Attenzione. Attenzione. Sua Maestà il Re e Imperatore ha accettato le dimissioni dalla carica di Capo del Governo, Primo Ministro e Segretario di Stato di Sua Eccellenza il Cavaliere Benito Mussolini e ha nominato Capo del Governo, Primo Ministro e Segretario di Stato il Maresciallo d’Italia Pietro Badoglio.
Italiani!
Assumo da oggi il comando di tutte le Forze Armate. Nell’ora solenne che incombe dui destini della Patria ognuno riprenda il suo posto di dovere, di fede e di combattimento; nessuna deviazione deve essere tollerata, nessuna recriminazione può essere consentita. Ogni italiano si inchini dinnanzi alle gravi ferite che hanno lacerato il sacro suolo della Patria.
L’Italia, per il valore delle sue Forze Armate, per la decisa volontà di tutti i cittadini, ritroverà nel rispetto delle istituzioni che ne hanno sempre confortata l’ascesa, la via della riscossa.
Italiani! Sono oggi più che mai indissolubilmente unito a Voi dall’incrollabile fede nell’immortalità della Patria.
VITTORIO EMANUELE III
Italiani!
Per ordine si S. M. il Re e Imperatore assumo il governo militare del Paese, con pieni poteri.
La guerra continua. L’Italia, duramente colpita nelle sue province invase, nelle sue citta distrutte, mantiene fede alla parola data, gelosa custode delle sue millenarie tradizioni.
Si serrino le file attorno a S. M. il Re e Imperatore, immagine vivente della Patria, esempio per tutti.
La consegna ricevuta è chiara e precisa: sarà scrupolosamente eseguita, a chiunque si illuda di poterne intralciare il normale svolgimento o tenti turbare l’ordine pubblico, sarà inesorabilmente colpito.
Viva l’Italia! Viva il Re!
La Stampa (July 26, 1943)
Un messaggio del Sovrano: “L’Italia per il valore dei suoi soldati, per la decisione di tutti i suoi cittadini ritroverà la via della riscossa” – Il proclama del Maresciallo: “Assumo il Governo militare con pieni poteri. La guerra continua. Chiunque turbi l’ordine pubblico sarà inesorabilmente colpito”
Il comunicato ufficiale
Roma, 26 luglio –
Sua Maestà il Re e Imperatore ha accettato le dimissioni dalla carica di Capo del Governo, Primo Ministro e Segretario di Stato di Sua Eccellenza il Cavaliere Benito Mussolini e ha nominato Capo del Governo, Primo Ministro e Segretario di Stato il Maresciallo d’Italia Pietro Badoglio.
In un’ora estremamente critica della vita nazionale, la voce del Re ha risuonato alta, forte e risoluta, annunciatrice di decisioni di cui è superfluo sottolineare la portata agli Italiani. E’ la Dinastia che, come già in altri momenti non meno gravi per il paese, prende in sua mano ogni iniziativa e ogni potere, e assume di fronte alla storia le supreme responsabilità. La ispira la saggezza millenaria, che ha guidato il popolo, attraverso i più ardui frangenti, sulle vie della salvezza, sormontando difficoltà, e ostacoli che parevano insuperabili. L’assiste, chiamato alla direzione del Governo della Nazione, un Soldato di salda tempra, il cui prestigio non ha mai subito eclissi tra il popolo, che istintivamente guardava a Lui come a una riserva preziosa di sane energie, di quadrata esperienza, di costruttiva capacita organizzatrice.
Ma questa voce, augusta come la voce stessa della Patria, ci comanda la disciplina e la concordia:
Nessuna deviazione dev’essere tollerata, nessuna recriminazione può essere consentito. Ogni italiano si inchini dinanzi alle gravi ferite che hanno lacerato il sacro suolo della Patria.
…sono le parole del Messaggio regale.
Chi non sente la santità e l’urgenza irresistibile di questo imperativo non ha cuore d’italiano. Le prove, che ci attendono, sono di quelle che rivelano compiutamente gli uomini, ne mettono in piena luce i tratti avarati: nessuno si macchi dell’inescusabile delitto di dar sfogo, in un momento come questo, a un desiderio di piccole vendette, o ai meschini risentimenti determinati da preoccupazioni personali. Un popolo che, quando la Patria è in pericolo, non sa reprimere in sé le sollecitazioni dei livori settari, per far fronte, unito e compatto, al nemico che avanza, perderebbe ogni titolo a sopravvivere, e segnerebbe con le sue stesse mani la propria fatale condanna. Oggi si tratta di scongiurane una catastrofe, che ci travolgerebbe tutti, come collettività e individui, anche coloro che oggi pensassero di negare o di tradire la suprema legge della solidarietà nazionale, e che sarebbero forzati a conoscerla nella generale rovina. E’ l’ora di guardare dinanzi a noi, non dietro a noi; indugiare a considerare il passato sarebbe estrema follia, quando è l’avvenire che è in giuoco, quando sono i futuri destini del Paese che dobbiamo preservare dalla rovina.
L’obbedienza a questo comandamento solenne è la condizione dell’avverarsi del Vaticino Regale: perché il Messaggio del Re, se ci ammonisce sul pericolo che minaccia, ci conforta con una alta, vibrata affermazione di fede sulla sorte della nostra Patria immortale. L’Italia non può perire, e l’Italia non perirà, se sapremo stringerci con ferrea decisione, con impegno totale, con abnegazione senza riserve, intorno al grande, canuto Vegliardo, che impersona oggi e sempre l’anima immortale e l’istinto vitale di tutto il popolo, il Suo popolo.
