Mad SAS piper who dared to dupe Nazis with a skirl
AS bullets whistled around him, David Kirkpatrick, armed only with his trusty bagpipes, inspired a rag-tag band of resistance fighters into bold and bloody battle.
At the head of an attack on Nazi occupiers in the Northern Italian village of Albinea, he was part of a clever SAS subterfuge which ultimately saved hundreds of lives.
Nazi policy was to murder ten local civilians for each German soldier killed in a partisan attack, so Mr Kirkpatrick was tasked with giving the impression that the freedom fighters were part of a British Army unit.
Surprisingly, when the man the Italians dubbed the Mad Piper died, aged 91, in Girvan, Ayrshire, in January this year, there was little fanfare in his home country.
But there was a flood of Facebook tributes posted in Italy, where his life is celebrated in Albinea and surrounding areas.
Some locals are planning to visit his grave in Ayrshire, while there have been books published in his honour and even folk songs dedicated to the man they call ‘un poeta guerriero’ – a warrior poet.
There has even been talk of a museum being built in the modest hero’s memory.
Mr Kirkpatrick passed into Italian legend after taking part in Operation Tombola in March 1945.
He had been parachuted into Italy – apparently while wearing his kilt – to meet with an SAS force led by Major Roy Farran, which was harrying German troops. The officer later said that he ordered the musical accompaniment ‘to stir up the romantic Italian mind and to gratify my own vanity’.
The piper – who served with Second Battalion, the Highland Light Infantry – and a small SAS force met with some 40 Italian partisans, 60 Russians and various escaped prisoners of war before launching an attack on 500 Nazi troops occupying Albinea.
In an intense battle the raiders killed scores of Germans and destroyed their headquarters.
Mr Kirkpatrick played Highland Laddie throughout the attack, and one of his pipes was even hit by enemy bullets. He was quoted as saying: ‘Farran said to me: “You’re my secret weapon – go and play.” I played. But I’m not a hero, I just did my job.’
But Mr Kirkpatrick’s son, Lee, said that was not the view in Albinea. The 50-year-old added: ‘He’s a local hero. With all the Germans they killed that night, I think it was 80, they (the Nazis) would have gone out and wiped out the whole village. They see it as they’re all alive because of my father.’
Although he fought with the SAS in Italy, the piper never joined its ranks officially.
Mr Kirkpatrick’s bravery only became public knowledge after he was tracked down by Italian author Matteo Incerti six years ago.
The writer, who has penned two books about the Scot, said: ‘For 65 years he had been a ghost – everybody was searching for him and he didn’t want to talk about the war. Then in 2010, magically, I found him and he opened his heart.
‘He saved the lives of hundreds of people with his bagpipes. He was a simple, great and funny man. A real hero who didn’t want to be a hero.’
‘He saved the lives of hundreds’