Figure 1.--This World War II photograph was taken by an American "Stars & Stripes" photographer, probanly in 1945. The photographer was Cyril F. Hooper, 209th. It is apparently an Italian boy fighting in the Resistance. We might have guessed he was fighting in Yugoslavia, but an American photographer would be more likely to have taken photographs in Italy.

Anti-Fascist resistance groups played only a minor role in the fighting south of Rome. Young people who rose up formed the nucleus for the Resistance that would play an important role in the campaign against the Germans and Fascists in northern Italy. The Germans oversaw a rump-Fascist state set up by Mussolini in northern Italy. The Resistance took on the Fascists organized larger units that actualy confronted the Germans and Fascists militarily, although they were poorly equipped and experienced heavy losses. The fighting was intense and the Resiatance often fought in isolation. They were primarily involved in the mountaneous Piedmont region. One fascinating account barely mentions the momentous events occuring at the time: The Italian surrender and declaration of war on Germany, the liberation of Rome, and the D-Day landings in France. [Gobetti] This changed after the liberarion of Rome (June 1944). The Italian Resistance played an important role in the northern campaign when the fighting moved north of the capital (June 1944). This was important because the Allies withdrew forces from Italy for what was seen correctly as the more important campaign in France. The effective Italian resistance essentially began at this point, in part because they begn obtaining american arms. The Italians played a major role in the Po Valley (winter 1944-45). They also organized non-military resistance such as strike actions. The main goal of the Resistance was to drive the Germans out of Italy. The timing of final German surrender was more the result of insurections in northern cities (Genoa and Milan) more than impending Allied assaults. [Katz] It was Italian partisans that captured and hung Mussolini (April 1945).

Sources

Katz, Robert. The Battle for Rome: The Germans, The Allies, the Partisans, and the Pope, September 1943-June 1944 (Simon & Schuster, 2003).

Gobetti, Ada. Partisan Diary: A Woman's Life in the Italian Resistance (2014), 384p. Gobetti's diary/memoir is an important narative of resistance to the Germans. It begins, however, with the German entry into her native Turin. The Resistance was essentially a non factor before the Italian surrender (September 1943).

Created: 5:21 AM 12/20/2008
Last updated: 4:47 AM 6/15/2016