Rise of Mussolini
Benito Mussolini came to power in 1922 during a time of corruption, economic depression and labor disputes. After making himself known, he was practically invited by the King to step into the position of Prime Minister. Mussolini used his first years as Prime Minister to establish control of the government and begin improvements within the country. He implemented changes in agriculture by draining swamp lands and building canals. He also ensured the rail system worked.
After a series of
riots
in 1922, the king appointed Benito Mussolini
as prime minister in an attempt to prevent a communist revolution in
Italy.
Mussolini headed a coalition of fascists and nationalists and
parliamentary
government continued until the murder of the socialist leader, Giacomo
Matteotti in 1924. Critics view King Emmanuel as a puppet
ruler of the Fascists. His early actions indicated he was
pro-democracy
but he allowed Mussolini and the Fascists to take over the
country.
In 1920s, the monarchy, the church, the political elite and the voters,
for different reasons, felt Mussolini and his regime would provide a
political
and financial stability that was needed for their country.
Adolf Hitler came to power in
Germany on January 30, 1933. Hitler's national socialism
closely paralled Italy's fascism. He built his Nazi Brownshirts
along the military lines of the Fascists Blackshirts. They had a
lot in common. Both men had read Machiavelli. Both used the
fear of Communism to gain power and control. The Nazis used
violence and threats to silence any opposition.
However, Mussolini
still did not trust Hitler, especially when it came to the question of
Austria's independance. Mussolini did not want to share a border
with Germany. He regarded Austria's chancellor, Englebert Dollfuss, as his
personal friend and Italy was considered an ally of Austria.
Hitler asked Mussolini if they could meet to discuss "international
policy". They met at Venice on 14 June, 1934. This
was their first meeting and, upon the urging of his advisors, Hitler
traveled to Italy in civilian clothes, wearing a floppy felt hat and a
wrinkled raincoat. Mussolini met him in all his military regalia
which left Hitler a little embarrassed; vowing to never do that
again. At this meeting the two leaders discussed the fate of
Austria and persecution of the Jews. Talking incessantly, Hitler
dominated their talks as Mussolini tried to keep pace with his
German. The meeting ended with both leaders thinking the other
had compromised to their position.
Fifteen days after
this meeting, on 25 June, Nazi thugs entered Chancellor Dollfuss's office
and shot him at his desk. This infuriated Mussolini. He
immediately mobilized his troops on the Austrian border and he wired
the Austrian government that Italy would defend Austrian
independence. Italy received no support from France or
England but it was enough to cause Hitler to stand down.
The world press portrayed Mussolini as a world hero. With his
popularity its peak in Italy and in the world's press, Mussolini took
the first step towards ending the uneasy peace.
Italy's
Colonialism
Mussolini began to
focus national attention to the small independant monarchy of Abyssinia on
Africa's eastern coast. Mussolini may have been influenced
by Germany's expanionist policies. Maybe his personal ego
was challenged by Hitler's rise to power. Italy still
ranked highest in unemployment, poverty, illiteracy and disease.
But Italians felt it was their destiny to make Abyssinia as a
colony. They also wanted revenge for their defeat there in
1896.
Francisco Franco was a
right-wing army general who initiated an over-throw of the democratic
republic of Spain. Franco had the backing of the
aristocrats, the Catholic Church who feared right-wing liberals and the
support of Italy. On 18 July, 1936, a civil war erupted in
Spain. Mussolini immediately, but secretly, loaned 12 aircraft to
protect Franco's troops ships arriving from Spanish Morocco. When
one aircraft was forced to land in French Morocco, the world and his
own Italy learned of their alliance. Volunteer troops were sent
to Spain but were more of a handicap than an aide.
Meanwhile, Hitler did nothing. Hitler hoped that the more that
Italy stood with Franco, the more that he would
distance himself with western democracies and Russia, who sided with
the Republic. And this would bring Italy and Germany into a
stronger alliance. Hitler's ploy worked and he began to send his
troops to aide Franco. By the end of 1937,
Italy had sent every
aicraft he could spare and 37,000 troops, much to the indetrement of
Italy's economy.
