A Civil War (81 page)

35
See on this Bocca,
La Repubblica di Mussolini
, pp. 306–8, on the ‘Bonfantini affair', and also Canfora,
La sentenza
, esp. pp. 183–4, 193, 196, where these initiatives are credited with exaggerated significance.

36
La resistenza al fascismo a Montelupo nel 1943–1944
, the October 1966 written testimony of Giuseppe Romano (ISRT,
Raccolta di biografie
).

37
See Flamigni e Marzocchi,
Resistenza in Romagna
, pp. 115–16.

38
It was ‘propaganda at all cost' and the ‘printed press bands' that changed the climate. See Battaglia,
Un uomo
, pp. 36, 30–1.

39
See the ‘Rapporto di Giovanni' of 22 September 1943 (IG,
Archivio PCI
) and that by Alfredo (Arturo Colombi) on ‘the political–organisational situation' from 10 October of that year (Secchia,
Il PCI e la guerra di liberazione
, pp. 123–6).

40
See Pansa,
L'esercito di Salò
, pp. 72–3, which cites a GNR report of 2 August 1944. Blinded during the war, Borsani had been awarded the Medaglia d'Oro, and was president of the Associazione Nazionale Mutilati e Invalidi. He is now remembered on account of the ‘conspiracy of the three Bs' (see Bocca,
La repubblica di Mussolini
, p. 148.).

41
The paper was directed by a young officer, Rino Lavini, who was relieved of his post after three issues, one of which was seized as soon as it hit the newsstands (see Gorrieri,
La Repubblica di Montefiorino
, p. 201).

42
Quoted in Flamigni and Marzocchi,
Resistenza in Romagna
, p. 278.

43
See M. Isnenghi, ‘Verso una stampa post-fascista. Episodi di giornalismo marchigiano (1943–44)', in Rochat, Santarelli and Sorcinelli, eds,
Linea gotica 1944
, pp. 568–9.

44
‘Relazione della sezione comunista di Castelfiorentino alla federazione comunista fiorentina', 15 August 1944 (ISRT,
Fondo Salvadori – PCI Castelfiorentino
, insert 59).

45
See Gorrieri,
La Repubblica di Montefiorino
, pp. 212–13. The Modena newspaper, under the dubious leadership of Vittore Querel, would continue to harp on about this theme in subsequent months.

46
See ‘I due fascismi', an article in the 5 January 1944 Rome edition of
Risorgimento Liberale
, which terms the left fascists' manoeuvre as ‘very subtle Machiavellianism'.

47
See Flamigni e Marzocchi,
Resistenza in Romagna
, pp. 117–18.

48
See Bocca,
La Repubblica di Mussolini
, pp. 17, 75–7.

49
See Canfora,
La sentenza
, above all Chapter 4, ‘Lo Stato del lavoro nella parola del rettore'.

50
See the ‘Diffida' carried in the 31 December 1943 Rome edition of
Il Popolo
.

51
See Amicucci,
I seicento giorni
, p. 122. On 31 May 1944 Mezzasoma re-established pre-emptive censorship: see De Luna, ‘Giornali e giornalisti nella RSI', in Poggio, ed.,
La Repubblica sociale italiana
, p. 116.

52
According to F. Anfuso,
Da palazzo Venezia al lago di Garda
, Bologna: Cappelli, 1957, p. 326.

53
Amicucci,
I seicento giorni
, p. 69.

54
Levi,
I sommersi e i salvati
, p. 30.

55
E. Curti, ‘Impressioni', in
Donne in grigioverde
, 18 February 1945, cited in M. Fraddosio, ‘Donne nell' esercito di Salò', in
Memoria
4 (June 1982), p. 60.

56
See Calamandrei,
La vita indivisibile
, p. 112

57
‘Relazione sulla situazione politica e sullo spirito pubblico nella provincia di Bologna (quindicinale)', 31 December 1943, which begins: ‘The political situation in this province remains delicate' (ACS, Direzione Generale di PS Divisione Affari Generali e Riservati: I take the quote from the photocopy at the INSMLI. My thanks to Gabriella Solaro for having made me aware of this as well as the document mentioned on note 60, below page 286). On 20 March 1944 the same
questore
issued a report condemning the Bologna PFR federation led by Franz Pagliani, a ‘moderate' Fascist at the centre of murky dealings with ‘millionaires' (see Legnani,
Potere, società ed economia
, p. 14). On pp. 13–15 he cites other police reports of analogous situations, or else ‘an almost idyllic portrayal' of reality. A letter ultimately falling into the censor's hands spoke of ‘opportunists and sharks, thieves and vultures' who had infiltrated the party (‘Esame della corrispondenza censurata al 30 giugno 1944', in ACS, SPD, CR, RSI, envelope 9, folder 3). A convinced Fascist who joined the MSI after the war, he was unwilling to join the PFR on account of the ‘arrivistes' and ‘profiteers' who flooded into that party (testimony of Mario Sassi, in Portelli,
Biografia di una città
, p. 263).

