Claudio Pavone (30 November 1920 – 29 November 2016 ) was an Italian historian and archivist.
123-581: Royal Italian and Italian Resistance victory [REDACTED] RSI: 34,770 killed Invasion of Italy Winter Line Gothic Line 1945 Spring Offensive The Italian Civil War ( Italian : Guerra civile italiana , pronounced [ˈɡwɛrra tʃiˈviːle itaˈljaːna] ) was a civil war in the Kingdom of Italy fought during the Italian campaign of World War II between Italian fascists and Italian partisans (mostly politically organized in
246-658: A truce with Allied forces, without consulting either Mussolini or Hitler. Smaller units like the Black Brigades ( Brigate nere ) led by Alessandro Pavolini and the Decima Flottiglia MAS led by Junio Valerio Borghese (called " principe nero ", the Black Prince) fought for the RSI during its entire existence. The Germans were satisfied if these units were able to participate in anti-partisan activities . In March 1944,
369-545: A civil or military nature." The organization was proposed by General Francesco Paladino . With German agreement, Marshal Rodolfo Graziani appointed Paladino its first director on 6 October 1943. Its headquarters was initially in Rome and it was under the authority of the Ministry of Defence. Women volunteers served in uniform as noncombatants in paramilitary units and police formations ( Servizio Ausiliario Femminile ). The commander
492-819: A commitment from Badoglio to leave the Axis alliance . While the Germans formally recognised the new status quo in Italian politics, they intervened by sending some of the best units of the Wehrmacht to Italy. This was done both to resist new Allied advances and to face the predictably imminent defection of Italy. While Badoglio continued to swear loyalty to Germany and the Axis powers, Italian government emissaries prepared to sign an armistice at Cassibile in Allied-occupied Sicily , which
615-626: A completely totalitarian state . During the preceding twenty years of the Fascist association with the Savoy monarchy of the Kingdom of Italy, some of the actions of the Fascists had been restricted by the monarchy. However, the formation of the RSI allowed Mussolini to be the official head of an Italian state and it also allowed the Fascists to return to their earlier republican stances. In one way or another, most of
738-508: A false step, a soaring of the soul" was enough to find oneself on the other side. The choice was particularly burdensome for the military, bound on the one hand to honor their oath to the king and on the other to respect the alliance with the Germans, in both cases the penalty for their honor as soldiers; some solved the problem by appealing to their conscience: some, considering the oath to the King dissolved due to his behavior, presented themselves to
861-532: A new constitution, but that was cancelled by Mussolini on 14 November 1943 and delayed until after the end of the war. The disintegration of the Italian Social Republic at the end of the war meant that no new constitution was written. The RSI was led by the Republican Fascist Party , established on 18 September 1943 out of the disbanded National Fascist Party . The party's official newspaper
984-449: A radio message read by Marshal Badoglio on the evening of 8 September . By July 25, despite the initial enthusiasm with which most of the population received the news, it became clear that the armistice would not bring peace. The same day, the king and Badoglio fled the capital, taking refuge in Apulia with most of the members of the government, in order to avoid the feared German reaction to
1107-594: A second political party called the National Republican Socialist Rally (RNRS), later rebranded as the Italian Socialist Republican Party) under the leadership of Edmondo Cione. The party supported a leftist view of fascism strongly focused on the socialization of the economy, and included several former socialists, such as Pulvio Zocchi, Carlo Silvestri, and Walter Mocchi. It also published a newspaper called L'Italia del Popolo . It
1230-484: A vastly reduced portion of the country. The RSI received diplomatic recognition only from the Axis powers and their satellite states. Finland and Vichy France , although in the German orbit, did not recognize it. Unofficial relations were maintained with Argentina , Portugal , Spain , and, through commercial agent, Switzerland . Vatican City did not recognize the RSI. Around 25 April 1945, 19 months after its founding,
1353-713: The Adriatic Sea and five in the Black Sea ) and one larger submarine, CM1 . Troops of the Decima Flottiglia MAS (the elite Italian frogman corps) fought primarily as a land unit of the RSI. Some of the naval personnel at the BETASOM submarine base in Bordeaux , France , remained loyal to Mussolini. The fall of the Fascist regime in Italy and the disbandment of the MVSN or " Blackshirts " saw
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#17328440413181476-669: The Allies ) to 2 May 1945 (date of the Surrender at Caserta ). The Italian partisans and the Italian Co-belligerent Army of the Kingdom of Italy, sometimes materially supported by the Allies, simultaneously fought against the occupying Nazi German armed forces. Armed clashes between the fascist National Republican Army of the Italian Social Republic and the Italian Co-belligerent Army of the Kingdom of Italy were rare, while clashes between
1599-600: The Hotel Campo Imperatore at Gran Sasso . On 12 September, Mussolini was freed by the Germans in Operation Eiche (directed by SS - Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny ) in the mountains of Abruzzo . After being freed, Mussolini was flown to Bavaria . Gathering what support he still had among the Italian population, his liberation made it possible for a new German-dependent Fascist Italian state to be created. Timeline Three days following his rescue in
1722-557: The Independent State of Croatia (NDH) declared that the Treaties of Rome of 18 May 1941 with the Kingdom of Italy were null and void and annexed the portion of Dalmatia that had been ceded to Italy as part of those treaties. The NDH attempted to annex Zara , which had been a recognized territory of Italy since 1919, but Germany prevented the NDH from doing this. Because of these actions,
1845-546: The Italian Civil War . The Italian Social Republic was the second and last incarnation of the Italian Fascist state, led by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his reformed anti-monarchist Republican Fascist Party . The newly founded state declared Rome its capital but the de facto capital was Salò (hence the colloquial name of the state), a small town on Lake Garda , near Brescia , where Mussolini and