On a personal level,
Mussolini
was attracted to a new mistress. A beautiful, vivacious woman, Clara Petacci was young enough to be his
daughter. While distracted by his mistress and these other
events, Hitler made his move.
Hitler; an alter ego
Hitler extended an inviation for Mussolini to visit Germany. Count Galeazzo Ciano, Mussolini's son-in-law and minister of Foriegn Affairs, cleared the way for a meeting and signed a secret pact promising Italian cooperation on many diplomatic issues. Mussolini accepted the invitation and spoke of a Berlin-Rome "axis". On 23 September, 1937, Mussolini boarded a train for his 5-day trip to Italy. This time he was greeted by a uniformed Fuherer and a parade through Berlin that was decorated with bunting in the Italian national colors. Mussolini witnessed mass parades, a military exercise, a tour of Krupp munitions factory and speeches before 800,000 citizens. Mussolini left a changed man with a new respect for the Fuherer. From this moment, Mussolini became the student; Hitler the wizard of warfare. As soon as he returned home, he tried to introduce the "goose step" for military parades. He began preparations for a reciprical visit by Hitler. Three weeks later, the Nazi ambassador, Joachim von Ribbentrop, arrived to obtain Mussolini's signature on an anti-Russian pact that was already approved by Japan. On 11 December, Italy pulled out of the League of Nations. Then Hitler pressured the Austrian chancellor into signing a pact that surrendered Austrian's independence without a complaint from Mussolini. The Austrian chancellor called for a referendum vote that was set for 13 March 1938. The day before the election, German tanks rolled into Austria with the purpose of "restoring order". Mussolini could do nothing but endorse the invasion. The reaction of the Italian citizens and also of England caused some concern with Mussolini. He flipped his alliance again and tried to improve relations with England. He even withdrew his aid from the Spanish civil war. Meanwhile, the time arrived in May for Hitler's visit. When Hitler arrived in Rome, he was greeted by King Emmanuel. No one explained to him that only the King could receive visiting heads of state. After the official parades and naval exercises, Mussolini was allowed to host a banquet at the Palazzo Venezia. During his speech, Hitler vowed never to violate the Italian border. |
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The visit lacked any discussion of the future plans of the Axis Alliance. There was very little mention of Czechoslovakia. Mussolini explained how his army had been weakened from years of fighting in Africa and in Spain. He asked for 3 years to build up his resources and re-equip his army. Italy wanted peace and their family home. In a later meeting, minister von Ribbentrop promised no military action would be taken until 1941. Hitler again brought up the subject of removing the Jews from Italy. With a Jewish population of only 37,000, this was of little concern to Mussolini. Just the same, 2 months later, Mussolini issued a manifesto that limited the freedoms of the Jews.
By the summer of 1938, Germany and Czechoslovakia began to quarrel over the disputed border area of the Sudetenland. War was imminent and Mussolini was seen as a warmonger with Hitler. Relief came from the prime minister of England, Neville Chamberlain, who proposed a conference to settle the crises. The conference was held in Munich on 29 & 30 September and Czechslovakia was not invited. Mussolini played a dynamic role as negotiator as well as interpreter. The result was that England and France gave away Czechslovakia to obtain peace. Germany went home with a more land and Mussolini went home as an international peace maker.
Albania
On 28 March 1939, Franco's forces occupied Madrid and ended the Spanish Civil War. Finally, after 3 years, the Italian troops could come home. Once again, Mussolini wanted to expand his control on the Mediterranean. He set his eyes on Albania. Albania was self-ruled but it depended on Italy for protection. So annexing it would be a "family matter" that was only symbolic. On 7 April, 1939, Italy invaded Albania, which proved to be a difficult campaign that emphazied the weakness of their army.
