At 6 o’clock in the morning on 23 August 1944, the Nazis led by local fascists, arrived at the Pratogrande tobacco drying-shed (Ponte Buggianese) where their first victims were nine women and three boys, while the few men hiding in the nearby reeds were intercepted and killed one by one with a shot to the head. The roundup and massacre then continued throughout the morning, finishing around 1 p.m., resulting in 175 victims. People were killed in their homes and at work in the fields. At the Silvestri home (Castelmartini-Cala Morette), the occupants were made to go outside and mowed down with machine guns. The residents of the Simoni home were exterminated like all those who had taken refuge in the huts and channels of the marshes. At 11 a.m., the commander of the 9th Panzergrenadier Regiment, realizing that civilians and non-partisans were being killed, gave the order to free the hostages held in the Villa Banchieri di Castelmartini.