1968-938: The Julian March . Others grew around Allied prisoners of war, released or escaped from captivity following the events of 8 September. These first organized units soon dissolved because of the rapid German reaction. In Boves, on 19 September 1943, the Nazis committed their first massacre on Italian territory. On 8 September, hours after the radio announcement of the armistice, the representatives of several anti-fascist organizations converged on Rome . They were Mauro Scoccimarro and Giorgio Amendola ( Italian Communist Party ), Alcide De Gasperi ( Christian Democracy ), Ugo La Malfa and Sergio Fenoaltea ( Action Party ), Pietro Nenni and Giuseppe Romita ( Italian Socialist Party ), Ivanoe Bonomi and Meuccio Ruini ( Labour Democratic Party ), and Alessandro Casati ( Italian Liberal Party ). They formed
2091-611: The LXXXXVII "Liguria" Army under Graziani and were placed to guard the western flank of the Gothic Line facing France. The fourth RSI division, the 1st Italian "Italia" Infantry Division , was attached to the German 14th Army in a sector of the Apennine Mountains thought least likely to be attacked. On 26 December 1944, several sizeable RSI military units, including elements of the 4th Italian "Monterosa Division" Alpine Division and
2214-671: The National Liberation Committee ) and, to a lesser extent, the Italian Co-belligerent Army . Many Italian fascists were soldiers or supporters of the Italian Social Republic , a collaborationist puppet state created under the direction of Nazi Germany during its occupation of Italy. The Italian Civil War lasted from around 8 September 1943 (the date of the Armistice of Cassibile , between Italy and
2337-678: The National Republican Army was in the hands of Marshall Graziani and his deputies Mischi and Montagna . They controlled the repression and coordinated anti-partisan actions of the regular troops, the GNR, the Black Brigades, and various semi-official police, together with the Germans, who made the reprisals. The Republican Army was augmented by the Graziani call-up which conscripted several thousand men. Graziani were only nominally involved in
2460-698: The Republican Army and the Black Brigades , various special units of fascists were organized, at first spontaneously and afterward from regular units that were part of Salò's armed forces. These formations, often including criminals, adopted brutal methods during counterinsurgency operations, repression and retaliation. Recruiting military forces was difficult for the RSI, as most of the Italian army had been interned by German forces in 1943, many Italians had been conscripted into forced labour in Germany and few wanted to fight on Nazi Germany's side after 8 September 1943;
2583-423: The Republican Fascist Party and, three days later, the resumption of the war alongside Germany and Japan. The Duce immediately announced the formation of a new republican cabinet, although they actually came from a list chosen and appointed by Hitler himself. The Italian Social Republic was proclaimed on 23 September, with Mussolini as both chief of state and prime minister. The RSI claimed Rome as its capital, but
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#17328440413182706-690: The Squadra d'azione Ettore Muti (later Autonomous Mobile Legion Ettore Muti) operated under the orders of the former army corporal Francesco Colombo , already expelled from the PNF for embezzlement. Considering him dangerous to the public, in November 1943, the Federal (i.e., fascist provincial leader) Aldo Resega wanted to depose him, but was killed by a GAP attack. Colombo remained at his post despite complaints and inquiries. On 10 August 1944, Muti's Squadrists , together with
2829-558: The coup d'état , the fascists remained inert and the army was able to occupy both Wedekind and Braschi palaces, the headquarters of the party and of the Roman federation respectively, without encountering resistance. In the absence of orders from General Enzo Galbiati (who had also voted against the dismissal of Mussolini), not even the Blackshirts moved, although they could count on the 1st Armored Division "M" , made up of elements loyal to
2952-440: The de facto capital became the small town of Salò on Lake Garda, midway between Milan and Venice , where Mussolini resided along with the foreign office of the RSI. While Rome itself was still under Axis control at the time, given the city's proximity to Allied lines and the threat of civil unrest, neither the Germans nor Mussolini himself wanted him to return to Rome. On 18 September, Mussolini made his first public address to
3075-705: The execution of Mussolini , the liberation of the country from dictatorship, and the birth of the Italian Republic under the control of the Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories , which was operational until the Treaty of Peace with Italy in 1947 . Although other European countries such as Norway , the Netherlands , and France also had partisan movements and collaborationist governments with Nazi Germany , armed confrontation between compatriots
3198-612: The 3rd Italian "San Marco" Marine Division, participated in Operation Winter Storm . This was a combined German and Italian offensive against the United States Army 's 92nd Infantry Division . The battle was fought in the Apennines. While limited in scale, this was a successful offensive and the RSI units did their part. The RSI military was under the command of General Alfredo Guzzoni while Field Marshal Rodolfo Graziani ,
3321-585: The Allied powers but when the Armistice of Cassibile was announced on 8 September, Nazi Germany was prepared and quickly intervened. German troops seized control of the northern half of Italy , freed Mussolini , and brought him to the German-occupied area to establish a satellite regime. The Italian Social Republic was proclaimed on 23 September 1943. Although the RSI claimed sovereignty over all of Italy and its colonies, its de facto jurisdiction only extended to
3444-451: The Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943, ending its war with the Allies. However, German forces began occupying Italy immediately prior to the armistice, through Operation Achse , and then invaded and occupied Italy on a larger scale after the armistice, taking control of northern and central Italy and creating the Italian Social Republic (RSI), with Mussolini installed as leader after he
3567-571: The Axis forces north of the Gothic Line , Mussolini declared that "he would fight to the last Italian" and spoke of turning Milan into the " Stalingrad of Italy", where Fascism would make its last glorious fight. Despite such strong rhetoric, Mussolini considered evacuating Fascists into Switzerland, although this was opposed by Germany, which instead proposed that Mussolini and key Fascist officials be taken into exile in Germany. Further disintegration of support for his government occurred as fascist and German military officials secretly tried to negotiate
3690-596: The Banda Koch on Germany's behalf. The RSI took revenge against the 19 members who had voted against Mussolini on the Grand Council with the Verona trial ( processo di Verona ) which handed down a death sentence to all of the accused but one. Only six of the 19 were in RSI custody ( Giovanni Marinelli , Carlo Pareschi , Luciano Gottardi , Tullio Cianetti , Emilio De Bono and Mussolini's own son-in-law Galeazzo Ciano ). With
