You meet extraordinary villagers, vividly portrayed, whose lives become inextricably intertwined with the Axis forces, partisans, American forces, and stragglers from Brazil and elsewhere. The villagers open their homes and hearts to the forces, forever changed by the contact. But many of those soldiers, whose presence is just as compelling as the Italians, are black. They are fighting Germans, the immediate enemy, but, of course, they also are impacted daily by prejudice within the army. Some are part of what's called the Buffalo Soldiers, and all of those mentioned in this book will live on in your imagination, including John Fox, the soldier that set Wales off on her quest to tell this important story. Do read it. You won't be able to put it down.
I'm not someone who would normally choose to read a book about war, but I had visited this region in Italy and was intrigued by the title, BRAIDED IN FIRE: BLACK GIs AND TUSCAN VILLAGERS ON THE GOTHIC LINE. When I started reading this account of how these villagers were impacted by the war, I discovered the book is about far more than that particular event.
From the opening pages, the author, Solace Wales, takes the reader into the Tuscan world during a critical moment in the struggle. You meet extraordinary villagers, vividly portrayed, whose lives become inextricably intertwined with the Axis forces, partisans, American forces, and stragglers from Brazil and elsewhere. The villagers open their homes and hearts to the forces, forever changed by the contact. But many of those soldiers, whose presence is just as compelling as the Italians, are black. They are fighting Germans, the immediate enemy, but, of course, they also are impacted daily by prejudice within the army. Some are part of what's called the Buffalo Soldiers, and all of those mentioned in this book will live on in your imagination, including John Fox, the soldier that set Wales off on her quest to tell this important story. Do read it. You won't be able to put it down.
July 26, 2020
Bravissima, Solace Wales!
We visited Sommocolonia and saw the 10th c. tower and stone marker to Lt. John Fox...U.S.A. 26 12 44,
but that paled in comparison to the compelling story of his heroism and that of other African-American soldiers, the villagers and the Italian partisans. Wales poignantly recounts how she
became obsessed with this little-known, critical chapter of WW II history. Her mastery of Italian, literary talent, and super sleuthing over decades combined to get personal accounts of her villager friends and elderly veterans and their families' experiences of the catastrophic and heroic events in this Tuscan hilltown 75 years ago. Wales' many photos and maps involve the reader fully.
This passionately told, amazing book is a perfect example of how Black Lives Matter. They always have and always will.
We visited Sommocolonia and saw the 10th c. tower and stone marker to Lt. John Fox...U.S.A. 26 12 44,
but that paled in comparison to the compelling story of his heroism and that of other African-American soldiers, the villagers and the Italian partisans. Wales poignantly recounts how she
became obsessed with this little-known, critical chapter of WW II history. Her mastery of Italian, literary talent, and super sleuthing over decades combined to get personal accounts of her villager friends and elderly veterans and their families' experiences of the catastrophic and heroic events in this Tuscan hilltown 75 years ago. Wales' many photos and maps involve the reader fully.
This passionately told, amazing book is a perfect example of how Black Lives Matter. They always have and always will.
March 16, 2022
Braided in Fire tells the compelling story of Black soldiers who were discriminated against at home and finally got their opportunity to prove their valor on the front lines in a battle for Italy in World War II. Solace Wales’s rich and comprehensive research, compiled over decades, feeds a rewarding read from start to finish. Ms. Wales deft touch immerses us in the lives of the Black soldiers and the local Italians who they defended. I strongly recommend Braided in Fire to anyone who is interested in Black history, European history, understanding man’s inhumanity to man, romance, and selfless bravery. That should cover most everyone. As the insanity and terror of Ukraine unfold, this is a story of our time, and I fear of future times. We must not forget.
October 9, 2020
I loved, loved, loved "Braided in Fire"!! From beginning to end I was engrossed in the personalities as well as the action of this oral history, and I found it very moving to such an extent that I had tears welling up many times, the closer I got to the end. What strong and brave people the Sommocolonians were and are. The valor of the Black soldiers was apparent, and their racist treatment by most of their white army superiors in the segregated US Army of WWII was outrageous. All was beautifully written, with soul.
January 10, 2021
Solace Wales tells the story of the Tuscan village of Sommocolonia and the Black 366th Infantry Regiment that defended the village in WWII during the Battle of Garfagnana. At the center of her story are Lieutenant John Fox, who posthumously won the Medal of Honor for his heroism, and the brave Biondi family. Wales explores how the bonds between some of the Black GIs and Italian villagers, forged during the battle, remained strong for lifetimes. As the Black Lives Matter movement continues, Braided in Fire is a timely record of the Black lives given during WWII to save Europe from fascism.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews