A Civil War (61 page)

114
‘G.' to ‘Caro C.', 6 February 1944 (in ibid.).

115
For the use of this expression see Quazza,
Resistenza e storia d'Italia
, Chapter III, ‘Il Fronte resistenziale'.

116
The episode is recounted in G. Manni's unpublished diary, cited earlier, Ch. 1: 3, note 101.

117
Anonymous report relating to the Valsassina (IG,
BG
, 0941).

1
Directive on British propaganda for Italy
, 20 September 1940 (see Piccialuti,
Radio Londra 1940–45
, Appendix I, I, p. cxiii). The directives of 20 April 1940, when the British government still hoped to keep Mussolini from declaring war, insisted on two points: to foment anti-German sentiments by recalling that ‘European civilisation and traditions are based on the Roman Empire and the Christian Church'; to reassure the Fascists: ‘We have the greatest admiration for the achievements in Italy of Fascism' (ibid., p. xxx).

2
See, for example, the replies sent by Badoglio to Churchill and Roosevelt's message of 11 September 1943, and the proclamations of 15 September 1943 and 11 February 1944 (See Badoglio,
L'Italia nella seconda guerra mondiale
, p. 126; Degli Espinosa,
Il Regno del Sud
, pp. 53–8, 273).

3
L'Italia Libera
, Rome edition, 17 October 1943, and
La Riscossa italiana
, 20 October, gave prominence to the words pronounced by MPs Greenwood and Thomas to the House of Commons in the debate held on 21 and 22 September. See Churchill,
The Second World War: Closing the Ring
, Chapter 3, and Degli Espinosa,
Il Regno del Sud
, pp. 63–79).
L'Italia Libera
expressed its hope in an accord between the two peoples in ‘questa guerra di liberazione europea' (articles entitled ‘Da popolo a popolo' and ‘Iniziativa degli italiani'). On 7 May 1944
L'Italia Libera
, Lombardy edition, republished an article that had appeared in the
New Statesman and Nation
that was critical of Churchill's attitude and line regarding Italy.
Il Risorgimento Liberale
reminded the British prime minister that, if he had been deceived about Mussolini, why did he not realise that the Italians too could be deceived? (
Nel 1928 …
northern edition, November–December 1944).

4
Communication to Roosevelt, 5 August 1943, in Churchill,
The Second World War
, vol. V, book I, p. 90.

5
Interview given by Colville to R. Cianfanelli,
Corriere della Sera
, 8 June 1980: ‘Per vedere le rovine d'Italia non dovremo arrivare a Pompei' (cited in Casucci,
Il fascismo
, p. 14, note).

6
See Toscano,
Dal 25 luglio all'8 settembre
, pp. 14–17.

7
The leaflet is conserved in the ‘Museo del primo e del second Risorgimento', in Bologna.

8
The text of the broadcasts, entitled
La strada difficile e aspra
, is published in
Parla Candidus. Discorsi dal 13 aprile 1941 al 3 dicembre 1944
, Milan: Mondadori, 1945, pp. 180–1, and in
Piccialuti Caprioli, Radio Londra 1940–45
, pp. 209–11. The directive for propaganda towards Italy is in a memorandum relating to the period from 31 January to 31 May 1944 (see ibid., vol. I, p. cxxiii).

9
See, for example, a letter of … to ‘Carissimo' (Damiani?), in Switzerland, of 8 December 1943, asking him to ask Radio London for ‘more Italian' (‘più italiana') propaganda, and to give more appreciation to anti-Fascism (INSMLI,
Carte Damiani
, envelope I, folder I); the stance taken by the CLNAI on 16 June 1944, recalled by Catalano,
Storia del CLNAI
, pp. 206–7; the protest by the organ of the Mazzini Society, ‘Nazioni Uniti', against the fact that the American press was giving far more coverage to the French and Yugoslav Resistance than to its Italian counterpart (article entitled ‘L'organizzazione dei partigiani', 1 July 1944, quoted in L. Valentini's laureate thesis).

10
The text of the broadcasts is published in
Parla Candidus
, pp. 261–3, and in Piccialuti Caprioli,
Radio Londra 1940–45
, pp. 235–7.

11
Northern edition, article entitled ‘L' offensiva alleata e il popolo italiano'.

12
Parri's words are in Maurizio (F. Parri), ‘Il Movimento di liberazione e gli Alleati', in
Il Movimento di liberazione in Italia
, 1949, I, p. 8; republished in Parri,
Scritti 1915–1975
, pp. 512–28. According to Salvemini, Churchill, for the Italians, admitted only ‘sabotatori e vuotacessi' (‘saboteurs and john-cleaners'). Postcard to the author, 1955.

13
McCaffery's letter is published in Secchia and Frassati,
La Resistenza e gli Alleati
, pp. 99–100.

14
‘I'll never forget shouting ‘Viva Nizza italiana!' Revelli said to himself when he heard a Frenchman mockingly say, ‘Italian partisans, why do you no longer shout
viva il duce
?', and noted: ‘Here in the Nice area the French haven't forgotten June 1940' (Revelli,
La guerra dei poveri
, pp. 328 and 357, 30 August and 25 October 1944). A girl who was hostile to the Garibaldini because they were friends of the Slavs was reminded by a political commissar that, for everything that had been done against that people ‘in the name of the Italian people, we had to pay the consequences, even if they were unjust' (Vanni [G. Padoan],
Abbiamo lottato insieme
, p. 197).

15
Letter of 13 December 1943, in Longo,
I centri dirigenti del PCI
, p. 256. The criticism related to an article entitled ‘Perché è necessario che prenda il potere il Comitato di liberazione nazionale', which appeared 7 November in the northern edition of
L'Unità
.

16
Article entitled ‘Al popolo italiano, agli amici, ai nemici', in
La Libertà
, 27 October 1943.

17
Undated document of the Action Party of the North, commenting on the Salerno turning-point (mutilated, in INSMLI,
CLNAI
, envelope 8, folder 12). Probably it concerned the ‘plan for a political declaration to submit for approval by the Central Executive in Rome'.

18
Michel, ‘Gli Alleati e la Resistenza in Europa', p. 62.

19
Report by the Command of the 8
^th
Asti division to the delegation for Piedmont, 14 November 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 576).

20
Leading article entitled ‘Riscossa', in
La Riscossa italiana
, 20 October 1943.

21
‘Norms of a general character for the forthcoming events', sent to the commanders of the formations 3 May 1944 (ISRP, envelope 29, folder b). On the refusal by the Val Varaita to submit to the orders of Captain Patt, chief of the American mission, see Giovana,
Storia di una formazione partigiana
, p. 266.

22
Letter to the Piedmont regional military Command, 13 February 1945, in which advice is asked about how one should behave towards another captain, Chape, suspected of being an agent of British espionage (IG,
BG, Piemonte
, document 3). The fears displayed by this captain that the workers and the population would provoke disorder during the transition phase are mentioned in a letter that ‘the comrades' sent Pietro and Barbato of the 1
^st
Piedmont Garibaldi division on the eve of the Liberation (IG,
BG
, 04426).

23
Letter of the inspector of the CUMER delegation for North Emilia to ‘dear comrades', 13 December 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, pp. 74–6).

24
The Veneto insurrectional triumvirate to the PCI representative in the regional CLN, 19 March 1945 (ibid., p. 501).

25
This is what Vanni (G. Padoan) relates in
Abbiamo lottato insieme
, pp. 149–51.

26
This is what is said in the protest against the increasing interference and arrogance of the British Cherokee mission that the Biella zone Command sent on 7 April 1945 to the Piedmont delegation of the Command of the Garibaldi brigades and on 8 April to the CMRP (Le Brigate Garibaldi, vol. III, pp. 586–8). Regarding the Cherokee mission, see Poma and Perona,
La Resistenza nel Biellese
, pp. 386–9.

27
‘Estratto di un rapporto da Milano', 15 December 1944, in Secchia,
Il PCI e la guerra di liberazione
, p. 709.