3813-589: The GNR, perpetrated the Piazzale Loreto massacre in Milan. The victims were fifteen anti-fascist rebels, killed in retaliation for an assault against a German truck. Following the massacre, the mayor and chief of the Province of Milan, Piero Parini, resigned in an attempt to strengthen the cohesion of moderate forces, who were undermined by the heavy German repression and various militias of Social Republic. The command of
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3936-586: The German and Italian police to believe they were composed of foreign intelligence agents. A public announcement from the PCI in September 1943 stated: To the tyranny of Nazism, that claims to reduce to slavery through violence and terror, we must respond with violence and terror. The GAP's mission was claimed to be delivering "justice" to Nazi tyranny and terror, with emphasis on the selection of targets: "the official, hierarchical collaborators, agents hired to denounce men of
4059-467: The German and fascist armed forces". In some cases the fate after 25 July was also decisive, as happened to the future partisan commander Nuto Revelli : Without Russia , by 8 September perhaps I would have hidden myself like a sick dog. If on the night of July 25 I had been beaten, today perhaps I would be on the other side. I am afraid of those who say they have always understood everything, who continue to understand everything. Understanding September 8
4182-460: The German commands asking to be enlisted, receiving as a badge an armband with a tricolor and the inscription Dienst der Deutschen Wehrmacht ("in the service of the German Wehrmacht"); others, while also considering themselves no longer bound by the oath to the King, still chose not to side with the Axis. The historian Santo Peli writes that, after 8 September, the Italian soldiers captured by
4305-634: The Germanic armed forces were more than 800,000; of them about 186,000 chose to collaborate in various capacities with the Germans. "For the remaining , more than six hundred thousand, who initially refused to remain "faithful to the alliance", the doors of the camps are opened wide. [...] In the camps located in territories under the jurisdiction of the Wehrmacht, in February 1944, 615812 former Italian soldiers were still imprisoned, who had refused any collaboration with
4428-487: The Germans, instead fleeing with his retinue to the safety of the Allied lines. On 10 September 1943, after two days of battle between the Wehrmacht and the remnants of the Royal Italian Army , Rome fell to the Germans. The new Italian government had moved Mussolini from place to place while he was in captivity in an attempt to foil any attempts at rescue. Despite this, the Germans eventually pinpointed Mussolini at
4551-569: The Gran Sasso raid, Mussolini was taken to Germany for a meeting with Hitler in Rastenburg at his headquarters in East Prussia . While Mussolini was in poor health and wanted to retire, Hitler wanted him to return to Italy and start a new Fascist state under the protection of the Wehrmacht. Mussolini balked; he was tired of the responsibilities of the war and unwilling to retake power. Hitler told him
4674-723: The Italian Central State Archive and in the draft of the general guide to the Italian Archives. Pavone published, for Bollati Boringhieri , Alle Origini della Repubblica ( On the Origins of the Republic ), an historical analysis of the route that led from the demise of the fascist regime , 25 July 1943, to the advent of the Republic on 2 June 1946 . In 1991 he published Una Guerra Civile ( A Civil War ), an analysis of
4797-685: The Italian People actively contribute to push out Germans from Italy and to defeat Nazism and Fascism, it will be really able to get independence and freedom. We can not and must not passively expect freedom from the British and the Americans." The Allies did not believe in the guerrillas' effectiveness, so General Alexander postponed their attacks against the Nazis. On 16 October, the CLN issued its first important political and operational press release, which rejected
4920-506: The Italian fascists and the Italian partisans were common. There were also some internal conflicts within the partisan movement. In this context, Germans, sometimes helped by Italian fascists, committed several atrocities against Italian civilians and troops. The event that later gave rise to the Italian Civil War was the deposition and arrest of Benito Mussolini on 25 July 1943 by King Victor Emmanuel III , after which Italy signed
5043-479: The Italian people since his rescue, in which he commended the loyalty of Hitler as an ally while condemning Victor Emmanuel for betraying Italian Fascism. He declared: "It is not the regime that has betrayed the monarchy, it is the monarchy that has betrayed the regime". He also formally repudiated his previous support of the monarchy, saying: "When a monarchy fails in its duties, it loses every reason for being…The state we want to establish will be national and social in
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5166-554: The Italian press during the war agreed that murders were carried out against moderate Republican fascists willing to compromise and negotiate, such as Aldo Resega , Igino Ghisellini , Eugenio Facchini , and the philosopher Giovanni Gentile . Women also participated in the resistance, mainly by procuring supplies, clothing and medicines, distributing anti-fascist propaganda, fundraising, maintaining communications, organizing partisan rallies, and participating in strikes and demonstrations against fascism. Some women actively participated in
5289-675: The Italian resistance movement and political enemies. On 15 August 1944, the GNR became part of the National Republican Army. The Ispettorato Militare del Lavoro ( ILM ), informally called the Organizzazione Paladino or Azione Graziani , was an organization of the Italian Social Republic during World War II composed of volunteer labourers "to collaborate with the German authorities in repairing roads and railways, and in general carry out other work of either
5412-485: The Italian surrender. In a short time, the Germans carried out Operation Achse and occupied a large part of the peninsula, including Rome. In Italy and in the areas of occupation (southern France, the Balkans and Greece), there were hundreds of thousands of soldiers who, in the absence of orders, surrendered without fighting and were deported to Germany, where they were detained as " military internees ". Others managed to get civilian clothes and find refuge, benefiting from
5535-412: The Italian territories gradually conquered by the Anglo-Americans come under the royal jurisdiction. The Italian lands under Allied control not yet entrusted to the royal administration were subjected to a military occupation government, the Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories (AMGOT). In this context it was created the Italian Co-belligerent Army , which was made up of various divisions of