This was followed by a meeting between the German and Italian ministers in May 1939. Ribbentrop made a surprise annoncement that German wanted a nonaggression pact with Russia. Mussolini saw this as a way to dampen Hitler's military ambitions and signed the pact on 22 May, 1939. Italy ordered 6 battleships and additional munitions factories. The Nazis promised 3 years of peace.
Germany immediately began to make threats against Poland. Minister Ciano attempted to negotiate a settlement but Ribbentrop stated "We want war." Ciano tried to convince Mussolini to break the pact. Mussolini still had hopes that he would reap benefits of the fruits of war. If he broke the pact, then what would keep Germany from invading Italy? Hitler wrote Mussolini a letter explaining his actions and the reason for his pact with Russia. Mussolini saw an opportunity to get aid from Germany. He wrote Hitler that he would be willing to support a small war but he needed raw materials and arms to support a prolonged, major war. He requested 2M tons of steel, 6M tons of coal, 7M tons of oil, and a list of 13 other raw materials plus 150 anti-aircraft guns. Hitler promised aid from Germany in due time.
Alligiance with Germany
On 1 September 1939, Germany opened up WW2 with the "blitz-krieg" invastion of Poland. Mussolini again waivered between neutrality and total war. He knew that international opinion would turn against him if Germany invaded Belgium and Holland. He allowed Ciano to make anti-German speeches, while he wrote a long letter to Hitler condeming his treatment of Polish citizens. This 4,000-word letter arrived at a time when he was suffering from attacks of indigestion and attacks by British on his ships. Mussolini flipped his opinion one more time and agreed to go to war with Germany. He requested a meeting with Hitler at the Brenner Pass. They met on 18 March and again, Hitler did most of the talking. He asked for Italy's help to distract France and England but did not require Italy to attack across France's border.
By 9 April, Germany launched an attack against Norway and Denmark. By the end of the month, Germany was ready to invade France. Belgium surrendered on 28 May. Ignoring a final appeal from England, Mussolini decided that he did not want to miss out on the fruits of war and was ready to invade France. Hitler gleefully received this news but asked that he wait until France's air force could be destroyed by the German Luftwaffe. On June 10, Mussolini gave another speech to annouce that Italy was joing the fight. But still no support from Hitler. German troops entered Paris on 14th June. Mussolini ordered the invasion of France to start on the 18th but his general Badoglio could not move his troops to the border in time. The invasion finally began and the Italians captured two small French towns, when after only only 4 days, France had surrendered to Germany. At the Munich conference, Italy asked for land from southern France and Tunisia but got nothing.
Border conflicts had been increasing in North Africa over the months between Italy's old colony of Somaliland and neighboring British Somililand. On 3 August the Italians launched their invasion of British Somaliland with 40,000 men from Ethiopia. Within 4 days, they had cut off the capitol from escape to friendly French Somaliland.
The British turned their attention to retaining control of the Suez Canal. In December 1940, the Italian High Command abandon their claim on Sudan and focus on defending Ethiopia. British Major Orde Wingate lead a hit and run raids from Sudan against the Italians. The British were reinforced and on January 18, 1941, the 4th and 5th Indian Divisions launched an attack on Eritea. On the southern front, South African troops under British commander Cunningham attacked Italian Somaliland. In March, the British Royal Navy launched attacks to recapture British Somaliland.
Hitler was trying to negotiate a treaty with England so he could carry out his secret plans to invade Russian and capture the oil fields of Rumania. Mussolini was growing impatient and made plans for an invasion of either Yugoslavia, Greece or Egypt. The defeat of France by Germany, neutralized the western countries to the west of Libya.
Mussolini ordered an invasion of Egypt on June 28 but the Italian army in Libya did not attack across the border until September 13th. In four days they had pushed the British army back 60 miles. When he offered some planes and armor at an conference in October, Mussolini refused any aid until they were close to the final stages of conquering Egypt.
