At dawn on April 13th 1944, German troops of the Panzer Regiment Hermann Göring burst into Partina, making directly for the house of the Partisan Commander of the II Company of the Casentino Group, Salvatore Vecchioni, and to those of the partisans Lorenzoni and Paperini, all of whom had just returned from disbanding after the German encirclement of San Paolo in Alpe. Although wounded in the hand, Vecchioni managed to escape thanks to the heroic intervention of Santi Paperini, who drew attention to himself in a diversionary action that cost him his life. Subsequently, guided by the republicchini (Pietro Tiloca stood out for his relentlessness), the Germans butchered 14 people, including patriots, suspected collaborators and local Todt workers who, due to a delay, had been caught up in the round-up. Only the intercession of the German commander of the District of Soci, Captain Tambosi, and of the parish priest Don Ezio Turinesi saved many more inhabitants of Partina, who had been herded together in the mined church, from being massacred. Tambosi managed to convince the “Göring” commanders of the unreliability of the sources who had described the village as a “partisan hideout”. This was true. In fact, no partisan activities had ever taken place in Partina. Even those villagers who played an active role in the Resistance had always carried out their actions outside the area. But the Germans’ primary objective was not so much reprisals for actions that had taken place, but the destruction of a potentially “compliant” population and the creation of a climate of terror that would drive a wedge between the inhabitants and the partisans.
As in the case of Vallucciole, much of the blame is born by the fascists of Soci. In the periods preceding the massacres they had called for exemplary punishment on each village, falsely claiming they harboured dangerous enemies.