During the early stages of the Italian Campaign of World War II, war pigeonG.I. Joe saved the lives of the inhabitants of the village and of the British troops occupying it. The village was scheduled to be bombarded by the Allied forces on 18 October 1943, but the message that the British had captured the village, delivered by G.I. Joe, arrived just in time to avoid the bombing. Over a thousand people, soldiers and civilians, were saved.[3]