To Hitler's surpirse and annoyance, Mussolini launched an attack on Greece in response to Hitler's occupation of Rumania. Italian troops in Albania crossed the border of Greece on 28 October, 1940. Hitler was returning from a visit with Franco and learned of the invasion when he arrived at the train station at Florence. When Hitler met with the jubilient Mussolini, he could not speak of the invasion but gave false predictions that Spain would join the Axis alliance.
Campaign in Greece & Balkans
The invasion of Greece was a disaster. Soon the Greek armies were putting the Italians into retreat. The British sent their navy to occupy islands in the Aegean Sea. The Italian navy was not prepared to battle this mighty power. On 11th November, a British carrier force struck the Italian fleet anchored in Taranto harbor on the southern end of Italy. This aerial attack pre-dated the attack of Pearl Harbor by 13 months.
By early December 1940, Mussolini sent a special ambassador to Berlin to ask for aid. Hitler offered to send troop transport plans to assist in Greece. Could Germany assist in North Africa? Hitler's answer was conditional; he would send troops only if Italy would provide manpower for German factories and fields. Mussolini turned to his "ally", Russia, to obtain raw materials he would need for his army. Hitler told Mussolini to break off these talks immediately. He implied that German troops were being sent to the east. Mussolini assumed this was for the campaign against Greece and Yugoslavia; he had no clue of the forthcoming invasion of Russia.
On April 6, 1941, German troops crossed through Bulgaria and invaded Greece and Yugoslavia. Blegrade fell within a week. On April 23, the Greek army surrendered, thus relieving Mussolini of futher embarassement of loses on this front. Germany sent General Erwin Rommel to North Africa. At the same time, German troops began moving through the Brenner Pass into Italy. The Italian citizens resented this move and felt that Italy was slowly being bullied by their ally. The aerial bombardments by the RAF continued in the northern industrial cities. Prices rose and so did unemployment as less raw materials became scarce. Use of private autos were banned which lead to many resturants and areas of entertainment to close early. Mussolini was slow ration food and clothing. Thus the troops in Albania were freezing for lack of shoes and clothing but the products were still sold in shop windows in Rome.
By June 1941, everyone suspected that Hitler was about to invade Russia; everyone except Mussolini. A German diplomat woke Ciano at 3am to deliver the news. Mussolini offered to send Italian troops at once. Hitler accepted with some reluctance. The offensive was going well at all fronts. Hitler invited Mussolini to tour the front lines on August 25. On 7th August, Bruno Mussolini (18), the 2nd son of Il Duce, was killed when a new bomber he was testing crashed at Pisa. The two leaders met and announced a "New Order" for Europe. However, Mussolini was becoming skeptical. His offer of more troops was rejected by Hitler. He began to hear reports of mistreatment of Italian workers in Germany.
Battle for North Africa
When France surrendered, Mussolini ordered an invasion of Egypt on June 28 but the Italian army in Libya took 6 weeks for preparations. Italy's Army in Libya consisted of 236,000 men, including colonial troops. The British had 31,000 men in Egypt. The Italian 5th Army was placed at the eastern border of Lybia to reinforce the 10th Army. The attack was finally launched on 13 September and by the 20th, four Italian divisions and with 200 tanks had pushed 65 miles into Egypt. Marshal Rodolfo Graziani began requesting more supplies and armor. Hitler considered providing a division but refained from sending support pending his invasion of Russia. The British waited to see what would become of the campaign in Greece.
The Italians built a string of 7 major strongpoints that stretched 15 miles from the coast. During this lull of the desert war, the British sent 150 tanks to Egypt. On December 7, General Wavell moved the British 7th Armored Division and supplies to a weak point of the defenses. The attack hit the Italian between a gap in the out posts and began striking each one by one and routing the Italians. The British pushed into Bardia, then Tobruk, Derna and Benghazi. By 9 February 1941, they had advanced 500 miles and captured 130,000 prisoners, including 22 generals. The cost to the British was only 500 dead, 1373 wounded and 56 missing.