5658-480: The Italian troops and took over all of the Italian Army's materials and equipment , meeting only limited resistance. The Germans also dissolved the Italian occupation zone in southeastern France and forced Italian troops stationed there to leave. The Italian armed forces were not given clear orders to resist the Germans after the armistice and so resistance to the German takeover was scattered and of little effect. King Victor Emmanuel made no effort to rally resistance to
5781-437: The Kingdom of Italy surrendered and many Italian soldiers in the Aegean were tired of the war and had become opposed to Mussolini, Italian Fascist loyalists remained allied to Germany in the Greek campaign; German forces in Greece convinced 10,000 Italians in the Aegean to continue to support their war effort. In 1944, Mussolini urged Hitler to focus on destroying Britain rather than the Soviet Union, as Mussolini claimed that it
5904-491: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs were headquartered. The Italian Social Republic nominally exercised sovereignty in Northern and Central Italy , but was largely dependent on German troops to maintain control. In July 1943, after the Allies had pushed Italy out of North Africa and subsequently invaded Sicily , the Grand Council of Fascism —with the support of King Victor Emmanuel III — overthrew and arrested Mussolini . The new government began secret peace negotiations with
6027-488: The RSI all but collapsed . In Italy, the day is known as Liberation Day ( festa della liberazione ). On that day, a general partisan uprising, alongside the efforts of Allied forces during their final offensive in Italy , managed to oust the Germans and the remaining RSI forces from Italy almost entirely. Mussolini was captured and killed by Italian partisans on 28 April as he and an entourage attempted to flee. The RSI Minister of Defense, Rodolfo Graziani , surrendered what
6150-411: The RSI granted convicts freedom if they would join the army and the sentence of death was imposed on anyone who opposed being conscripted. Autonomous military forces in the RSI also fought against the Allies including the Decima Flottiglia MAS under command of Prince Junio Valerio Borghese . Borghese held no allegiance to Mussolini and even suggested that he would take him prisoner if he could. Among
6273-456: The RSI held the NDH in contempt and refused to have diplomatic relations with the NDH or to recognize its territorial claims. After the Italian capitulation, the Italian Islands of the Aegean were occupied by the Germans (see Dodecanese campaign ). During the German occupation, the islands remained under the nominal sovereignty of the RSI but were de facto subject to the German military command. The Italian concession of Tientsin in China
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#17328440413186396-491: The RSI. The RSI's National Republican Navy ( Marina Nazionale Repubblicana or MNR) only reached a twentieth the size of the Italian Co-belligerent Navy that fought on the Allied side after the September 1943 armistice. The National Republican Navy consisted of nine motor torpedo boats (two large and seven small) and dozens of MTSM small motor torpedo boats and MTM explosive motorboats . The National Republican Navy also operated 15 CB -class midget submarines (ten in
6519-493: The Republic of China and the Empire of Manchuria . Finland and Vichy France , despite being in the Axis orbit, did not recognise the RSI. Even otherwise sympathetic States such as Spain or Portugal refused to establish formal diplomatic relations with the RSI. The Holy See did not recognise the RSI. During the existence of the Italian Social Republic, Mussolini, whose former government had banned trade unions and strikes, began to make increasingly populist appeals to
6642-446: The Resistance and Jews, the Nazi police informants and law enforcement organizations of CSR", thus differentiating it from the Nazi terror. However, partisan memoirs discussed the "elimination of enemies especially heinous", such as torturers, spies and provocateurs. Some orders from branch command partisans insisted on protecting the innocent, instead of providing lists of categories to be hit as individuals deserving of punishment. Part of
6765-472: The United States division's advance. However, the situation continued to deteriorate for the Axis forces on Gothic Line. By mid-April 1945, the final Allied offensive in Italy had led German defences to collapse. At the end of that month, the last remaining troops of RSI were bottled up along with two Wehrmacht divisions at Collecchio by 1st Brazilian Division being forced to surrender after some days of fighting. On 29 April, Graziani surrendered and
6888-413: The alternative would be a German military administration that would treat Italy no differently from other occupied countries. Hitler also threatened to destroy Milan , Genoa and Turin unless Mussolini agreed to set up a revived Fascist government. Reluctantly, Mussolini agreed to Hitler's demands. Mussolini returned to Italy and settled in Milan, from where on 15 September he announced the creation of
7011-422: The armed forces, under the apolitical CSR. The Republican Police Corps formed in 1944 under Lieutenant-General Renato Ricci . It included the fascist Blackshirts, the Italian Africa Police members serving in Rome, and the Carabinieri . The Corps worked against anti-fascist groups and was autonomous (it did not report to Rodolfo Graziani ), according to an order issued by Mussolini on 19 November 1944. After
7134-400: The bulk of the 1st Italian volunteers Storm Brigade were sent to the Anzio beachhead , where they fought alongside their German allies, receiving favourable reports and taking heavy losses. In recognition of their performance, Heinrich Himmler declared the unit to be fully integrated into the Waffen SS . On 16 October 1943, the Rastenburg Protocol was signed with Nazi Germany and the RSI
7257-522: The calls for reconciliation launched by Republican leaders. CLN Milan asked "the Italian people to fight against the German invaders and against their fascist lackeys". In late November, the Communists established task forces called Distaccamenti d'assalto Garibaldi , which later would become brigades and divisions whose leadership was entrusted to Luigi Longo , under the political direction of Pietro Secchia and Giancarlo Pajetta , Chief of Staff. The first operational order, dated 25 November, ordered
7380-425: The commander of the German occupying forces in Italy. The RSI had no constitution or organized economy, and its financing was dependent entirely on funding from Berlin. German forces themselves had little respect for Mussolini's failed fascism, and considered the regime merely as a tool for maintaining order, such as repressing the Italian partisans . This work was also carried out by the infamous Pietro Koch and
7503-459: The conflict as combatants. The first detachment of guerrilla fighters rose up in Piedmont in mid-1944 as the Garibaldi Brigade Eusebio Giambone . Partisan forces varied by seasons, German and fascist repression and also by Italian topography, never exceeding 200,000 people actively involved. When the Italian Resistance movement began, consisting of various Italian soldiers of disbanded units and many young people not willing to be conscripted into