58
Memoir of Dr Edmondo Leppo, n.d. but September 1944, in ACS, SPD, CR, RSI, envelope 24, folder 165.

59
At the Brescia conference, Mario Isnenghi spoke of the ‘refeudalisation' of the state, while Luciano Violante illustrated the splintering of criminal law, in which state bodies tended to exert jurisdiction over their own constituent parts (M. Isnenghi, ‘Autora: presentazioni dell'ultimo fascismo nella riflessione e nella propaganda'; L. Violante, ‘L'administrazione della giustizia', in Poggio, ed.,
La Repubblica sociale italiana
, pp. 99–111, 289–94).

60
‘The mood of the population is, undoubtedly, depressed, but it remains obedient to discipline', the head of the Padua province assured the Interior Ministry in his 26 January 1944 monthly report: the workers and intellectuals were highlighted as the most hostile elements, while the proportion of young men called to arms who actually showed up for duty was judged to be one-quarter (ACS, Direzione Generale di PS, Divisione Affari Generali e Riservati; photocopy at the INSMLI).

61
See Deakin,
Brutal Friendship
, pp. 613–21.

62
For the central – if not always explicit – role of the civil war in GNR reports, see Corsini and Poggio,
La guerra civile nei notiziari
. See also P. Ambrosio, ed.,
All' attenzione del duce. I notiziari della gnr della provincia di Vercelli
, Borgosesia: Istituto per la Storia della Resistenza in Provincia di Vercelli, 1980, and M. Calandri, ed.,
Fascismo 1943–1945. I notiziari della GNR da Cuneo a Mussolini
, Cuneo: L' Arciere, 1979.

63
See J. Petersen, ‘Il problema della violenza nel fascismo italiano', in
Storia contemporanea
XIII (1982), p. 990.

64
See the article ‘Dalle parole ai fatti', in the 17 October 1943 issue (quoted in Bocca,
La Repubblica di Mussolini
, p. 99).

65
See Missori,
Gerarchie e statuti del PNF
, pp. 338, 352.

66
See Legnani,
Potere, società ed economia
, pp. 11–15.

67
Document held in ACS, SPD, CR, RSI, cited in Bocca,
La Repubblica di Mussolini
, p. 271.

68
Paraphrased in Deakin,
Brutal Friendship
, p. 700.

69
‘Il partito in armi', in the
Corriere della Sera
of 26 July 1944. The 30 June decree ‘Duce della Repubblica Sociale Italiana' stated (article 1): ‘The political structure of the Party is transformed into a military-type body, including the creation of the Auxiliary Corps of the Blackshirt Action Squads.

70
Pisanò,
Storia della guerra civile
, pp. 739–40, and Francovich,
La Resistenza a Firenze
, pp. 283–5. The GAGs are discussed in a 15 June 1944 report from the Inspector Paolo (‘Cari compagni',
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 34).

71
Cited in Deakin,
Brutal Friendship
, p. 692.

72
ACS, SPD, CR, RSI (quoted in Bocca,
La Repubblica di Mussolini
, p. 268).

73
Bocca,
La Repubblica di Mussolini
, pp. 266–9, and Legnani,
Potere, società ed economia
, p. 24.

74
As Francesco reported in a 13 December 1944 meeting of the PCI leadership in Rome, laying great stress on the blow to the Blackshirts in their first sortie in the Canavese region (IG,
Archivio PCI
, ‘Direzione. Verbali 1944'). Francesco was probably referring to the clashes in August, during which Alessandro Pavolini himself was wounded at Cuorgnè (see Bocca,
La Repubblica di Mussolini
, pp. 268–70).

75
See the documents in Section V of Vaccarino, Gobetti and Gobbi,
L'insurrezione di Torino
, pp. 213ff; Gobetti,
Diario partigiano
, p. 370; the letter sent to Moscatelli by Moro, an Italian diplomat in Switzerland, on 10 February 1945 (IG,
BG
, 07887). Pisanò,
Storia della guerra civile
, p. 780, gives the blatantly exaggerated figure of 2,000 snipers in Turin.