Hitler realized a defeat of the Italians would be demoralizing to his ally and provide the British with complete control of the region. After the fall of Bardia on 9 January 1941, he ordered units to be formed for service in North Africa. The 5th Light Divison was formed, which was later strengthened with a panzer regiment and this eventually grew into the Deutsches Afrika Korps (DAK). The Luftwaffe was allowed to fly more bombing missions in support of the Italian. The Germans had no experience in desert warfare. However, their 80 Mark III and IV tanks would prove far superior to the Italian armor and to much of the British armor.
On 12 February 1941, Lt-General Erwin Rommel arrived with the advance units of the Deutsches Afrika Korps. Even though he was placed under the Command of the Italian General Italo Gariboldi, General Rommel made prepartions to attack the British. His assault pushed the British back to Egypt and captured Tobruk, Libya. They only stopped due to the invasion of Russia. The British attempted to re-take Tobruk in June but failed. Both sides had a change of command: General Wavel is replaced by General Auchinleck. German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring is appointed the Supreme Commander of all of Mediterranean, including the Italians.
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The British launched an offensive on 18th November, which resulted in driving Rommel out of Egypt and re-capturing Tobruk on 29th. However, in January 1941, Axis naval and air forces begin arriving in Libya as some of the British Commonwealth troops are pulled out and sent to fight the Japanese. The German-Italian slowly advances across the desert and re-take Tobruk from the South Aficans. The British 8th Army forms a defensive line around El Alamein on 30 June. In September Rommel was recalled to Germany because of his health. On 30 August, the Axis attacks the El Alamein lines and fails.
On 23 October, the British attack the Axis defense lines around El Alamein. The British have a strength of 195,000 men, 1029 tanks and 2,311 guns. The Axis forces have 104,000 troops (the majority Italian), 489 tanks (259 inferior Italian) and 1,219 guns. The British destroyed 5 of the 7 Italian divisions in North Africa, and captured 130,000 Italian prisoners and 700 guns. Rommel lost 33,000 men and ordered a general retreat.
Then on 7 December 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor and Italy and Germany declared the United States as their enemy.
On June 21, 1942, the Axis forces captured Tobruk and 33,000 British soldiers.
On June 23, 1942, Mussolini's health improved enough for him to attend a cabinet meeting. To silence the dissidents, he reorganized the government and the cabinet members were replaced. Ciano was moved to the office of ambassador to the Vatican. Mussolini placed himself as head of the Foriegn Office. On 29th of June, Mussolini visited North Africa in hopes of celebrating the removal of the British from Egypt. Rommel did not bother to pay respects to the Italian dictator. Adding further insult, Hitler promoted Rommel to Field Marshal, thus making him the high ranking commander over the Italians. But Rommel had to halt his advance. The Axis desert forces would never again take on the offensive. After waiting for victory and planning how he would control Egypt, Mussolini returned home on 21 July.
Back in Italy, Mussolini became physically ill with stomach pains in September and October, 1942. Doctors believed an acute case of dysentery had reactivated an old ulcer. He was restricted to the bed and lost 40 pounds. He had periods of depression and inactivity. Mussolini retreated to the Adriatic coastal resort of Riccione with his mistress, Clare Petacci. Later X-rays diagnosed his problem as rheumatic localization in the spinal column. Rumors began to circulate about Mussolini's health and the King Victor Emmanuel began to cast around for his successor. The war for Italy went badly. Sea convoys trying to resupply the desert army were under constant attack by British Navy and Royal Air Force. The Germans were anxious to know more of the status of their ally, so SS commander Heinrich Himmler visited Rome on 11 October. Himmler stayed for a few days to collect intelligience. He reported back to Hitler that Italy would remain an ally as long as Mussolini remained alive.