28
See Cicchetti,
Il campo giusto
, p. 260.

29
Moscatelli to Livio (Paolo Scarpone), commissar of the Ossola zone single Command, 12 February 1945 (IG,
BG
, 07901).

30
March 1944 report by V.B., who had worked close to the front (IG,
Archivio PCI
).

31
See the undated (late 1944?) report on the ‘military solution' in Carnia (IG,
BG
, 09332).

32
On 13 November 1944 the English General Harold Alexander, commander-in-chief in Italy, issued a proclamation in which, declaring the conclusion of the summer campaign, he invited the partisans to ‘cease operations organised on a large scale'. This proclamation has been the centre of much controversy, for a recent re-examination of the question, see E. Aga-Rossi, ‘La politica anglo-americana verso la Resistenza italiana', in
L'Italia nella seconda guerra mondiale e nella Resistenza
, pp. 150–4. The proclamation had a depressing effect, but its provisions were only partly carried out, not least because of the ambiguously interpretable circular, written by Luigi Longo, that was issued on 2 December by the CVL General Command. The proclamation and the circular are published in Secchia and Frassati,
La Resistenza a gli Alleati
, pp. 151–9.

33
Undated report (October 1944?) by the 1
^st
Gramsci (Ossola-Valsesia) Garibaldi division (IG,
BG
, 06746).

34
‘Rapporto informativo dall'Emilia (da parte del PCI, novembre 1944)'. In the Communist federation of Modena there was a justifiably intense concern to avoid a situation of the kind that had occurred in Warsaw (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, pp. 666–71).

35
‘Rapporto informativo n. 4' of the Command of the group of Padana (Po valley), SAP brigades inferior to the delegation for Lombardy of the General Garibaldi Command, 15 December 1944 (ibid., vol. III, pp. 80–2).

36
The commissariat of the group of Valle di Susa divisions, 17 December 1944, to the Command of the 17
^th
brigade regarding the newspaper
Il Partigiano
(ibid., p. 103).

37
Cecco ‘ai compagni Livio e Cyrano', 20 December 1944 (ibid., pp. 118–20).

38
‘Information from Milan' on a meeting of the 4
^th
sector, 14 April 1945 (ibid., p. 622). Compare the clumsiness of the poster put up on 9 October 1944 by the new mayor of Forlì, Franco Agosto, for the liberation of the city: ‘We salute the Allies, who made a decisive contribution in blood to the victory', quoted in Flamigni and Marzocchi,
Resistenza in Romagna
, p. 316. The two authors record also the chilly welcome that the Allied troops were given in Forlì (ibid., p. 246).

39
The reactionaries were trusting in the break-up of the coalition, but would be disappointed – this was the line taken by the party and made known in a ‘circular' of 1 January 1945 by the Command of the group of Milan city and province SAP brigades (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, pp. 180–3).

40
Article entitled ‘Parole agli impazienti', Rome edition, 5 January 1944.

41
See 22 February 1945 reports on the ‘colloquio con la missione alleata per la Liguria' and on the ‘incontro fra i delegati del CLN per la Liguria e la missione alleata della 6a zona' (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, pp. 389–91 and p. 392, n. 2).

42
This, for example, is the opinion expressed by the Communist Alfredo in his ‘Impressioni generali riportate durante la mia permanenza nella zone liberata (24 January–14 March 1944)', ibid., vol. I, pp. 308–10.

43
Testimony of a partisan recorded in Bernardo,
Il momento buono
, p. 171.

44
The Command of the 6
^th
Liguria zone to the person responsible for military matters of Linguaria insurrectional triumvirate, 21 January 1945 concerning contacts that had been had with the mission in Liguria (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, pp. 270–1).

45
‘Responsible comrades' to ‘dear comrades', val di Lanzo, 7 August 1944, ‘segreto'. The subjects of the verb ‘dicono' (‘they say') are three Italians, two of whom are Communists, who had enlisted in the American army and parachuted into the zone (ibid., vol. II, p. 214).

46
See the
Informazioni da Torino
, undated (IG,
BG
, 04031).

47
Anonymous report, undated, on the zone of Montefiorino (IG,
BG
,
Emilia-Romagana
, G.IV.3.3).

48
See Vanni (G. Padoan),
Abbiamo lottato insieme
, p. 140.

49
The Communist federation of Modena to the party committee for the mountains, 8 January 1945 (ISRR,
Archivio del triumvirato insurrezionale Emilia-Romagna
).

50
‘Rapporto di un partigiano', undated, on the battle of Montefiorino, which began 30 July 1944 (IG,
BG
, 02255-57).

51
This is what the Nanetti Garibaldi division did. See the Command's ‘communications' to De Luca, inspector of the Triveneta delegation (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 61).

52
Mutilated letter to ‘caro Osvaldo', 21 October 1944, Ossola zone (IG,
BG
, 06645).