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#17328440413187626-451: The country, unpleasant and often brutal towards the militia", and assuring the will of the new government to continue the war against the Anglo-Americans, described as an enemy "animated by inhuman hatred and by the determined resolve to annihilate" the homeland, to which it was necessary to "oppose our breasts and our weapons, strenuously fighting alongside the ally". In the same days, the anti-fascists began to reorganize themselves thanks to
7749-408: The end of the war he participated in the Italian resistance movement . This experience, as well as informing his civil conscience and political vision, also influenced his activity as a historian, both with regard to his chosen field of research and the way in which he analysed it. After the war he worked as an archivist in the Italian National Archives. He played a central role in the organization of
7872-413: The establishment of the National Republican Guard ( Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana or GNR) and the Republican Police Corps ( Corpo di Polizia Repubblicana ) and the emergence of the Black Brigades ( brigate nere ). The GNR consisted of former OVRA , carabinieri, soldiers, Italian Africa Police , and others still loyal to the Fascist cause, while the Republican Police Corps was the successor agency of
7995-416: The exception of Tullio Cianetti, who received a life sentence , they were all executed on 11 January 1944 in the fort of San Procolo in Verona . The changing political and military situation re-opened questions regarding the status of Italian territories, particularly those with German-speaking majorities that were formerly under Austrian rule. Previously, Hitler had vigorously suppressed any campaigning for
8118-727: The factions resulted in the torture and death of many civilians. During the Italian Campaign , partisans were supplied with small arms, ammunition and explosives by the Western Allies . Allied forces and partisans cooperated on military missions, parachuting or landing personnel behind enemy lines, often including Italian-American members of OSS . Other operations were carried out exclusively by secret service personnel. Where possible, both sides avoided situations in which Italian units of opposite fronts were involved in combat episodes. The first groups of partisans were formed in Boves , Piedmont , and Bosco Martese , Abruzzo . Other groups, composed mainly of Slavs and communists , sprang up in
8241-417: The fall of Rome, Koch moved to Milan . He gained the confidence of Interior Minister Guido Buffarini Guidi and continued his repressive activity in various Republican police forces. The Banda Carità , a special unit constituted within the 92nd Legion Blackshirts , operated in Tuscany and Veneto . It became infamous for violent repression, such as the 1944 Piazza Tasso massacre in Florence. In Milan,
8364-543: The fascist forces, Mussolini's Italian Social Republic (RSI) also began putting together an army. This was formed with what was left of the previous Regio Esercito and Regia Marina corps, fascist volunteers, and drafted personnel. At first it was organized into four regular divisions ( 1ª Divisione Bersaglieri Italia – light infantry, 2ª Divisione Granatieri Littorio – grenadiers, 3ª Divisione fanteria di marina San Marco – marines, 4ª Divisione Alpina Monterosa – mountain troops), together with various irregular formations and
8487-442: The fascist militia Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana (GNR) that in 1944 were brought under the control of the regular army. The fascist republic fought against the partisans to keep control of the territory. The fascists claimed their armed forces numbered 780,000 men and women, but sources indicate that there were no more than 558,000. Partisans and their active supporters numbered 82,000 in June 1944. In addition to regular units of
8610-401: The fascists, their "martyrdom" began on 25 July, for which they had to take revenge. In the weeks following the fall of Mussolini, while Italy continued the war alongside Germany, the new government tried with some confusion to get the country out of the conflict: on 3 September it signed the Armistice of Cassibile , imposed by the Allied Powers, and it unexpectedly announced the armistice with
8733-685: The first Committee of National Liberation (CLN), with Bonomi taking over its presidency. The Italian Communist Party was eager to take the initiative without waiting for the Allies: (in Italian) ...è necessario agire subito ed il più ampiamente e decisamente possibile perché solo nella misura in cui il popolo italiano concorrerà attivamente alla cacciata dei tedeschi dall'Italia, alla sconfitta del nazismo e del fascismo, potrà veramente conquistarsi l'indipendenza e la libertà. Noi non possiamo e non dobbiamo attenderci passivamente la libertà dagli angloamericani. - "... It's necessary to act immediately and as widely and decisively as possible, because only if
8856-404: The first fallen of the civil war, claiming the conspiracy theory as proof that they had not remained inactive after 25 July. The argument that an attempt at a fascist revolt against Badoglio would have been prevented by the death of Muti - as well as by the absence of the "best fascists" engaged at the front, and by having believed in the continuation of the alliance with Germany - was re-proposed by
8979-606: The first to form was the banda of the Federal Guido Bardi and William Pollastrini in Rome, whose methods shocked even the Germans. In Rome, the Banda Koch helped dismantle the clandestine structure of the Partito d'Azione . The Banda Koch, led by Pietro Koch , then under the protection of General Kurt Mälzer , the German military commander for the Rome region, were known for their brutal treatment of anti-fascist partisans. After
9102-417: The former Royal Italian Army during the period when it fought alongside the Allies . In the days immediately following the armistice, with the eclipse of the power of the royal state, the two sides of the civil war began to take shape, the partisans and the fascists, both convinced that they legitimately represented Italy. Many of those who took up arms were caught by surprise by the armistice on one side or
9225-455: The former governor-general of Italian Libya , was the RSI's Minister of Defense and commander-in-chief of the combined German-Italian Army Group Liguria . Mussolini, as Duce and head of state of RSI assumed supreme command over all military forces of the RSI. In February 1945, the 92nd Infantry Division again came up against RSI units. This time it was Bersaglieri of the 1st Italian "Italia" Infantry Division. The Italians successfully halted