Viva il Re!
Roma, 26 luglio (Stefani) –
Non appena il popolo romano è venuto a conoscenza della notizia trasmessa per radio che Sua Maestà il Re aveva assunto il comando delle Forze Armate ed aveva nominate Capo del Governo il Maresciallo Badoglio, si è riversato per le strade manifestando tutta la sua soddisfazione ed il suo entusiasmo.
Man mano le strade dell’Urbe, malgrado la tarda ora e l’oscuramento, hanno assunto un aspetto di grande esultanza patriottica. Al grido di Viva l’Italia! Viva il Re! Viva Badoglio! Viva l’Esercito! ed al canto dell’Inno di Mameli, si sono formati imponenti cortei cin cartelli improvvisati e bandiere tricolori che si sono diretti verso il Quirinale.
Al loro arrivo i manifestanti hanno trovato la piazza già gremita di folla acclamante alla Maestà del Re ed a Casa Savoia.
Mentre gran parte della folla sostava ancora ad acclamare il Sovrano, altri cortei si formavano e si dirigevano verso il Ministero della Guerra dove altissime acclamazioni all’Italia ed alle Forze Armate si sono levate.
In altri punti della città, e particolarmente davanti alle sedi dei giornali si svolgevano analogie manifestazioni patriottiche al grido di Viva l’Italia!
Una grandiosa manifestazione ha avuto luogo a Piazza Venezia dove, invaso il cortile del palazzo, ha dimostrato la propria esultanza e la sua indefettibile passione per le sorti della Patria.
Dilagando per il Corso, una enorme fiumana di popolo proveniente da Piazza Venezia, si è portata a Piazza Colonna, dove ha espresso ancora una volta il suo inequivocabile patriottismo al canto dell’Inno di Mameli, della Canzone del Piave e dei vecchi inni del Risorgimento italiano.
Dovunque il popolo dell’Urbe ha riconfermato la sua profonda fiducia negli immortali destini della Patria sotto l’augusta guida del suo Sovrano e affidati alle sue valorose Forze Armate.
Milano, 26 luglio (Stefani) –
Malgrado l’ora avanzata, la notizia che Sua Maestà il re ha assunto il comando di tutte le Forze Armate ed ha nominato Capo del governo il Maresciallo d’Italia Pietro Badoglio, si è diffusa rapidamente in tutta la città suscitando fervide manifestazioni di patriottismo tra grandi acclamazioni al Re Imperatore, all’Italia ed al Maresciallo Badoglio.
Bologna, 26 luglio (Stefani) –
Nonostante l’ora tarda in cui è state conosciuta, la notizia del cambiamento del Governo ha suscitato il più vivo entusiasmo patriottico. Si sono subito formati cortei che con alla testa grandi bandiere tricolori hanno percorso le vie centrali della città e si sono poi spinti fino alla periferia. Nei rioni popolari al grido fi Viva l’Italia! Viva il Re! Viva Badoglio!
U.S. State Department (July 26, 1943)
Washington, July 26, 1943.
324.
By coincidence I was again at Shangri La this afternoon when the news from Rome came, but this time it seems to be true. If any overtures come we must be certain of the use of all Italian territory and transportation against the Germans in the North and against the whole Balkan peninsula, as well as use of airfields of all kinds. It is my thought that we should come as close as possible to unconditional surrender followed by good treatment of the Italian populace. But I think also that the head devil should be surrendered together with his chief partners in crime. In no event should our officers in the field fix on any general terms without your approval and mine. Let me have your thoughts.
ROOSEVELT
London, July 26, 1943.
383.
Your 324. I send you my thoughts in the form in which I submitted them to the war cabinet obtaining their full approval.
I don’t think myself that we should be too particular in dealing with any Non Fascist Government even if it is not all we should like. Now Mussolini is gone I would deal with any Non Fascist Italian Government which can deliver the goods. The goods are set out in my memo herewith. My colleagues also agreed with this.
It seems highly probable that the fall of Mussolini will involve the overthrow of the Fascist Regime and that the new government of the King and Badoglio will seek to negotiate a separate arrangement with the Allies for an armistice. Should this prove to be the case it will be necessary for us to make up our minds first of all upon what we want and secondly upon the measures and conditions required to gain it for us.
At this moment above all others our thoughts must be concentrated upon the supreme aim namely the destruction of Hitler, Hitlerism and next [Nazi] Germany. Every military advantage arising out of the surrender of Italy (should that occur) must be sought for this purpose.
The first of these is in the President’s words “The control of all Italian territory and transportation against the Germans in the north and against the whole Balkan peninsula as well as the use of airfields of all kinds.” This must include the surrender to our Garrisons of Sardina, the Dodecanese and Corfu as well as of all the naval and air bases in the Italian mainland as soon as they can be taken over.
Secondly and of equal importance the immediate surrender to the Allies of the Italian fleet or at least its effective demobilization and paralysis and the disarmament of the Italian air and ground forces to whatever extent we find needful and useful. The surrender of the fleet will liberate powerful British naval forces for service in the Indian Ocean against Japan and will be most agreeable to the United States.
Also of equal consequence the immediate withdrawal from or surrender of all Italian forces in Corsica, the Riviera including Toulon and the Balkan Peninsula to wit, in Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece.
