A Civil War (37 page)

65
‘Rapporto sul lavoro SAP', 30 October 1944 (IG,
BG
, 06051).

66
The document bears two dates, 15 and 20 May: the second is also that of the circular that transmits the ‘schema' of the dependent organisms (INSMLI,
Brigate Garibaldi
, envelope 1, folder 4).

67
The triumvirate of the Communist federation of Modena, 23 March 1945 (ISRR,
Archivio del triumvirato insurrezionale Emilia-Romagna
).

68
Appeal to ‘Ufficiali italiani!', 25 May 1944.

69
Appeal to ‘Ufficiali, Sottufficiali, Alpini, Fratelli nostri!', undated (IG,
BG
, 05631).

70
Circular of 24 February 1945 ‘to all formations dependent operative sectors', concerning ‘officials who flock to the formations'. The document is signed by the political commissar Livio and by the military commander Colonel Delle Torri (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, pp. 412–15)

71
See Deakin,
The Brutal Friendship
, p. 679. For
‘l'alpinità' partigiana
see M. Giovana, ‘Tradizioni e stereotipi militari nella guerra partigiana italiana', in
Notiziario dell'Istituto storico della Resistenza in Cuneo e provincia
29: 1 (September 1986), pp. 27–87 (esp. p. 69–87).

72
See Tarchi (G. Tolloy),
Con l'armata italiana in Russia
, pp. 72, 186.

73
See Collotti,
L'occupazione nazista
, p. 543.

74
Letter by Nicola Di Febo di Pescasseroli, who died in Bari of wounds received on the Greek front (in Ceva,
Cinque anni
, p. 28).

75
Letter of 10 July 1942 (Rizzi,
Lo sguardo del potere
, p. 97).

76
‘You say that the Alpini haven't yet arrived, but I have to tell you that they have all managed to flee'. Letter sent from Vigliano d'Asti (‘Esami della corrispondenza censurata al 30 giugno 1944', in ACS,
SPD, CR, RSI
, envelope 9, folder 3).

77
Information sent to various CLNs and Commands of the CVL, 23 March 1945 (INSMLI,
CLNAI
, envelope 7, folder 2, subfolder 11).

78
See Giovana,
Storia di una formazione partigiana
, p. 278.

79
Chiodi,
Banditi
, p. 56 (25 August 1944).

80
See Pansa,
L'esercito di Salò
, pp. 192–3: GNR report of 19 August and 19 October 1944, relating to the zone of Sestrini Levante (the first was written just twenty days after the division's return to Italy).

81
Letter to Nuto and Dado, Pradleves, 31 October 1944 (see Revelli,
La guerra dei poveri
, pp. 467–8).

82
Those involved were the Alpini of the Tridentina division – the case is therefore different from that of the Monterosa – captured at the Brenner pass and concentrated, in Italian SS uniforms, in a barracks in Cuneo. See ibid., p. 154, beneath the date 30 November 1943.

83
Tarchi (G. Tolloy),
Con l'armata italiana in Russia
, p. 187.

84
Rochat,
Memorialistica e storiografia
, p. 481.

85
Annotations beneath the dates 23 August and 14 February 1944 (Revelli,
La guerra dei poveri
, pp. 322, 172–3).

86
Fogar has drawn attention to this component of the Osoppo formations in
Le brigate Osoppo-Friuli
, pp. 269–360.

87
See Padoan (Vanni),
Abbiamo lottato insieme
, p. 190.

88
See the ‘Regolamento', undated, in sixteen paragraphs, conserved in INSMLI,
CVL
, envelope 90, folder 12.

89
For a comparison between the Alpini and the
arditi
, see Rochat,
Gli arditi della grande guerra
, pp. 72–3.

90
See
Folgore. Foglio da campo del paracadutista italiano
, 15 October 1943 (cited in Di Giovanni, degree thesis).

91
See Di Giovanni, degree thesis.

92
One of the most authoritative is the one that Togliatti was to make in his report to the 5
^th
Congress of the PCI (Togliatti,
Opere
, vol. V, p. 192).

93
See Di Giovanni's degree thesis, which also records the fears that in the transfer from Sardinia to Naples the
paracadutisti
would divert the ship towards the territory of the RSI.

94
This episode is recounted by Gaetano, regular NCO, in his answer to a questionnaire given to him by M. Di Giovanni (see the latter's degree thesis).

95
‘Saluto al Gruppo Folgore', in
Folgore
, 15 November 1944 (cited in the degree thesis of M. Di Giovanni).

