The scene in the square
From our special correspondent
30 April 1945
Milan, 29 April
Mussolini, with his mistress, Clara Petacci, and 12 members of his cabinet, were executed by partisans in a village on Lake Como yesterday afternoon, after being arrested in an attempt to cross the Swiss frontier. The bodies were brought to Milan last night. A partisan knocked at my door early this morning to tell me the news.
We drove out to the working-class quarter of Loreto and there were the bodies heaped together with ghastly promiscuity in the open square under the same fence against which one year ago 15 partisans had been shot by their own countrymen – Italian fascists.
Mussolini’s body lay across that of Petaccci. In his dead hand had been placed the brass ensign of the fascist Arditi. With these 14 were also the bodies of Farinacci and Starace, two former general secretaries of the Fascist party, and Teruzzo, formerly Minister of Colonies, who had been caught elsewhere and executed by partisans.
Hid his uniform
Mussolini was caught yesterday at Dongo, Lake Como, driving by himself in a car with his uniform covered by a German greatcoat. He was driving in a column of German cars to escape observation but was recognised by an Italian Customs guard. The others were caught in a neighbouring village. They include Pavolini, Barracu, and other lesser lights in the fascist world on whom Mussolini had to call in later days to staff his puppet government.
This is the first conspicuous example of mob justice in liberated Italy. Otherwise the partisans have been kept well under control by their leaders. The opinion expressed this morning by the partisan C-in-C, General Cadorna, son of the former field marshal, was that such incidents in themselves were regrettable. Nevertheless, in this case, he considered the execution a good thing, since popular indignation against the fascists demanded some satisfaction. The risk of a protracted trial, such as has been taking place in Rome, was thus avoided.
Graziani, who, with two other fascist generals, surrendered to an American captain at Cernobbio, also on Lake Como, is now in custody under American guard at Milan. Graziani is endeavouring to arrange the surrender of the fascist Ligurian Army to the Allies.
‘Thirst for vengeance’
Milan radio said that a large crowd gathered in Piazza Loreto to see the bodies, 18 in number. It was here that the fascists recently murdered 15 patriots. The radio, describing the scene, said according to the British United Press: “From the entrance of the Piazza it is impossible to move because the crowd is so great. It is interesting to see the hate, the fury of those around. People spit upon the body, but that is only a continuation of the justice he should have suffered. He died too quickly.
“One woman shot five times into the body saying: ‘Five shots for my five assassinated sons.’ All approve and want more. They want the bodies to stay there for six months, and that is not enough. Never has so much hate, rancour, and thirst for vengeance been seen. This is justice. This is a good example and it will be followed by others.”
Editorial: Rough justice
30 April 1945
If, as seems likely, Mussolini and other prominent members of the fascist hierarchy have been shot by the Italian partisans without trial or argument, no one in the Allied countries will complain. These men were as guilty as any. They were sufficiently notorious to make identification easy. They richly deserved their fate. The method cannot be taken as a precedent, but many will feel that there is a certain rough justice about these swift and passionate executions which may be lacking from the cold-blooded judicial trials of which we shall have all too many before we are finished. Of the dead men only one earned a place in history.
Mussolini, the inventor of fascism and the first modern dictator, was a man of no ordinary ability. This rough, shrewd, ambitious peasant was the first to discover the modern road to power. Long before Hitler he saw the explosive force in a combination of nationalism and socialism. Long before Hitler he found an army among the down-and-outs, the unemployed, the ex-service men, the whole tribe of “armed Bohemians” left over from the first world war. And long before Hitler he realised the power of propaganda as an instrument to support his rule. For this last he was exceptionally suited. A journalist, he had himself a flamboyant, effective style both in writing and speaking, which, unfortunately, he has bequeathed to the Italy that has got rid of him. A true Italian, he perfectly understood the dramatic gesture which so appeals to a nation with an operatic tradition.
In one respect Mussolini was always easier to understand than Hitler. He was no fanatic, but a cynic who in private would often talk in a reasonable and intelligent manner. His foreign policy, therefore, was more predictable. In the early days at least he had no love for Hitler or for Germany, which he rightly regarded as the supreme threat to Italian independence. But when his absurd dreams of empire had led him into the Abyssinian adventure he was forced into the arms of Germany. The half-hearted policy of “sanctions” did not save Abyssinia but only made the Axis certain.
Like the leaders of the democracies, Mussolini underrated Hitler, whom he naturally despised as an intellectual inferior who had copied his example. At the same time he overrated the power of Italy and the loyalty of Italians to the fascist government. It is now clear that, for all their criminal folly, the Italian people never wholly accepted the denial of liberty, the cruelty and corruption which went with Fascism. Many, too many unfortunately, liked to be told that Italy was a great and martial nation, but when it came to the point they were at once too sensible and too civilised to follow their leader to the end. If Italian fascism was less horrible than German Nazism, one must thank the Italian people and not Mussolini. As it is, his crimes were sufficient. The murder of Matteotti and the invasion of Spain, to name only two, are not easily forgotten. But Mussolini’s greatest crime was to have been the inventor and creator of that evil disease which has so nearly brought Europe to ruin. He was the first fascist, and as such will stand infamous in history.
Italy rejoices
From our own correspondent
1 May 1945
In the villages and towns of central Italy there are signs of rejoicing everywhere. This is the first week in 23 years that begins without Mussolini. Coming north yesterday, on a sunny spring Sunday, I saw people in their best clothes gathered in happy groups watching the traffic or thronging round one or another of the small political party headquarters to listen to their new orators.
Traffic travelling towards the south was of vital interest to them, for even now and then there would be a convoy of huge trucks laden to capacity with German prisoners. Here was certain proof of victory and freedom.
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