*In the afternoon of 25 April, [1945] Cardinal Schuster hosted peace negotiations at his residence between Mussolini and representatives of the CLNAI, which were unsuccessful. That evening, with the German army in northern Italy about to surrender and the CLNAI taking control of Milan, Mussolini decided to flee the city. At 8 p.m. he headed north toward Lake Como. It is unclear whether his objective was to attempt to cross the Swiss border or to go to the Valtellina; if it were the latter, he left the city without the thousands of supporters gathered in Milan intended to be his escort to the last stand in the Alps.*
*By some accounts, on 26 April, Mussolini, now joined by his mistress Claretta Petacci, made several failed attempts to cross the border into Switzerland. In any event, on 27 April, he joined a Luftwaffe column travelling in convoy and retreating northwards to Germany.*
*On 27 April 1945, a group of local communist partisans attacked the convoy in which Mussolini and Petacci were travelling, near the village of Dongo on the north western shore of Lake Como and forced it to halt. The convoy included a number of other Italian fascist leaders. The partisans, led by Pier Luigi Bellini delle Stelle and Urbano Lazzaro, recognised one of the fascists, but not Mussolini at this stage. They made the Germans hand over all the Italians in exchange for allowing the Germans to proceed. Eventually Mussolini was discovered slumped in one of the convoy vehicles. Lazzaro later said that:*
*“His face was like wax and his stare glassy, but somehow blind. I read utter exhaustion, but not fear … Mussolini seemed completely lacking in will, spiritually dead.”*
*Following his capture, the partisans took Mussolini to Dongo, where he spent part of the night in the local barracks. In Dongo, he was reunited with Petacci, whom had requested to join him, at about 2:30 a.m. on 28 April. In all, over fifty fascist leaders and their families were found in the convoy and arrested by the partisans. Aside from Mussolini and Petacci, sixteen of the most prominent of them would be summarily shot in Dongo the following day and a further ten would be killed over two successive nights.*
Horrgath on
This is a Denazification. Germany needed something like that.
Nuclear-Jester on
Turns out fascists will stab each other in the back at the first occasion
3 Comments
[From Wikipedia:](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Benito_Mussolini)
*In the afternoon of 25 April, [1945] Cardinal Schuster hosted peace negotiations at his residence between Mussolini and representatives of the CLNAI, which were unsuccessful. That evening, with the German army in northern Italy about to surrender and the CLNAI taking control of Milan, Mussolini decided to flee the city. At 8 p.m. he headed north toward Lake Como. It is unclear whether his objective was to attempt to cross the Swiss border or to go to the Valtellina; if it were the latter, he left the city without the thousands of supporters gathered in Milan intended to be his escort to the last stand in the Alps.*
*By some accounts, on 26 April, Mussolini, now joined by his mistress Claretta Petacci, made several failed attempts to cross the border into Switzerland. In any event, on 27 April, he joined a Luftwaffe column travelling in convoy and retreating northwards to Germany.*
*On 27 April 1945, a group of local communist partisans attacked the convoy in which Mussolini and Petacci were travelling, near the village of Dongo on the north western shore of Lake Como and forced it to halt. The convoy included a number of other Italian fascist leaders. The partisans, led by Pier Luigi Bellini delle Stelle and Urbano Lazzaro, recognised one of the fascists, but not Mussolini at this stage. They made the Germans hand over all the Italians in exchange for allowing the Germans to proceed. Eventually Mussolini was discovered slumped in one of the convoy vehicles. Lazzaro later said that:*
*“His face was like wax and his stare glassy, but somehow blind. I read utter exhaustion, but not fear … Mussolini seemed completely lacking in will, spiritually dead.”*
*Following his capture, the partisans took Mussolini to Dongo, where he spent part of the night in the local barracks. In Dongo, he was reunited with Petacci, whom had requested to join him, at about 2:30 a.m. on 28 April. In all, over fifty fascist leaders and their families were found in the convoy and arrested by the partisans. Aside from Mussolini and Petacci, sixteen of the most prominent of them would be summarily shot in Dongo the following day and a further ten would be killed over two successive nights.*
This is a Denazification. Germany needed something like that.
Turns out fascists will stab each other in the back at the first occasion