Italian resistance movement

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Partisans parading in Milan

The Italian resistance movement was a partisan force during World War II. It became massive after the capitulation of the Italian Royal Army on September 8, 1943. As military formations of the Italian resistance movement, the Italian partisans fought German occupying forces in Italy and Greece, and the formations of the Fascist Italian Social Republic (Republic of Salò). More than 300,000 armed fighters (among them 35,000 women) joined the Partisan movement.

In Italy all opposition to Nazi-Fascism in the final period of the war, both inside the country and among the Italian armed forces abroad, is called the Resistenza in a broad sense. Thus, participants in the 1944-1945 strike movement in the factories of Turin, Milan and other industrial cities are considered to be a part of the Resistance movement (many of these strikers were later deported to German concentration camps as a result of their sabotage of the war effort). Italian soldiers who refused to cooperate with the Wehrmacht after the Armistice (as in Cefalonia) are considered as Resistance heroes. The Italian Republic is declared to be "based on the Resistance" in its 1948 democratic Constitution.

1 Origins of the movement
2 New territorial structures
- 2.1 List of partisan governments
3 April 25
4 The toll of Nazi and Fascist violence
5 External links

[edit] Origins of the movement

Initially, the movement was composed of independent troops, spontaneously formed by members of political parties previously outlawed by the Fascist regime or by former officers of the disbanded Royal Army loyal to the monarchy. Later, the Committee of National Liberation created by the Italian Communist Party, the Italian Socialist Party, the Partito d'Azione (a republican liberal party), Democrazia Cristiana and other minor parties took control of the movement, in accordance with King Victor Emmanuel III's ministers and the Allies.

In the end, the bands were divided between the communist Garibaldi's Brigades, Giustizia e Libertà Brigades (related to Partito d'Azione), socialist Matteotti's Brigades, and several Catholic and autonomous groups; the greater part of fighters were in the former two. Between the autonomous formations there were the Green Flames, Di Dio and Mauri, that were composed of monarchists or former soldiers, and some anarchist formations. Relations between the different groups were not always fraternal; for example, in 1945 in Porzus (in the province of Udine), Garibaldi Brigade partisans under Yugoslav command attacked and killed partisans of the Catholic and azionista Osoppo band, who had refused to accept Tito's authority and were accused of intelligence with the enemy.

While the largest troops operated in mountainous districts of the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, there were also big formations in the Po plain; in the principal towns, the Gruppi di azione patriottica (G.A.P., Patriotic Action Groups) carried out many acts of sabotage and guerrilla warfare, and the Squadre di azione patriottica (S.A.P., Patriotic Action Squads) arranged massive strike actions and campaigns of propaganda.

[edit] New territorial structures

In 1944, with the Allied forces nearby, the partisan resistance in Italy staged an uprising behind German lines, led by the Committee of National Liberation of Upper Italy (CLNAI). This rebellion led to the establishment of a number of provisional partisan governments throughout the mountainous regions of northern Italy, of which Ossola was the most important and received recognition from Switzerland and from Allied consulates in Switzerland. By the end of 1944, German reinforcements and Benito Mussolini's remaining forces had crushed the uprising, and the area's liberation had to wait until the final offensives of 1945.

Partisans in Bologna

[edit] List of partisan governments

Alto Monferrato (Sep-2 Dec)
Alto Tortonese (Sep-Dec)
Bobbio (7 Jul - 27 Aug)
Cansiglio (Jul-Sep)
Carnia (Jul-Oct)
Friuli Orientale (30 Jun - Sep)
Imperia (Aug-Oct)
Langhe (Sep-Nov)
Montefiorino (17 Jun - 1 Aug)
Ossola (10 Sep - 23 Oct)
Val Ceno (10 Jun - 11 Jul)
Val d'Enza e Val Parma (Jun-Jul)
Val Maira e Val Varaita (Jun - 21 Aug)
Val Taro (15 Jun - 24 Jul)
Valli di Lanzo (25 Jun - Sep)
Valsesia (11 Jun - 10 Jul)
Varzi (19/24 Sep - 29 Nov)

Partisan hanged by Decima Flottiglia MAS. The sign says "He attempted to shoot the Decima".

[edit] April 25

After a few months of reorganization, another massive uprising was planned. On April 25, 1945, concurrently with the renewal of the Allied offensive, the CLNAI called out a general insurrection, which ended with the surrender of German forces and the liberation of most cities.

Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were caught by Communist partisans while trying to escape to Switzerland and summarily executed at Dongo. Their corpses, together with those of high-rank Fascist officials, were later publicly exhibited in a square in the centre of Milan.

[edit] The toll of Nazi and Fascist violence

The uprising showed to the world that not all Italians agreed with the Fascist rule and were even prepared to fight against it. Casualties amounted to approximately 44,700 killed and 21,200 wounded or disabled partisans; civilians killed in retaliations were nearly 10,000. 40,000 Italian soldiers died in concentration camps. During the war, Germans and Fascist soldiers committed a number of other war crimes: summary executions, ransacking, and retaliations against civilians were common practices.

Some of the most notorious events were the Ardeatine massacre, the Marzabotto massacre and the Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre. Captured partisans or civilians were often tortured. The Decima Flottiglia MAS, an Italian unit under German command, is now remembered as one of the most ruthless military corps of the war.

In the valley of Carnia, anti-Communist forces from the Soviet Union under the command of ataman Timofey Ivanovich Domanov were used; they were promised the establishment of a Cossack republic in northeastern Italy, to be called Kosakenland. Also, profiting from the weakness of the Fascist puppet state, the Germans decided to annex Italian territories to the Third Reich; two new regions were established: the Alpenvorland, comprising Trentino-South Tyrol and the province of Belluno; and the Adriatisches Kustenland, comprising Istria, Quarnero and most part of today's Friuli Venezia Giulia.