76
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, pp. 332–5

77
IG,
BG
, 05417.

78
Some post-Liberation Tuscan CLN reports make reference to Fascist operations, for example those of 27 September and 14 December 1944 (ISRT,
Carte Francesco Berti
, envelope 1, folder 1). For the Fascists' activities to the south of the Gothic Line, see G. Conti, ‘La RSI e l'attività del fascismo clandestino nell'Italia liberata dal settembre 1943 all'aprile 1945', in
Storia contemporanea
X (1979), pp. 941–1018.

79
Directives to federation commissars 11 June 1944, held in the ACS and quoted by Conti, ‘La RSI e l'attività del fascismo clandestino', p. 976

80
See, for example, in the Fondo RSI: No. 1141, ‘Rifrapa racconta' (10 November 1944); No. 1145, ‘Lettere censurate' (9 December 1944) and No. 1197, ‘Il fascismo nell'Italia invasa ha impugnato le armi' (1945).

81
However, Professor Seton-Watson (whom I thank for his testimony) recalls how, as a liaison officer placed with a CIL division, he saw a confrontation with a GNR unit. Similarly, Richard Lamb (whom I also thank) told me that there are documents in the Public Record Office reporting on clashes between the Friuli Gruppo di Combattimento and RSI forces.

82
Fondo RSI, Nos. 292, 293, 309

83
Chiodi,
Banditi
, p. 32 (8 August 1944).

84
See E. Ronconi, ‘Note sui rapporti fra il clero toscano, la Repubblica sociale italiana e le autorità d'occupazione tedesche', in Comitato regionale toscano per le celebrazioni del trentennale della resistenza e della liberazione,
Il clero toscano nella Resistenza
,
Atti del convegno di Lucca, 4–6 aprile 1975
, Florence: La Nuova Europa, 1975, p. 138. Ronconi based his work above all on parish priests' reports.

85
See F. Parri, ‘La mancata Resistenza nel Sud', in
L'Astrolabio
XI: 1 (January 1973), p. 55. In
Il movimento di liberazione e gli alleati
, Parri had written: ‘The dire influence of Graziani's army helped aggravate the horrors of the civil war' (Parri,
Scritti 1915–1975
, p. 523).

86
See the ‘Relazione di ufficiale (ex partigiano) rientrato dall'internamento in Germania con la divisione Monterosa', sent to the Piedmont delegation by the Command of the 6
^th
Langhe Division on 27 August 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 276). On desertions, see the – far from precise – figures collected by Pansa for all four divisions: between 10 and 15 percent according to Graziani, 25 percent according to the Germans (thus around 16,000 out of 65,000). Pansa,
L'esercito di Salò
, pp. 207–8.

87
Mazzantini,
A cercar la bella morte
, p. 124.

88
A testimony that Ugo Tucci (who I thank) gave me regarding Umbria devoted some attention to this point.

89
See the example given by Bocca (‘La Resistenza incomprensibile', in
La Repubblica di Mussolini
), where on p. 103 he cites a report from the Turin
questore
speaking of the CLN as led by ‘Jewish communist types and elements in the pay of the enemy'.

90
See, on this observation, A. Lyttelton, ‘Fascismo e violenza: conflitto sociale e azione politica in Italia nel primo dopoguerra', in
Storia contemporanea
XIII (1982), p. 979.

91
See W. Churchill,
The Second World War
, vol. I:
The Gathering Storm
, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1948, p. 495.

92
See Bocca,
La Repubblica di Mussolini
, p. 256 and Pansa,
L'esercito di Salò
, p. 155. Already in a letter to Hitler of 1 November 1943, Mussolini had spoken of the Apennine armed bands, albeit adding that there was no need to worry about this (quoted in Deakin,
Brutal Friendship
, p. 594).

93
Cited in Deakin,
Brutal Friendship
, p. 704.

94
Testimony of the partisan Lara, in ‘Anonimo romagnolo',
1943–45
, p. 375.

95
See G. R. Zitarosa, ‘Parentesi ventennale', in
Aspetti letterari. Lucania d'oggi
XIII: 4–6 (December 1953), p. 100.

96
See the article ‘Squadra di polizia federale' in
La Gazzetta dell'Emilia
, 22 November 1943. According to Tarabini every Fascist had to join the militias (cited in Gorrieri,
La Repubblica di Montefiorino
, p. 49).

97
LRSI
, p. 110; and see Padoan (Vanni),
Abbiamo lottato insieme
, pp. 52–3.