Another objective of the highest importance about which there will be passionate feeling in this country is the immediate liberation of all British prisoners of war in Italian hands and the prevention which can in the first instance only be by the Italians of their being transported northwards to Germany. I regard it as a matter of honour and humanity to get our own flesh and blood back as soon as possible and spare them the measureless horrors of incarceration in Germany during the final stages of the war.
The fate of the German troops in Italy and particularly of those south of Home will probably lead to fighting between the Germans and the Italian army and population. We should demand their surrender and that any Italian Government with whom we can reach a settlement shall do their utmost to procure this. It may be however that the German divisions will cut their way northward in spite of anything that the Italian armed forces are capable of doing. We should provoke this conflict as much as possible and should not hesitate to send troops and air support to assist the Italians in procuring the surrender of the Germans south of Rome.
When we see how this process goes we can take a further view about the action to be taken north of Rome. We should however try to get possession of points on both the west coast and east coast railways of Italy as far north as we dare. And this is a time to dare.
In our struggle with Hitler and the German army we cannot afford to deny ourselves any assistance that will kill Germans. The fury of the Italian population will now be turned against the German intruders who have as they will feel brought these miseries upon Italy and then come so scantily and grudgingly to her aid. We should stimulate this process in order that the new liberated Anti-Fascist Italy shall afford us at the earliest moment a safe and friendly area on which we can base the whole forward air attack upon south and central Germany.
This air attack is a new advantage of the first order as it brings the whole of the Mediterranean Air Forces into action from a direction which turns the entire line of air defences in the west and which furthermore exposes all those centers of war production which have been increasingly developed to escape air attack from Great Britain. It will become urgent in the highest degree to get agents, commandos and supplies by sea across the Adriatic into Greece, Albania and Yugoslavia. It must be remembered that there are 15 German divisions in the Balkan Peninsula of which 10 are mobile. Nevertheless once we have control of the Italian Peninsula and of the Adriatic and the Italian armies in the Balkans withdraw or lay down their arms it is by no means unlikely that the Hun will be forced to withdraw northwards to the line of the Save and Danube thus liberating Greece and other tortured countries.
We cannot yet measure the effects of Mussolini’s fall and of Italian capitulation upon Bulgaria, Roumania and Hungary. They may be profound. In connection with this situation the collapse of Italy should fix the moment for putting the strongest pressure on Turkey to act in accordance with the spirit of the alliance and in this Britain and the United States acting jointly or severally should if possible be joined or at least supported by Russia.
The surrender of, to quote the President, “the head devil together with his partners in crime” must be considered an eminent object and one for which we should strive by all means in our power short of wrecking the immense prospects which have been outlined in earlier paragraphs. It may be however that these criminals will flee into Germany or escape into Switzerland. On the other hand they may surrender themselves or be surrendered by the Italian Government. Should they fall into our hands we ought now to decide in consultation with the United States and after agreement with them with the USSR what treatment should be meted out to them. One may prefer prompt execution without trial except for identification purposes. Others may prefer that they be kept in confinement until the end of the war in Europe and their fate decided together with that of other war criminals. Personally I am fairly indifferent on this matter provided always that no solid military advantages are sacrificed for the sake of immediate vengeance.
That worked well, nearly all Italians I met in the 80th knew a lot about Nazi occupation but nearly nothing about Italian pre Cassibile involvement in the second world war. Meanwhile in 43 Operation Gomorha was running.
Hmm so drop a few bombs on Rome and Italy surrenders. Guess that confirms that terror bombing can work.
740.0011 European War 1939/30341: Telegram
London, July 26, 1943 — 6 p.m.
[Received July 26 — 1:15 p.m.]
4862.
Personal for the President and the Secretary.
This afternoon in talking with Eden I found there were two opinions in the Foreign Office in relation to the Italian situation.
That the change-over was due to a last desperate attempt to strengthen the war effort.
The dominant opinion and that held by Mr. Eden which he described as “A mixture of the policies adopted by Prince Max von Baden and Pétain on their way to quitting”. He felt that neither Mussolini nor General Badoglio could make the Italians fight.
He said one thing which I believe is important. That Russia in some way should be brought into our councils in considering the Italian situation. He felt that the Russian manifesto to Germany might have been in part influenced by their not having been included as signatories to the Anglo-American proclamation to the Italian people. He did not mean by this that he thought they should have been included as a practical matter but only that they were sensitive to exclusion.
When the tide turns and the Russian armies are able to advance we might well want to influence their terms of capitulation and occupancy in Allied and enemy territory.
WINANT
The Pittsburgh Press (July 26, 1943)
Badoglio, new Rome ruler, is reported seeking deal with Allies
By Harrison Salisbury, United Press staff writer
London, England –
Marshal Pietro Badoglio, new Premier of Italy, proclaimed countrywide martial law today and unconfirmed reports circulated that ousted Premier Benito Mussolini had fled into exile or had been arrested by the army as a “war criminal” to be turned over to the Allies.
An authoritative source said that Britain was ready to talk peace terms with the new Italian regime, but there was still deep mystery around. Badoglio’s intentions regarding a separate peace as well as around the fate of the fallen Duce.
Rumors circulating in Stockholm, however, suggested that the new Italian Premier might desire to make a deal with the United Nations and turn Mussolini over to them for trial – if he could get out from under German domination. The rumors lacked any official support.
It appeared likely that the true position of the new Italian government would emerge only after considerable delay, although an expected speech by Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the nest sitting of the House of Commons may clarify the outlook.