96
See the chapter entitled ‘The Battle for the Republican Army', in Deakin,
The Brutal Friendship
; Bocca,
La Repubblica di Mussolini
, chapter entitled ‘Il riarmo'; Pansa,
L'esercito di Salò
; Setta,
Renato Ricci
, pp. 251–58.

97
See Deakin,
The Brutal Friendship
, p. 575.

98
Ibid., p. 602.

99
‘Esame della correspondenza censurata al 30 giugno 1944'. ‘È un'altra volta come prima', ‘It's again like before', says one of the censored letters (ACS,
SPD, CR, RSI
, envelope 9, folder 3).

100
See Bianco,
Guerra partigiana
, pp. 120–1.

101
See Pansa,
L'esercito di Salò
, p. 139. Pansa's book has a wealth of documents similar in tenor to this.

102
See Rizzi,
Lo sguardo del potere
, p. 153.

103
Report by Captain Gino Greco, commander of the Sassuolo infantry training battalion, to the provincial chief and the military Command of the province of Modena, 18 December 1943 (see Gorrieri,
La Repubblica di Montefiorino
, p. 56).

104
‘Rapporto sulla situazione di Biella e dintorni', signed by ‘Zollrat', 15 June 1944 (IG,
BG
, 06139).

105
Quoted in Deakin,
The Brutal Friendship
, p. 599.

106
See for example the
Report on conditions in enemy occupied Italy
, n. 37, of the Italian Theatre, HQ, PWB, Secret, 7 February 1945 (ISRT,
Archivio Medici Tornaquinci
, envelope 3, 6, n. 1).

107
‘Relazione fatta da Nardi per conto del Partito d'Azione, dalla zona Lecco-Brianza', 14 April 1945 (INSMLI,
CVL
, envelope 93, folder 5).

108
See the circular by General Mischi, head of the General Staff, quoted in Pansa,
L'esercito di Salò
, p. 140. For songs in the Italian military tradition, see M. Isnenghi,
Le guerre degli Italiani. Parole, immagini, ricordi 1848–1945
, Milan: Mondadori, 1989, pp. 71–113.

109
‘Esame della corrispondenza censurata al 30 giugno 1944' (ACS,
SPD, CR, RSI
, envelope 9, folder 3).

110
Ibid. The director of SIM, C. Amè (
Guerra segreta in Italia, 1940–1943
, Rome: Casini 1954, quoted in Rizzi,
Lo sguardo del potere
, p. 64), has spoken of the impression that the ‘different … form of mutual spiritual relations between officers and troops' made on the Italian troops in North Africa.

111
Mazzantini,
A cercar la bella morte
, p. 41.

112
The episode is recounted in ibid., p. 170.

113
Ibid., pp. 143–4.

114
See Rizzi,
Lo sguardo del potere
, p. 91, and ‘Esame della corrispondenza censurata al 30 giugno 1944' (ACS,
SPD, CR, RSI
, envelope 9, folder 3).

115
M. Bernardo,
Il momento buono. Il movimento garibaldino bellunese nella lotta di liberazione del Veneto
, Rome: Ideologie, 1969, p. 91.

116
Neppi Modona,
Giustizia penale
, p. 75.

117
See particularly M. Occhipinti,
Una donna di Ragusa
, preceded by E. Forcella,
Un altro dopoguerra
, Milan: Feltrinelli, 1976, and the above-mentioned collection of essays, edited by N. Gallerano,
L'altro dopoguerra
. See also Rizzi,
Lo sguardo del potere
, p. 84.

118
See Gorrieri,
La Repubblica di Montefiorino
, Chapter I, ‘Il passaggio di Armando [Mario Ricci] oltre il fronte', and Chapter LIII, ‘L'esodo in massa oltre il fronte'. On 5 June 1944 the PCI leadership for occupied Italy had sent all the federal committees orders against changing sides (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, pp. 15–19).

119
See Bernardo,
Il momento buono
, pp. 125–6. The circular with the pessimistic news about the South, to which the author alludes, is probably that of 20 December 1944, conserved in IG,
BG
, 09505. See also the ‘Relazione militare' (Military Report) to the ‘ufficiale di collegamento' (liaison officer) of the CUMER, Toetti (Bruno Gombi), regarding the situation of partisans in liberated Tuscany, undated, but winter 1944–45 (IG,
BG
,
Emilia-Romagna
, G.IV.3.2).

