GIRL HERO OF THE TYROL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4957, 18 February 1937, Page 3

GIRL HERO OF THE TYROL

The dramatic and tragic story of Tyrol's girl war hero, Vicoria Saws, was revealed when Reichsfuhrer Hitler gave a new home to the stranded Austrian crippled woman "veteran'' in the Bavarian mountain resort of Mittenwald, near Oberammergau, says the New York Times. The girl, who fought in the World War dressed as a boy and lost a leg through her war injuries, was without a home. She had lost her Austrian nationality, regained it under the Dollfuss Ministry, but was penniless in her native country. Victoria was born in 1899 in Reichenhall in Bavaria. Her father was an Austrian shoemaker. In 1912 he moved to his native country and became a well-to-do shoemaker in southern Tyrol, which now belongs to Italy but was at that time Austrian. When Italy declared war on Austria in 1915 Victoria's father joined the army. Victoria finally obtained permission to try her hand as a private in the Army Service Corps. But her ambition was not satisfied. She pestered the General Staff of the Archduke until they finally allowed

her to join her father in the front line. Victoria was a mountain girl and her excellent skiing enabled her to fulfil dangerous duties carrying orders to the first outposts. Nobody knew she was a woman and even her closest comrades did not find out about it until she was wounded. The Italians conquered one day an important post which had to be recaptured. The Austrians succeeded and Victoria was the hero of the day. Alone she conquered a cave held by Italians. The "Big Silver Medal for Valour" was bestowed on her as a reward. This was her second decoraton, as she had received a bronze medal before. On Whitsunday, 1917, Victoria's tragedy began. While carrying messages she was injured by a grenade. Septic poisoning started in her foot and the surgeon amputated it without narcotics. The next transport took Victoria {

down to Vienna, where she spent three years in hospital, with doctors removing piece" after piece of her leg. During this time she passed her intermediate school examination and learned her father's trade of shoemaking. After Southern Tyrol was given to Italy in the Treaty of St. Germain, Victoria, who was an ardent nationalist, voted for Austria, the country for which she had fought. She was granted a war invalid's pension, but in the revolutionary unrest of postwar Austria her files were stolen. She tried to have them renewed, but the Socialist Government of Austria refused because she had taken part in the national activities of the suppressed Southern Tyholeans. In 1934 the Dollfuss Government restored her Austrian nationality, but despite numerous appeals refused to give her financial help. In despair she became .a Nazi and appealed to Hitler for aid.