The outstanding question regarding Italy concerned the position of German Armed Forces in that country and of Italian troops in the Nazi-occupied Balkans. It was estimated that the Germans from 7-9 divisions (possibly 130,000 men) in Italy and Sicily and there has been much speculation that the Nazis would eventually seek to set up a defense line protecting the northern industrial area of Italy above the Po River.
Although Marshal Badoglio was known to have opposed the Nazis as well as the Fascists in the pasts, there was no concrete evidence that he would try to oust the Germans and seek peace with the Allies. The nearest the Rome radio came to hinting at an anti-German stand was the discontinuance of daily lessons in the German language and failure to broadcast any foreign news, omitting even the daily Nazi war communiqué.
Marshal Badoglio emphasized that the Fascist organization was being liquidated as such by removing Blackshirt guards at the Swiss border and replacing them with regular military police, but he gave no hint as to the whereabouts of Mussolini, who has frequently been reported thin and gaunt recently as a result of illness.
Stockholm newspapers, usually a center for Axis propaganda feelers, also appeared to be without information of a definite nature, but did produce the usual rumors and speculation. One such rumor was that Mussolini had fled to Switzerland or Germany. No source was indicated.
Another conflicting rumor in Stockholm was that Badoglio had arrested Mussolini and other high Fascists and that he would later seek to use them in negotiations with the Allies, possibly offering to turn the Fascists over to the United Nations for trial on “war guilt” charges.
Madrid reports said that Mussolini and other Fascist leaders are under police protection at a villa believed to be in the Rome area.
There was also speculation that Mussolini might have sought to save himself by some negotiations through the Vatican, where his son-ion-law, Count Galeazzo Ciano, has been ambassador and where the Ciano family was expected to take refuge.
The Nazi broadcasts took the position that Mussolini was ill and that the government would fight on with Germany. This position was taken by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels after considerable delay. The Japanese broadcasts even delayed 16 hours in announcing Mussolini’s resignation.
Badoglio quickly established a drastic military regime in all of Italy.
He ordered a dusk-to-dawn curfew and banned all public meetings in what may have been a move to prevent a civil war between ousted Fascists and supporters of the new Royalist regime.
If the Badoglio government does ask for terms, an authoritative British diplomatic commentator said, Britain will be prepared to deal with him “provided that it is evident he exercises full authority in Italy.”
The only “terms” acceptable to the Allies, as specified by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill, will be “unconditional surrender.” Both the United States and Britain had refused even to discuss a separate peace for Italy so long as Mussolini remained at the helm.
The British Cabinet will soon meet to examine the implications of Mussolini’s deposal and decide its attitude toward the new government, the commentator said. The government was said to be watching closely to see whether the Badoglio regime will overthrow the Fascist system or merely substitute a new figurehead for Mussolini.
Unofficial observers said it was well within possibility that the Italians have already indirect contacts with the Allies. Reports circulated that Italian delegates attended the Roosevelt-Churchill Casablanca Conference last winter and only the past fortnight, similar delegates were said to have been in Algiers. None of these reports was confirmed.
With Mussolini out of the way, the Allies were expected to intensify their military and propaganda campaign to knock Italy out of the war and leave Germany alone to face the onrushing Russians from the East and the Allies from the West “before the leaves of autumn fall.”
Germany was also believed to determine the path to be chosen by the Badoglio government. Swedish newspapers quoted the Rome radio as saying that Marshal Albert Kesselring, German commander in Italy, and Hans-Georg Viktor von Mackensen, German Ambassador to Rome, had conferred with Badoglio.
There had been no authentic reports of widespread disorders in Italy preceding Mussolini’s ouster last night, but major trouble is expected when army Royalists take over power from the Fascist hierarchy.
Nearly 300,000 Fascist Blackshirt troops are believed stationed in Italy.
Marshal Badoglio announced the appointment of Raffaele Guariglia, Ambassador to Turkey, as Foreign Minister, an additional portfolio taken over by Mussolini last spring following the removal of his son-in-law, Count Galeazzo Ciano.
Guariglia was reported by Radio Rome to be en route to the Italian capital by plane from Ankara, where he easily could have arranged informal third-party contacts with Allied nations, possibly to extend peace feelers.
The Fascist rule of Mussolini, who gave Italy her greatest modern empire and then lost it all in a mad gamble for additional lands, ended last night with his “resignation,” 20 years and nine months, lacking four days, from the time of his famous “Blackshirt” March on Rome that made him Premier and dictator.
Rigid censorship cloaked any repercussions within Italy from Mussolini’s deposal, but earlier reports from neutral capitals had told of increasing strikes and unrest in his homeland as the Allies turned the full weight of their aerial assault against Italy, rolled across Sicily and threatened the mainland with invasion.
The British and American governments remained silent officially on the sudden shift in the Italian government.
Prime Minister Churchill worked at his desk until the early hours of morning awaiting developments and discussing implications. Cabinet members hurried to Whitehall.
Perhaps significantly, President Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill had told the Italian people in a joint statement only 10 days ago that the deposal of Mussolini was one of the cardinal conditions to a possible peace with Italy.
But Mussolini’s removal alone will not satisfy the allies, sources here emphasized, and the government-controlled BBC told the Italian people:
Now Mussolini has gone. But those to whom he handed over the Italian people, the Germans, are still in Italy… Peace and liberty will not come to the Italian people before the last German soldier has been chased from Italian soil.
