Angelo Rotta

Angelo Rotta (9 August 1872 – 1 February 1965) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. As the Apostolic Nuncio in Budapest at the end of World War II, he was involved in the rescue of the Jews of Budapest from the Nazi Holocaust. He is a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism.
Early years.
Rotta was born in Milan, Italy, on 9 August 1872. He was ordained a priest on 10 February 1895.
On 16 October 1922, Pope Pius XI named him titular archbishop of Thebes and Apostolic Internuncio to Central America, which then covered Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. He received his episcopal consecration from Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, the Vatican Secretary of State, on 1 November 1922. He was named Apostolic Internuncio to Panama as well on 21 September 1923 even as his responsibilities toward other countries in Central America continued. On 9 May 1925, Pope Pius appointed him Apostolic Delegate to Turkey.
During his diplomatic service in Bulgaria, he saved many Bulgarian Jews by issuing them baptismal certificates and safe conducts for the trip to Palestine.
Nuncio to Hungary.
On 20 March 1930, Pope Pius named him Apostolic Nuncio to Hungary, a position he held for fifteen years.
As Papal Nuncio representing Pope Pius XII in Hungary, Rotta actively protested Hungary's mistreatment of the Jews, and helped persuade Pope Pius XII to lobby the Hungarian leader Admiral Horthy to stop their deportation. According to historian of the Holocaust Martin Gilbert, "With Arrow Cross members killing Jews in the streets of Budapest, Angelo Rotta, the senior Vatican representative in Budapest, took a lead in establishing an "International Ghetto", consisting of several dozen modern apartment buildings to which large numbers of Jews - eventually 25,000 - were brought and to which the Swiss, Swedish, Portuguese, and Spanish legations, as well as the Vatican, affixed their emblems."
Rotta also got permission from the Vatican to begin issuing protective passes to Jewish converts - and was eventually able to distribute more than 15,000 such protective passes, while instructing the drafters of the documents not to examine the recipients' credentials too closely. A Red Cross official asked Rotta for pre-signed blank identity papers, to offer to the sick and needy fleeing the Arrow Cross, and was given the documents with Rotta's blessing. Rotta encouraged Hungarian church leaders to help their "Jewish brothers", and directed Fr Tibor Baranszky to go to the forced marches and distribute letters of immunity to as many Jews as he could.

Battle of Brobacka

The Battle of Brobacka was a battle fought in Alingsås between Sweden and Denmark on 9 August 1566. The Swedish army under command of Charles de Mornay successfully managed to ambush Daniel Rantzau and his Danish army on their arrival back from their looting train in Västergötland, southwest of Sweden.
Prelude.
During the mid-1560s, an army of 8,000 men and 600 cavalry under Daniel Rantzau had continuously plundered and looted the Swedish southwest coast of Västergörland and burnt several towns; for instance, Bogesund, Falköping, Skara, and Lidköping were destroyed. However, after repeated raids, diseases as well as subsequent threats from a nearby Swedish army under command of Charles de Mornay, the Danes were forced to retreat back to Denmark. Charles de Mornay was ordered to encounter the Danes with his army stationed in Värnamo. Some skirmishes occurred, one of them at Tråvads bridge where the Danes suffered some heavy casualties.
Charles de Mornay later received orders from the Swedish king Erik XIV to gather the Allmoge (farmers from the agrarian society) in Småland to obtain and build blocking defences in order to halt the Danish retreat. In that way, Erik's force would maybe make it to capture them. Preparations were made and trees, stones, and other wooden material were felled or built across the roads.
The Danish army which was retreating to Alingsås church, realized the risk of the march with the nearby Swedish army of 3,880 infantry and 1,450 cavalry under de Mornay, thus chose to go through Brobacka, meanwhile suffering losses due to sickness and starvation.
Battle.
In the eve of 9 August Swedish scouts confirmed possible Danish cavalry arriving in Fjällsjön. The bridge going over the strait had been destroyed by the Swedish defenders at Brobacka consisting of 3,700 mobilized peasants. While Rantzau on his arrival noticed this, he immediately was fired at by the peasants. The Danish soldiers returned an effective fire but chose not to stay, believing the Swedish army to have been superior. Rantzau then started his crossing of the strait to Östad, however, only one cannon or reiter at a time could cross, creating a vulnerable position for the Danes.
The Danish army's access across the strait shocked Rantzau who questioned the Swedes reasons not to attack. However, Charles de Mornay had orders to attack the baggage train and not the main bulk of the Danish army. When it arrived the Swedish cavalry and infantry stormed down from the cliffs north of the road. A riot amongst the Danes occurred and they suffered 900 killed in just half an hour as well as 300 wagons and 600 horses of the stationary wagon train. The Swedes took all of the booty and disappeared as quickly as they came. On believing they faced the whole Swedish army, the Danish rear guard exploited the riot, despite facing numerically disadvantaged Swedes looting the train, and in disorder they fled against Starrkärr and Nödinge.
Aftermath.
The four Danish officers; Tomas Kruuse, Krister Scramm, Morten Krabbe, and Josef Muus August Zwertlein all died in the battle along with 2,500 other Danes. The whole wagon train had been abandoned and the Swedish victory had been total. Around 3,143 peasants were alive on 12 August which means about 550 had either been killed or mortally wounded in the battle. On 9 August 1986 a memorial stone was raised in Brobacka for those who fell on 9 August 1566.