On November 7, 1942, the American forces landed at Morrocco and Algiers. After dealing with the Vichy French government, they began to move east to engage the Germans desert army. Hitler responded immediately by landing 250,000 German and Italian troops in Tunis, Tunisia, on 11th November. The Axis army now had to fight a two-front war: General Bradley's 7th Army, spearheaded by General Patton's II Corps, from the west and General Montgomery's 8th Army on the east.
November 8th 1942- Battle of El Alamein.
British forces were 230,000 men and the Axis forces totaled 108,000
men; 42 out of the 70 battalions were Italian. The losses at El
Alamein were heavy for both sides: Rommel lost 25,000 dead and wounded
and 30,000 captured; Montgomery lost 4,610 dead and missing and 8,950
wounded. The bulk of Rommel's 17,000 casualties were Italian.
The Axis losses
during the Campaign in North Africa since June 1940 totaled 975,000
men, 7,600 aircraft, 6,200 guns, 2,550 tanks, and some 600 ships of all
sizes.
On November 30th, Reichsmarshal Herman Goering
made an unannounced visit to Rome after a previous cancellation due to
sickness. The Italians were offended by Goering blaming all
of Germany's troubles on Italy and his talk of his art collection that
he had accumulated. The fashion conscience Italians were even
offended by the full-length fur coat that Goering wore.
Fall from Power
Since Mussolini was on a strict diet of rice and
milk and submitting to an electrotherapeutic treatment, he decided to
send Count Ciano to Germany on December 18 to urge a
peace settlement with Russia. Ciano found the German high command
in turmoil and gloom over the news from the Russian front. The
German VI Army was surrounded at Stalingrad. Peace was a major
topic in Italy. Mussolini and King Emanuel discussed transferring
the High Command out of Rome in order to protect it from Allied
bombings.
The Allies landed in Sicily in July 1943 and had pushed the German and Italian defenders off the island by the end of August.
| Over the
years, Mussolini had taken total
control of the government. He made all the decisions and
relegated the Fascist grand council to little more than a rubber-stamp
approval. There arose dissidents within the Council who demanded
peace. The disidents were lead by former Foriegn Minister Dino Grandi and Duce's
son-in-law, Count Galeazzo Ciano. At a tense meeting on
16 July, 15 of the Fascist leaders asked Mussolini to cede some of his
powers so the country could run more efficent. He agreed to
have a meeting of the Gran Council, which had little power left. Five days later, he learned that Grandi was circulating a resolution to restore the authority of the Grand Council and other government agencies. Hitler summoned Mussolini to meet him at Feltre on July 19th, but the Italian delegation did not get a chance to express their need for peace. At a private meeting, Hitler continued to sway Mussolini with promises of new weapons that would win the war. During this meeting, 500 Allied bombers dropped bombs on Rome, causing 1400 dead and 6,000 injured. This was the greatest single event that pushed King Emmanuel and the Italian citizens over to the side of peace. The King had decided that he would use the Grand Council meeting to remove Mussolini as dictator and replace him with Marshal Pietro Badoglio. |
 Count Dino Grandi
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Saturday, 24 July 1943, Fascits Party Secretary Carlo Scorza opened the meeting by leading a cry of "Saluto al Duce!". Then Mussolini opened with a 2-hour lecture, which was usual for these meetings, and was followed by a round of debate. When Ciano announced his support of the motion to remove Duce, Mussolini went into a rage. After 9 hours of debates, Mussolini demaned a roll-call vote of the 26 members. Grandi's resolution won with 19 votes. The meeting was adjourned at 2:40am. Mussolini requested an audience with King Emmanuel on Sunday afternoon, instead of the usual Monday. The private meeting was arranged. The King made special arrangements for security and plans to arrest Mussolini. The meeting was short and the King was to the point. Mussolini accepted his fate and walked out in custody of the carabinieri.
A few Fascists leaders were arrested but most had fled Rome. At 10:45pm, the Italian radio interrupted programming to annouce the change of government. Citizens began to celebrate. Many began to strip down the emblems of Fascism. Badoglio took steps to restore order and began the process to get Italy out of the war.