Marshal Badoglio’s proclamation of martial law and establishment of a curfew was announced in a manifesto issued through commanders of army corps and territorial defense forces and broadcast by Radio Rome.
Military in charge
The manifesto provided that:
The commander in each province will take over all armed forces including police, militia, citizens’ armed groups, and similar organizations.
All powers for maintaining public order have passed to the military.
The militia will be incorporated in the army.
All public places, such as movie theaters and the like, will be closed.
Meetings of more than three persons anywhere or at any time are prohibited.
Sales of arms and ammunition are banned.
Use of autos, boats or planes except in public or military service with special permit is banned.
All bill-posting except that of Catholic Churches is prohibited, as is signaling of all kinds.
All permits for carrying arms are revoked.
All citizens must carry identification documents.
Only one edition daily of newspapers will be permitted.
The manifesto ordered all troops and other forces to carry out the provisions of the manifesto even if it became necessary to use arms. All arrested will be given a military trial, the Italian broadcast said.
Only priests, doctors, midwives and nurses carrying out their duties were specifically exempted from the terms of the curfew.
People urged
Marshal Badoglio, in his new capacity as chief of government over 40 million Italians, also issued a proclamation – the second since he took office last night – calling on the Italian people to resume their “posts of work and responsibility.”
He said:
This is not a moment to abandon ourselves to demonstrations which will not be tolerated. The present grave hour imposes upon everyone seriousness, patriotism and acts of devotion to the supreme interests of the nation.
Assemblies are prohibited and public forces have been ordered to disperse them ruthlessly.
The drastic measures invoked by Badoglio enhanced the impression that Mussolini’s disposal may have been more of a “palace revolution” than first was indicated.
They also indicated that Italy may have been on the verge of complete internal collapse.
Mussolini’s deposal was revealed in a series of proclamations broadcast by the Rome radio last night.
The first announced that King Victor Emmanuel had accepted Mussolini’s resignation as chief of government, Prime Minister and Secretary of State and had appointed Badoglio, Italy’s greatest soldier, to the three posts.
Proclamation by King
Next came a proclamation from the King, countersigned by Marshal Badoglio, in which the monarch assumed command of the nation’s armed forces and called on the Italian people “in the solemn hour which has occurred in the destinies of our country” to take up again their “post of duty and of fighting.”
The King said:
No deviation must be tolerated. No recrimination must be allowed. Every Italian must stand firm in the face of the grave danger which has beset the sacred soil of the fatherland.
Badoglio, in proclaiming that he was taking over the military government of the country with “full powers,” said:
The war continues. Italy, hard hit in her invaded provinces, in her destroyed cities, loyally keeps her given word, jealous custodian of her military traditions. All must group themselves around His Majesty, the King Emperor, living image of the fatherland and an example for all.
Thus ends Duce’s career
Thus ended the career of Mussolini, who literally rose from the gutter to make Italy a leader among the world powers and then plunged her into her darkest hour by entering the war on the side of his country’s World War I enemy Germany.
His deposal was made all the more complete by the selection of Badoglio, who in 1922 asked the King to permit him to throw Mussolini and his “Blackshirt upstarts” into the sea with a single company of police. Instead, the King turned over the government to Mussolini.
Badoglio, despite his open dislike for Fascism, responded to a call from Mussolini when Italy’s Ethiopian campaign speared on the point of failure, rallied the flagging armies and completed the conquest.
Made army’s scapegoat
He was made chief of the Italian General Staff and retained the post until 1940, when he was made scapegoat for the dismal Italian showing in Greece and Africa and replaced. He has since lived in retirement.
It was noteworthy that the King and Badoglio in their proclamations gave only the date July 25, 1943, and not the usual “year twenty-one of the Fascist era.” Likewise, Rome radio followed the proclamations only with the royal march, omitting for the first time since the advent of Mussolini the Fascist anthem, “Giovinezza.”
Though there was no sign that Italy would withdraw from the war immediately, it was noted that the King in his proclamation calling on the people to do their duty, made no reference to continuing the war.
Devotion to duty stressed
Marshal Badoglio said the war “would continue,” but laid much greater emphasis on devotion to duty, possibly in an attempt to persuade the Italian people to end their strikes and internal dissension.
The authoritative British Press Association commented that Italy’s days as an Axis partner were numbered.
It was virtually impossible to overestimated the repercussion of Mussolini’s ouster, particularly throughout the Balkans.
The encouragement given the guerilla forces in Yugoslavia and Greece is bound to be tremendous and even more serious, from Berlin’s viewpoint, will be the tendency of Romania and Hungary to refuse further demands from Germany for troop levies and to increase their peace feelers through Turkey.
May be aid to Russia
Germany has been dependent upon the Italians and other satellites for the bulk of troops defending Southeastern Europe. If suddenly required to take over responsibility for the defense of the Balkans as well as northern Italy, there is no question but what Germany would be forced to withdraw major forces from Russia.
An American source said the crisis in Italian affairs may have stemmed directly from the meeting a week ago today of Hitler and Mussolini at Verona, in northern Italy. He believed that Mussolini may have entered a final plea for reinforcements to defend Italy, only to be refused because of the Russian offensive on the Eastern Front.
When Mussolini reported this to King Victor Emmanuel, it was said, the King called for and received his resignation.
Another major factor in Mussolini’s ouster may have been his illness. The former Duce has been in poor health for the past five years and has appeared in public less and less frequently. Recent photographs disclosed that he has lost almost entirely his former prominent paunch.