120
‘Il nostro esercito', article by ‘quelli della montagna' (‘those of the mountains'), republished in
L'Italia Libera
, northern edition, 6 February 1945.

121
Report by Tristan Codignola: minutes of the 15 June 1945 session, in ISRT,
Carte Carlo Campolmi
, envelope 2.

122
Anonymous ‘Appunti' (‘Notes') of 9 March 1945, in ACS,
Carte Casati
, folder S.

123
The text of the radio conversation is in ISRT,
Archivio Medici Tornaquinci
, envelope 10.2, n. 2. But in a report of 27 February 1945 the same under-secretary would complain that in Romagna enlistment was being impeded, and that it had not yet been possible to obtain parity of treatment between the families of regular soldiers and those of the partisans fighting alongside them (ibid., envelope 3.3, n. 1).

124
Minutes in IG,
Archivio PCI
, ‘Direzione'. See G. Conti,
L'esercito italiano sulla linea gotica fra alleati e partigiani
, and G. Boatti, ‘Partigiani voluntari nel Regio Esercito: l'esperienza del gruppo di combattimento Cremona', in G. Rochat, E. Santarelli and P. Sorcinelli, eds,
Linea gotica 1944. Eserciti, popolazioni, partigiani
, Milan: Franco Angeli, 1986, pp. 143–60. See also, in general, G. Conti, ‘Aspetti della riorganizzazione delle forze armate nel regno del Sud (September 1943–June 1944)', in
Storia contemporanea
VI (1975), pp. 85–120, and L. Rizzi, ‘L' esercito italiano nella guerra di liberazione: appunti e ipotesi per la ricerca', in
Italia contemporanea
135 (April–June 1979), pp. 53–81.

125
‘Sintesi delle relazioni deli uffici militari censura di guerra del mese di settembre 1944', in Aga-Rossi,
La situazione politica ed economica
, pp. 128–36.

126
Ibid.

127
Ibid.

128
See Rizzi,
Lo sguardo del potere
, p. 83. For the impact of the culture and organisation of the Allied armies, see in particular N. Gallerano's essay in
L'altro guerra
.

129
ACS,
Carte Casati
, folder U.

130
On the ill will demonstrated by the Allies in Rome immediately after the liberation of the city, see the ‘Notizie varie sulla Capitale', sent by Orlando, General Commander of the Carabinieri, to Bonomi, prime minister and minister of the interior, 10 August 1944 (quoted in Aga-Rossi,
La situazione politica ed economica
, pp. 109–11). On the obstructionism practised by a local military governor, see the minutes of the 28 January 1945 session of the Empoli CLN (ISRT,
Archivi comunali
, envelope 2, folder I, S., folder 3,
CLN Empoli
).

131
See in particular Kogan,
Italy and the Allies
; P. Secchia and F. Frassati,
La Resistenza e gli Alleati
, Milan: Feltrinelli, 1962; D. Ellwood,
Italy 1943–1945
, Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1985.

132
‘Weekly Bulletin' of the Allied control commission, 26 November 1944 (cited in Kogan,
Italy and the Allies
, p. 73).

133
La Voce del Popolo
, 24 February 1944, article entitled ‘Fuori dall'equivoco'. The newspaper referred to the activities of the Gruppi combattenti Italia, for which see C. Pavone, ‘Combattenti Italia: un fallito tentativo di costituzione di un corpo di volontari nell'Italia meridionale', in
Il Movimento di liberazione in Italia
34–35 (1955), pp. 80–119. On the repercussions that the episode had in the Actionist circles of the North, who tended to overestimate its republican significance, see
L'Italia libera
, Lombard edition, articles entitled ‘La situazione', 20 November 1943, and ‘Il congresso' (of Bari), 18 February 1944.

134
See, for example, the letter by Second Lieutenant Sforzino Sforza (Carlo's son) to Minister Casati, where the Corpo italiano di liberazione (Italian Liberation Corps), and particularly its officers, cut a very poor figure (ACS,
Carte Casati
, folder A).

135
These are Rizzi's words, from
Lo sguardo del potere
, p. 81.

136
‘Il partito liberale e i doveri dell'ora', conversation broadcast on Radio Roma, 22 January 1945 (ISRT,
Archivio Medici Tornaquinci
, envelope 10, 2, n. 1).

137
Information taken from Agostino Bistarelli's degree thesis on Italian Second World War veterans (University of Pisa). The 1982 article referred to is by G. Gerosa Brichetto, ‘Come nacque la nostra associazione'.