The Italian Partisans were fighting three types of conflict: a civil war against Mussolini’s Fascists, a war of national liberation against Nazi occupation, and a class war against the chosen elites. Communist Party factions fought all three varieties and helped to pave the way for the chaotic, unstable future that defined Italy’s existence in the post war period. In this article, journalists James E. Roper and John Chabot Smith report on the Partisan battles in Northern Italy during the Spring of 1945:
“They killed Mussolini and his henchmen. They killed 1,000 persons in five days in and around Milan. Some Partisans thought the city was still not cleaned of Fascists when the American Army finally entered on Sunday afternoon April 29 and by their presence ended the assassinations.The fighting was about over; the even more difficult struggle was for stability was already beginning but with less excitement.”
Another article about Italy’s anti-fascists can be read here…
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