Fall comes 38 months after vow to kill off democracies
By the United Press
Benito Mussolini, agitator, bun and turncoat in his time and creator of dictatorship in the modern manner, lasted 21 years as boss of Italy – a great many of them on bluff.
Less than 38 months after he stuck out his lower jaw and promised that his never-produced millions of bayonets would help kill off democracy, Mussolini’s regime died with guns of the Allies firing within hearing distance of the Italian mainland.
It was an easier end than had ever been anticipated for Mussolini – and unexpected. As Mussolini’s rise exemplified the waning of freedom in Europe, his fall was the first big stroke looking toward the freeing of Europe.
It came only four days before his 60th birthday. His armies were failing everywhere. Allied troops marched through Sicily and were in position to threaten the mainland soon. His African empire, won with blood, was gone.
Father was blacksmith
Mussolini, son of a radical-minded blacksmith, led his Blackshirt legions on Rome on Oct. 28, 1922, and became Premier in a bloodless revolution, forcing King Emmanuel to yield. Mussolini himself went before the King, wearing his black shirt and keeping a pistol swinging from his hip.
Taking the title Il Duce (the leader), Mussolini promised that the Fascist Blackshirts, advocates of force, would either get the government quickly or would seize it at the expense of the “miserable dominant class.”
He was then only 38 years old, a strong, vigorous man. Behind him was a long record as a socialist editor and agitator. He was the forerunner from whom Hitler and various other imitators borrowed the ideas for Fascist forms of the corporative state.
Named for Mexican hero
Mussolini became a full-fledged dictator with all the trappings of ancient Caesarism and the talk of a new order of social organization when Adolf Hitler was still an obscure agitator hanging around a Munich beer hall where he recruited the followers for his Nazi movement of 1933.
Mussolini was born July 29, 1883, at Dovia di Predappio, a village in northern Italy where his mother was a schoolteacher and his father Alessandro, a blacksmith. His father named him Benito Juarez after the Mexican revolutionary.
Brawlings and various escapades interrupted his schooling. However, he was educated enough to become a teacher before he started bumming his way through Europe. He was arrested as a socialist agitator when he came back to him hometown and fomented a farm strike.
Denounced as turncoat
Then he moved in with his father, married, and helped around the father’s tavern. He founded a newspaper of agitation that led to his being, by the time of World War I, a man of some prominence in Italy. But his socialist friends denounced him for suddenly turning – some believe because of financial considerations – from a peace-lover to an advocate of Italy’s entrance into the war.
He had founded in 1915 what later became the Fascist Party. He served in the army during the war, rising to sergeant. He once suffered 42 wounds when a trench mortar exploded.
His wife, Donna Rachele of Forli, lived in obscurity. She bore her husband five children.
Made many reforms
Street brawling characterized the rise of Fascism. Unrest was rampant in Italy. At its height, the March on Rome occurred.
With an amazing vigor that infected all the country, Mussolini set out to remake Italy. He accomplished many things, bettering for a time the lot of workers, carrying out pension programs and government reforms but leveling heavy taxes.
He ruthlessly suppressed every free movement, broke up all terrorist organizations and instituted codes that keep Italy functioning.
Climax of this period came when he started to work with Hitler, set out to expand the Italian Empire and eventually conquered Ethiopia in 1936 in defiance of the League of Nations and Great Britain.
Stabs France in back
After Hitler forced World War II on the world in 1939, Mussolini hung back until France was dying before Hitler’s Nazi legions. Mussolini ordered Italian troops into the French Riviera on June 10, 1940.
He said:
Now the die is cast and our will has burned our ships behind us. We are going to war against the decrepit democracies. We shall win and we shall give a long period of peace and prosperity to Italy and the world.
President Roosevelt said Mussolini’s act put a dagger into the back of helpless France. Eighteen months later, Mussolini went to war against the United States with Germany.
Health failing
Mussolini’s present health was not known but he was believed to be failing. Recent pictures showed him losing weight, although for years he has been the most active of the Fascists and forced his followers into feats of strength of prove themselves. He reportedly shunned liquor.
Many times, assassins have tried to kill him. Once, a bullet grazed his nose. Another time, a bomb exploded outside his automobile. He boasted of his allegedly charmed life.
Bruno Mussolini, second son of the dictator, was killed in an airplane crash near Pisa on Aug. 7.
In 1922, military leader wanted to ‘sweep upstarts into the sea’
By the United Press
It took 21 years for Marshal Pietro Badoglio to see his opinion of Benito Mussolini justified, and when it came, he succeeded the dictator as Premier.
Badoglio, now 71, was already famous for his part in World War I, and had served as Italian Chief of Staff when the Blackshirt Fascists poured into Rome in 1922 for the bloodless revolution. Watching the march from a balcony with King Victor Emmanuel, Badoglio said:
Sire, with just one company of Carabinieri, I could sweep those Blackshirt upstarts into the sea.
The King said no.
That remark made Badoglio an enemy of Mussolini but Badoglio stayed prominent in Italian military affairs, saved the Ethiopian campaign and retired as Chief of Staff only when the Fascists had to find a goat for their reverses.
Blamed for Caporetto disaster
Badoglio was born in Grazzano Monferrato, in Piedmont, on Sept. 28, 1871. His active military career began in 1896 in the Eritrean campaign and he fought in 1910 against the Turks in Libya and came out of that war a major.
