By 1943, the inability of the Axis countries to defeat the Allies on the main fronts of the war became apparent. It was taken for granted that an Allied invasion of Italy would commit large numbers of German troops. Moreover, the Allies believed that such an operation would probably put Italy out of the war. Inside the country, the dynamics of resistance had increased, since communists, socialists and Catholic groups had begun to print newspapers and carry out acts of sabotage against the fascist regime. The country’s population, instead of enjoying the empire that Mussolini had promised, had suffered severe hardship and its morale was shattered.
In July 1943, Allied troops invaded Sicily, which they conquered within a short period of time. The situation prevailing in Rome was dramatic. The Fascist Grand Council asked King Victor Emmanuel III to depose Mussolini and assume executive power himself. The limits of his power had been exceeded and defeat was at hand. The king summoned the Duce to the palace and announced his removal from the prime ministership. On his way out of the palace Mussolini was arrested and isolated in the Apennine Mountains in Central Italy. Pietro Badoglio was appointed as the new prime minister, who began secret negotiations with the Allies.
On September 3, 1943, the Allied invasion of the Italian peninsula began. A few days later, the conclusion of an armistice between Italy and the Allies became known. As the German troops approached Rome, the royal family and Badoglio fled to Apulia under Allied protection, leaving about a million Italian soldiers behind without orders for their next moves. The Italian leadership then went to Malta, where it formed a government-in-exile. Many of the Italian soldiers joined the Allies in the fight against the Germans, others deserted or were captured by the Germans, while others refused to change sides in the war and joined them.
On September 12, German commandos carried out a special operation to free Mussolini, who traveled to Germany to meet with Hitler. On September 23, Mussolini proclaimed the Italian Social Republic, the Republic of Salo as it came to be known. In January 1944, following the Verona Trial, a mock trial, Mussolini ordered the execution of the members of the Fascist Grand Council, which had supported his removal the previous summer. Among those executed was Mussolini’s son-in-law, Galeaccio Ciano, for many years his Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Rome was captured on June 4, 1944, after fierce fighting. German forces were forced to retreat northwards and form a new line of defense near Florence. The steady retreat of German and Italian troops drove Mussolini into despair, who planned to move his fascist forces into Switzerland, an idea that Hitler found abhorrent. The Führer suggested that he go to Germany together with the leading figures of the Fascist Party. Nevertheless, in his speeches Mussolini trumpeted that Milan would turn into Italy’s Stalingrad, where Fascism would fight its last glorious battle.
By April 1945, Allied forces had advanced into the Italian north. The fall of the Mussolini regime was a matter of days. On April 25, the Salo Republic fell and Mussolini attempted to escape to Switzerland. On April 27 the Italian dictator and his associates were captured by Italian partisans near Lake Como. The next day they were executed by a detachment of partisans. In 1946 the decision was made to celebrate the Day of Liberation of Italy from Fascism on April 25.
Column editor: Myrto Katsigera, Vassilis Minakakis, Antigoni-Despina Poimenidou, Athanasios Syroplakis