9348-530: The foundations for the future National Liberation Committee . On 3 August, a delegation from the Central Opposition Committee - made up of Ivanoe Bonomi , Alcide De Gasperi , Luigi Salvatorelli , Meuccio Ruini and Giorgio Amendola - presented Badoglio with a declaration "complaining" from the government, "without hesitation and delay which could be fatal, the cessation of a war contrary to national traditions and interests and popular sentiments,
9471-435: The government of Mussolini and that of Badoglio, to the point of "asking oneself whether the liquidation of fascism is not by chance a tragic deception". This sentiment was also supported by the fact that many public officials of the fascist period in key posts had been left in their place by the new government, as remarked by the verse of La Badoglieide : "You called the squadrists back / the anti-fascists you put them in jail /
9594-547: The hands of Italy's former allies, even more than the surrender to the Anglo-Americans, that was perceived as a "new immense Caporetto ". The announcement of the armistice took many Italians off guard: the circumstances in which it was made public caused soldiers and civilians to feel that they had been abandoned and left to themselves, the former by the officers and the latter by the public authorities respectively, and there were those who saw in September 8 and its consequences
9717-403: The highest sense of the word; that is, it will be Fascist, thus returning to our origins". From the start, the Italian Social Republic was little more than a puppet state dependent entirely upon Germany and a rump state for the Fascists who are still loyal to Mussolini. Mussolini himself knew this; even as he stated in public that he was in full control of the RSI, he was well aware that he
9840-479: The hopes of peace soon vanished, following the proclamation in which Badoglio announced: "The war continues. Italy [...] keeps its word ". Thus began the period of "forty-five days", in which secret negotiations began to conclude a separate peace with the Allies, disguised by public declarations of loyalty to Germany. Meanwhile, the Germans, prepared for the eventuality of an Italian surrender, were planning Operation Achse to occupy Italy. The Badoglio government began
9963-407: The image that Fascism was a progressive movement. The economic policy of the RSI was given the name " Socialization ", and Mussolini had even considered the idea of calling his new republic the "Italian 'Socialist' Republic". In practice, little resulted from the declared socialization of the economy. Unions did not exert real control of their management and took no part in state planning (as they had
10086-638: The impression of official annexation of South Tyrol. However, in practice the territory of South Tyrol within the boundaries defined by Germany as Operationszone Alpenvorland that included Trento , Bolzano and Belluno were de facto incorporated into Germany's Reichsgau Tirol-Vorarlberg and administered by its Gauleiter Franz Hofer . The region identified by Germany as Operationszone Adriatisches Küstenland that included Udine , Gorizia , Trieste , Pola and Fiume were de facto incorporated into Reichsgau Kärnten and administered by its Gauleiter Friedrich Rainer . On 10 September 1943,
10209-654: The inevitability of defeat, the inability of Benito Mussolini to "detach himself from Germany", together with the awareness that his presence prevented any negotiations with the Allies, determined the fall of his government: on the night between 24 and 25 July, the Grand Council of Fascism approved a motion of no confidence against the prime minister, called the Grandi agenda , named after its promoter Dino Grandi . The next day King Victor Emmanuel III had Mussolini arrested and replaced him with Marshal Pietro Badoglio . Faced with
10332-568: The massive Allied air offensive over Northern Italy. During 1944 and 1945, the ANR shot down 262 Allied aircraft for the loss in action of 158 of its own. Little of the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) joined the RSI. This was because the bulk of the Regia Marina was ordered to steam to Malta at the time of the September 1943 armistice, where it was out of the reach of the Germans and
10455-402: The military fired at the demonstrators as set out in a circulated memo written by General Mario Roatta , chief of staff of the army, who ordered soldiers to face the riots "in combat formation" and to "open fire at a distance even with mortars and artillery without warning of any kind". These provisions made it possible for the anti-fascists to spread the idea of a substantial continuity between
10578-469: The moment of the disappearance of the national connective tissue. Following the public disclosure of the armistice and the consequent events, Italy found itself divided into several political-territorial entities. The Badoglio government, presided over by the King, found itself exercising its authority only over a part of the territory of the Kingdom of Italy, corresponding mainly to the provinces of Brindisi and Taranto and to Sardinia . Only gradually did
10701-455: The monarchy, a number of Fascist government members, and the general Italian population had grown tired of the futile war effort which had driven Italy into subordination to and subjugation by Nazi Germany . The failed war effort left Mussolini humiliated at home and abroad as a "sawdust Caesar ". The new government began secret negotiations with the Allied powers and made preparations for the capitulation of Italy. These surrender talks implied
10824-421: The numerous demonstrations of solidarity in which the civilian population worked. The cases in which some units reacted successfully to the German aggression were rare and due to the lack of personal initiative of the commanders. In the cities, the scenes in which multitudes of disbanded Italian soldiers were quickly overwhelmed by a few German soldiers provoked anger and despair: it was the sudden defeat suffered at
10947-409: The origins, the motivations and intentions that underpinned the fight between fascist and antifascist Italy . The book is an important milestone in Italian historiography because it introduced in the academic debate the notion that the struggle that took place in 1943-45 between Italian fascists and the partisan movement was indeed a civil war. Before the publication of Una Guerra Civile the expression
11070-418: The other almost by chance and had to make their choice of side on the basis of circumstances. The decision was made more dramatic by the isolation in which it took place, since in the face of the collapse of the state there was no longer the possibility of referring to an authority, but only to one's own values. Of course, the choices were not all instantaneous and based on absolute certainties, rather "a nothing,
11193-572: The partisans to attack and annihilate in every way: Shortly after the Armistice, parts of the Italian Communist Party , the Gruppi di Azione Patriottica ("Patriotic Action Groups") or simply GAP , established small cells whose main purpose was to unleash urban terror through bomb attacks against fascists, Germans and their supporters. They operated independently in case of arrest or betrayal of individual elements. The success of these attacks led