By the time Italy entered World War I, he was a lieutenant colonel. He was blamed for the Italian disaster at Caporetto, but received a major share of credit for a victory at Vittorio Veneto. After his victory at Sabotino in 1916, he was made a marquis. In November 1919, he was made Chief of Staff.
Immediately after the rise of Mussolini, Badoglio was sent out of the country on goodwill missions by the King to avoid a clash with Il Duce. In 1924 and 1925, he was Ambassador to Brazil, being recalled to take the commission of marshal in the army.
Looked upon as a monarchist leader, Badoglio nevertheless followed Mussolini’s direction because he was an Italian and a soldier.
Saved Ethiopian campaign
The tall, quiet Badoglio became Governor of Libya in 1929, holding the post for five years. The King made him his honorary cousin as a mark of devotion. When the Ethiopian campaign began to bog down, Mussolini asked Badoglio to save him. He did and became viceroy of that new territory in the Empire.
He returned from Ethiopia to become commander-in-chief of the army until the reverses in Albania and North Africa led to his resignation in December 1940. From the obscurity of that retirement – forced by the Fascists – Badoglio was called by the King to lead his nation after Allied armies had wrecked the Empire and pierced the outer boundaries of the homeland.
Badoglio’s son, Paolo, was killed in North Africa two years ago, where he was a flier. His other son, Mario, is also a flier. He has one daughter.
Nation’s leaders agreed that total collapse of Italy is near
By the United Press
Persons in all walks of life today hailed the ouster of Benito Mussolini as the beginning of the end for Italy and a definite sign that the Axis structure is crumbling.
Comment included:
Former President Herbert Hoover:
The downfall of one of the world’s greatest persecutors… will give heart to every persecuted man and woman in the Axis-occupied world and it is the handwriting on the wall for his colleagues.
Vice President Henry A. Wallace:
Surely it won’t be long now as far as Italy is concerned.
Mayor F. H. La Guardia of New York:
I anticipate the complete capitulation of Italy within the next few days. He [Mussolini] will go down in history as the betrayer of Italy.
Prime Minister John Curtin of Australia:
The repercussions on occupied countries cannot be overstated. Hitler sees in the fate of his ally the handwriting on the wall for himself.
Foreign Minister Ezequiel Padilla of Mexico:
The machinery of the Axis is breaking up.
Count Carlo Sforza, former Foreign Minister of Italy:
If the Fascist machine and the party’s Blackshirted army go on, the world may be entitled to wonder whether the change in Italy is not an indirect service rendered to Hitler in order to allow him to organize his defense in the Alps, while hoping that the United Nations will accept being cheated by a simulated anti-Fascist regime.
If Badoglio advises the immediate dissolution of the National Fascist Party and of the criminal armed gang called the Blackshirted Army and if he frees at once the heroic political prisoners… In that case, it may happen that a new beginning of confidence will be shown in the new government.
Attorney General Francis Biddle:
It looks like the first evidence of the internal breaking up of Italy.
War Manpower Commissioner Paul V. McNutt:
The action would indicate the end of the Fascist regime.
Rep. Sol Bloom (D-NY):
The people respect Badoglio as the only man who had the nerve to tell Mussolini to his face what he thought of him and his regime.
Carol II, exiled King of Romania:
It is widely known that King Victor Emmanuel has been against the war from the very start.
Rep. Vito Marcantonio (ALP-NY):
This is the beginning of the end. Neither the people of the United Nations, nor Americans, will accept any compromise short of unconditional surrender, and that means no dictator and no king.
Ferdinand Pecora, New York State Supreme Court Justice:
Italy will not be in the war for more than a month more.
Mussolini in his heyday predicted many Italian ‘triumphs’
By the United Press
Among the heyday boasts of Benito Mussolini were:
June 10, 1940, in declaring war against Britain and France:
Now the die is cast and our will has burned our ships behind us…. We are going to war against the decrepit democracies… We shall win and we shall give a long period of peace and prosperity to Italy and the world.
Feb. 24, 1941:
The war on the continent has ended and it cannot flare back.
July 29, 1941:
Not even the slightest doubt can arise concerning the outcome of this battle. We shall win.
Oct. 28, 1941:
Bolshevism and its befuddled allies of Europe and America will die.
Nov. 18, 1940:
Once I start, I never give up until the end.
March 26, 1939, in discussing Italy’s demands on France:
No matter how things go, we wish to hear no more about brotherhood, sisterhood, cousins and other such… relationships, because relationships between states are relations of force and these relations of force are the determining elements of their policy.
In an address to his Blackshirt followers in the early days of the Fascist regime:
Should I recede, kill me.
A motto he caused to be inscribed on Italian 20 lire coins:
After the first year of war, we are certain of victory.
June 11, 1941:
The entry of the United States into the war would come too late, and even if it did not come too late, it would alter nothing.
Badoglio, known enemy of Fascism, will find way to sever ties with Axis, Packard believes
By Reynolds Packard, United Press staff writer
This dispatch was written by the former manager of the Rome Bureau of the United Press who was interned when the United States declared war on Italy and subsequently released under the exchange agreement. He is an authority on Italian affairs.
Allied HQ, North Africa –
The fall of Mussolini is the most momentous development in the war to date and the first question that follows is: Will Marshal Pietro Badoglio find a way to break with Germany?
That Marshal Badoglio will look for a way is obvious to one who knows Italy. How else could the advent of a known enemy of Mussolini and of Fascism at Italy’s helm be regarded?