Puppet of Hitler
The new Italian
government
tried to exile the ex-dictator to the island of Ponza. Later, they
moved him to the Gran Sasso mountain fortress. Hitler called
for SS-General Otto Skorzeny
to make a daring raid to rescue Mussolini
from the fortress and return him to Germany. Eventually
Mussolini was set-up as the new commander of the new Salo Republic on
28 October 1943, exactly 19 years from the time he first came to
power. His new residence was the Villa Feltrinelli located
in Gargnano on the western shore of Lake Garda where he was under the
guard of the Germans. Clara Petacci resided in the Villa
Fiodaliso at Gardone Riviera.
For
the next 18
months, Mussolini powers were totatally under the control of the German
command. He made very few public appearances or
speeches. Mussolini had a government but nothing to
govern. The Germans began
rounding up men for their labor camps. The provinces of Trieste,
Bolzano and other regions taken from Austria in WW1, was occupied as
"enemy territory". Any Italian soldiers found in those
"operational
zones" were sent to Germany as prisoners of war. The reaction to
this
force was the creation of partisan groups all over northern Italy.
On January 8, 1944,
Ciano and five other of the "traitors" were put on trial for
conspiracy for their actions at the Grand Council vote. Hitler
wanted vengence from the puppet government for
Italy's breaking of their treaty but his main focus was on "that
anti-German, Ciano". Mussolini thought the trail would help unify
the Fascist party but he was torn by family ties. His wife,
Rachele, even favored the
trial because she could not forgive her son
for voting Mussolini out of office. The six were found
guilty and condemned to death: Emilio de Bono, Carlo Pareschi, Tullio
Cianetti, Luciano Gottardi and Giovanni Marinelli, who was deaf.
They were taken to a shooting range at Forte San Porcolo, a suburb of
Verona. The condemned
were seated in chairs with their backs to a German firing squad.
The execution was a family tragedy. In Rome, the men were
regarded as martyrs; Ciano was praised as a hero. Mussolini was
pictured as a butcher. However, Count Ciano had the last
word. He compiled his journal that he had kept since 1939 and
with the help of his wife, Edna, ---yes, Mussolini's own
daughter----was
able to smuggle them out to the free press.
Mussolini requested
a talk with Hitler to discuss the expansion of the Salo Republic's
authority. He met Hitler on April, 22, 1944 and delivered a
long explanation of how he wanted to return control back to the
Italians and restore morale to the people. After listening to
him, Hitler responded with insults and accusations. He stressed
the importance of controlling the partisans and ended with a few words
of goodwill. The only good part of this trip was they
Mussolini was able to give a speech to the Italian soldiers being
trained in Germany.
Back at his Lake
Gordo residence, the news from the front was worse. Rome
fell. Allies landed in Normandy coast. Partisans were
growing stronger and more bold. A thousand partisans entered Milan unopposed. After
the partisans attacked a German truck, the Nazis executed 15 political
prisoners in a main square of Milan, Piazalle Loreto. The
rule of the Salo Republic was confined to the Po Valley.
Mussolini left Italy
on July 15th on a special train to speak to his troops and visit
Hitler, again. Only few hours before they were to confer, Hitler
went into a conference at his Wolf's Lair where he was the target of an
assassaniation attempt. He kicked a briefcase behind the leg of
the table which deflected the blast when it exploded. Hitler was
still visible shaken and held one arm stiff when he greeted Mussolini
at the train station.
By August 1944, the
Allies were in Paris and had landed a force in southern France.
Florence was captured, thus establishing a front line only 150 miles
from his residence. The Salo government would soon have to
retreat. Without asking permission, Mussolini announced an
important even for Milan on 15 December. Here he gave his last
public speech before a selected Fascist audience.
Final Days
For details of the
last days of Mussolini, including his escape from Milan, his capture
and execution, go to Execution
of Mussolini .