11316-411: The power to do on paper after the socialization). The Italian industrial sector was excluded from the new reforms by the Germans and Italian industrialists were opposed to the changes in any case. The Italian labour force (large parts of which had remained leftist despite fascist rule) regarded socialization as a sham and responded with a massive strike on 1 March 1944. In Greece, while the government of
11439-533: The prominent leaders of the post-war Italian far-right (parliamentary and extraparliamentary) were associated with the experience of the RSI. Among them were Filippo Anfuso , Pino Romualdi , Rodolfo Graziani , Junio Valerio Borghese , Licio Gelli , and Giorgio Almirante . Most of the 8,000 Italian Jews who died in the Holocaust in Italy were killed during the 20 months of the Salò regime. Claudio Pavone Pavone
11562-535: The public security complex formed by the Directorate of Public Security and the Public Security Agents Corps. The Black Brigade was formed by the new fascist party members both young and old. Both units fought alongside Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) counterparts against the Italian resistance movement in an extensive anti- partisan war. The Black Brigades committed many atrocities in their fight against
11685-418: The publications of Salò even after the war. Estimates vary concerning the number of fascist fatalities during the 45 days. In the following months, anti-fascists became convinced they had been excessively lenient towards the exponents of the deposed regime, so much so as to trace the beginning of the civil war to the fact that "the fascists returned because fascist blood was not shed on 25 July". Conversely, for
11808-557: The regime, which was located north of Lake Bracciano . The news of Mussolini's resignation was considered by a part of the Italians, exhausted by the conflict, as proof of its imminent conclusion; there were manifestations of jubilation, but also of violence, with the destruction of goods and property of the National Fascist Party and party organizations and the removal and damage of symbols and monuments linked to fascism. However,
11931-422: The responsibility for which lies and must rest on the fascist regime". During the night between 23 and 24 August, the fascist hierarch Ettore Muti - accused of plotting to restore power to Mussolini - was killed by the carabinieri sent to arrest him, officially during an escape attempt. Following the founding of the RSI, the fascists indicated Badoglio as the instigator of the killing and widely celebrated Muti as
12054-427: The return from prison, confinement or exile of numerous leaders: Luigi Longo , Pietro Secchia and Mauro Scoccimarro for the communists ; Pietro Nenni , Sandro Pertini , Rodolfo Morandi and Giuseppe Saragat for the socialists ; and Riccardo Bauer , Ugo La Malfa and Emilio Lussu for the actionists . The first anti-fascist organizations and the first "inter-party opposition committees" began to form, laying
12177-473: The return of lands such as South Tyrol in order to maintain good relations with his Italian ally. In the aftermath of Italy's abandonment of the Axis on 8 September 1943, Germany seized and de facto incorporated some Italian territories. However, Hitler refused to officially annex South Tyrol in spite of urging by local German officials and instead supported having the RSI hold official sovereignty over these territories and forbade all measures that would give
12300-443: The shirt was no longer black / but fascism remained the master." Subsequently, Badoglio managed to completely neutralize the militia, incorporating it into the army and replacing the senior cadres with officers of sure monarchical faith. Galbiati's successor in command of the corps, Quirino Armellini , issued a circulated memo on July 30 in which he guaranteed Badoglio the harmlessness of the black shirts, stigmatizing "the reaction of
12423-628: The victory achieved in the North African campaign , the Allies started the Italian Campaign : between 11 and 12 June 1943, Lampedusa and Pantelleria were the first Italian territories to be conquered in Operation Corkscrew . On 10 July, the landing in Sicily began, and on 19 July, Rome was bombed for the first time. The threat of the invasion of the national territory, the conviction of
12546-660: The war during June 1940, including the bombing of Rome , the loss of the African colonies in the East African and North African campaigns , the defeat of the Italian Army in Russia and the Allied invasion of Sicily . The next day, King Victor Emmanuel III dismissed Mussolini from office, ordered him arrested, and appointed Marshal Pietro Badoglio as new prime minister. By this time,
12669-408: The war. With the removal of the monarchy, Mussolini claimed the full ideology of Fascism could be pursued; and to gain popular support he reversed over twenty years of Fascist policy of backing private property and relative economic independence by ordering the nationalization of all companies with over 100 employees. Mussolini even reached out to ex-communist Nicola Bombacci to help him in spreading
12792-452: The war. The RSI became so desperate for soldiers that it granted convicts freedom if they would join the army and imposed a sentence of death on anyone who opposed being conscripted. Autonomous military forces in the RSI also fought against the Allies including the notorious Decima Flottiglia MAS of Prince Junio Valerio Borghese . Borghese held no allegiance to Mussolini and even suggested that he would take him prisoner if he could. During
12915-510: The winter of 1944–1945, armed Italians were on both sides of the Gothic Line . On the Allied side were four Italian groups of volunteers from the old Italian army. These Italian volunteers were equipped and trained by the British. On the Axis side were four RSI divisions. Three of the RSI divisions, the 2nd Grenadier Division "Littorio" , the 3rd Italian "San Marco" Marine Division and the 4th Italian Monterosa Alpini Division were allocated to
13038-464: The work of dismantling the fascist state and took measures to maintain order in the country: it dissolved the PNF, maintained the prohibition of the establishment of political parties and imposed martial law. In addition, some anti-fascist demonstrations were bloodily repressed, such as those that took place on 28 July in Bari (massacre of via Nicolò dell'Arca) and Reggio Emilia (massacre of Reggiane), where
13161-438: The working class. He claimed to regret many of the decisions made earlier in supporting the interests of big business and promised a new beginning if the Italian people would be willing to grant him a second chance. Mussolini claimed that he had never totally abandoned his left-wing influences, insisting that he had attempted to nationalize property in 1939–1940 but had been forced to delay such action for tactical reasons related to
13284-454: Was Il Lavoro Fascista , formerly the publication of Fascist trade unions; Mussolini was largely indifferent toward the new paper and generally wrote on the Corriere della Sera instead. The Duce explicitly refused to revive his former newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia , not willing to let it become a mouthpiece of the German occupation. On 14 February 1945, Mussolini authorized the formation of
13407-776: Was Britain that had turned the conflict into a world war and that the British Empire must be destroyed in order for peace to come in Europe. Mussolini wanted to conduct a small offensive along the Gothic Line against the Allies with his new RSI Divisions; in December 1944, the Alpine Division "Monte Rosa" with some German battalions fought the Battle of Garfagnana with some success. As the situation became desperate, with Allied forces in control of most of Italy and from February 1945 resumed pushing
13530-508: Was a German puppet state and fascist rump state with limited diplomatic recognition that was created during the latter part of World War II . It existed from the beginning of the German occupation of Italy in September 1943 until the surrender of Axis troops in Italy in May 1945 . The German occupation triggered widespread national resistance against it and the Italian Social Republic, leading to
13653-538: Was allowed to raise division-sized military formations. This protocol allowed Marshal Rodolfo Graziani to raise four RSI divisions totalling 52,000 men. In July 1944, the first of these divisions completed training and was sent to the front. Recruiting military forces was difficult for the RSI as most of the Italian Army had been interned by German forces in 1943, many military-aged Italians had been conscripted into forced labour in Germany and few wanted to participate in
13776-599: Was ceded by the RSI to the Japanese puppet Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China . The RSI was recognized as the legitimate government of Italy by Germany , Imperial Japan , Bulgaria , Romania , Hungary and Thailand ; it was also recognised by puppet and client States of the Axis, such as the Independent State of Croatia , the Slovak Republic , the Reorganised National Government of
13899-408: Was finalized on 3 September. On 8 September, Badoglio announced Italy's armistice with the Allies (although termed an "armistice", its terms made it akin to an unconditional surrender ). German Führer Adolf Hitler and his staff, long aware of the negotiations, acted immediately by ordering German troops to seize control of Northern and Central Italy. The Germans quickly occupied Italy, disarmed
14022-480: Was left of the Italian Social Republic on 1 May, one day after the German forces in Italy capitulated. On 24 July 1943, after the Allied landings in Sicily , on a motion by Dino Grandi , the Grand Council of Fascism voted a motion of no confidence in Prime Minister Benito Mussolini . Mussolini's authority had been undermined by a series of military defeats from the start of Italy's entry into
14145-507: Was little more than the Gauleiter of Lombardy . The SS kept Mussolini under what amounted to house arrest; it monitored his communications and controlled his travel. Mussolini later said that he would have preferred being sent to a concentration camp to the manner that the SS treated him. Real power rested with German General Plenipotentiary Rudolf Rahn and SS- Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff ,
14268-618: Was most intense in Italy, making the Italian case unique. In 1965, the definition of "civil war" was used for the first time by fascist politician and historian Giorgio Pisanò in his books, while Claudio Pavone 's book Una guerra civile. Saggio storico sulla moralità della Resistenza ( A Civil War. Historical Essay On the Morality Of the Resistance ), published in 1991, led to the term "Italian Civil War" being used more frequently by Italian and international historiography. Confrontations between
14391-571: Was not easy! Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( Italian : Repubblica Sociale Italiana , Italian: [reˈpubblika soˈtʃaːle itaˈljaːna] ; RSI ; German : Italienische Sozialrepublik ), known prior to December 1943 as the National Republican State of Italy (Italian: Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia ; SNRI ), but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò (Italian: Repubblica di Salò , Italian: [reˈpubblika di saˈlɔ] ),
14514-533: Was politically insignificant and its membership is unknown. Mussolini himself privately told German ambassador Rudolf Rahn that he only authorised the formation of the RNRS in an attempt to sway some working-class voters away from the National Liberation Committee and that it was never meant to create any real political pluralism. While the RSI supported Nazi Germany, it allowed the Italian Fascist movement to build
14637-541: Was present at Caserta when a representative of German General Heinrich von Vietinghoff -Scheel signed the unconditional instrument of surrender for all Axis forces in Italy, but since the Allies had never recognised the RSI Graziani's signature was not required at Caserta. The surrender was to take effect on 2 May; Graziani ordered all RSI forces under his command to lay down their arms on 1 May. The National Republican Air Force ( Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana or ANR)
14760-456: Was rescued by German paratroopers in the Gran Sasso raid . As a result, the Italian Co-belligerent Army was created to fight against the Germans, while other Italian troops continued to fight alongside the Germans in the National Republican Army. In addition, a large Italian resistance movement started a guerrilla war against the German and Italian fascist forces. The anti-fascist victory led to
14883-594: Was the air force of Italian Social Republic and also the air unit of National Republican Army. It was organized into three fighter groups , one torpedo bomber group, one bomber group, and other transport and minor units. The ANR worked closely with the German Air Force ( Luftwaffe ) in Northern Italy. In 1944, after the withdrawal of all German fighter units for home air defense over Germany, ANR fighter groups were left alone and heavily outnumbered to face
15006-497: Was the brigadier general Piera Gatteschi Fondelli . The Government of the Italian Social Republic held office from 23 September 1943 until 25 April 1945, a total of 1 year, 274 days. Its head was Benito Mussolini. The Government wrote a constitution for the Italian Social Republic, but it was never discussed or approved. On 13 October 1943, the Government announced that a Constituent Assembly would be called to write
15129-770: Was the president of the Historic Institute of the Liberation movement in Italy, the president of the Italian Society of Contemporary History and the director of the historical journal Parolechiave ( Keywords ). He died aged 95, just one day shy of his 96th birthday. During the Second World War, Pavone was enlisted as customs guard in Malles , near the Italian-Swiss frontier and far from the war front. From autumn 1943 until
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