I am sure the Italian people know Marshal Badoglio didn’t take over just to follow Mussolini’s policies. And they also must know that Mussolini didn’t desert until the raid on Rome and the defeat in Sicily made him sense inevitable disaster.
The development created great excitement here. Mussolini’s resignation was expected, of course, but not so soon. The next thing that must be ascertained before Marshal Badoglio’s course can be judged is Germany’s reaction.
Hitler’s men in Italy seem to have only one of two possible steps:
They must pull out entirely, giving up Italy to her own future, or
They must cease the role of a Gestapo over Italy and take open steps to make the Italians stay in the war.
When I left Italy more than a year ago, it was estimated Germany had seven divisions in Italy. Lately, they have sent in more, possibly preparing for just such a thing as has happened. I have reason to believe there may be 20 Nazi divisions there now. The Gestapo already controls the Italian secret police.
Thus, Marshal Badoglio’s job of telling Hitler that Italy no longer wants his war is magnified. How the Marshal, who saved Mussolini in Ethiopia and was later discarded by the Fascists, can get the job done is the question. Naturally, it might be asked whether Hitler engineered the deal. That isn’t likely unless Hitler has found Italy is impossible to defend and consented only to neutralize the country and use it as a buffer between Sicily and the German defenses.
Marshal Badoglio’s immediate statement that the “war continues” seems – and I was in Ethiopia with him and know his character – aimed at preventing the Axis from moving in at once. With a few weeks’ delay, he might be able to work things out.
When Marshal Badoglio retired in disgust and anger at what he regarded as the criminal Greek offensive in 1940, he was looked upon by Italians as a symbol of opposition to Mussolini. Why a revolt didn’t develop then is a major Italian mystery.
Two other points come up in the situation:
As to the first, the most probable answer is that he did.
Mussolini has always been a master bargainer and a diplomatic dealer. While I was interned, there were constant rumors in Italy that Mussolini would try to engineer his escape through Vatican City in case of defeat. This was bolstered by the fact that he had made his pampered son-in-law, Count Ciano, Italian Ambassador to the holy See, sand skullduggery was suspected.
Great effect on Europe
The little King and other members of royalty, to my mind, have played along with Fascism. The Prince of Piedmont, for example, commanded Italian forces that marched into France. But for some years, the King’s present feeling toward Fascism has been a matter of speculation.
The fall of Mussolini is bound to have a great effect upon the other states of Europe which have watched him strut about and bluff them for years. And inside Italy, it will change the life of every Italian, allowing him to live a little more like a human.
Loss of ‘pitcher beer’ forgotten as jubilant throngs pack Mulberry St.
New York (UP) –
Little groups sat in Mulberry St., heart of New York’s “Little Italy” yesterday, bemoaning the latest war casualty of their neighborhood – “pitcher beer.”
Then came word of Benito Mussolini’s resignation.
They forgot “pitcher beer.” The groups became larger and they went from door to door spreading the news. Soon the narrow streets, across which stretch red, white and blue service flags, were filled.
But there was no formal celebration.
Angelina Corzia, busy selling shirt buttons to Chinese laundrymen, said:
Now we will have peace. That Mussolini, he was no good.
She seemed to echo the sentiments of most of the city’s 1,300,000 Americans of Italian descent.
A meeting of the friends of Italy and Sicily was held up for 20 minutes by the cheering which greeted the news. In parks throughout the city, amateur baseball games were broken up as spectators swarmed over the diamonds.
At Yankee Stadium, where 36,779 spectators saw the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox divide a doubleheader, an announcer broke in with a special bulletin during the sixth inning of the second game. He got only as far as Mussolini’s resignation. The rest of the announcement was lost in the tumultuous reaction.
Völkischer Beobachter (July 27, 1943)
Mussolini als Regierungschef und Ministerpräsident zurückgetreten – Marschall Badoglio zum Nachfolger ernannt
dnb. Rom, 26. Juli –
Wie die Agentur Stefani am Sonntagabend bekanntgab, hat der König und Kaiser von Italien eine von Benito Mussolini angebotene Demission vom Amt des Regierungschefs und Ministerpräsidenten angenommen. Er hat zu seinem Nachfolger als Regierungschef und Ministerpräsidenten den Marschall von Italien Pietro Badoglio ernannt.
Man nimmt an, daß dieser Regierungswechsel auf den Gesundheitszustand des Duce zurückzuführen ist, der in der letzten Zeit erkrankt war.
The Pittsburgh Press (July 27, 1943)
Packard views cabinet as collection of semi-official Fascists, nonentities with few enemies
By Reynolds Packard, United Press staff writer
The following dispatch was written by the former manager of the Rome Bureau of the United Press and an expert on Italian affairs.
Allied HQ, North Africa –
The new Italian Cabinet appears to be not only less liberal than expected but also of doubtful quality to handle Italy’s delicate position.
As a matter of fact, at first glance it seems to be little more than a collection of semi-official Fascists and nonentities put in by Premier Pietro Badoglio only because its membership would not arouse opposition at home.
Most of the men were too obscure to have many enemies in politics. It remains to be seen whether they have the capability necessary to cope with the transition of Italy from an Axis partner to her next step toward peace.
Probably the best known among them is Raffaele Guariglia, new Foreign Minister, a career diplomat who has been Ambassador to Turkey and Argentina. He has less Fascist leanings than the other members, having followed a fairly non-political course during his public service.
Although lack of news obscures the real situation in Italy, Badoglio seems more and more to be playing the part for his country that Pétain played for France. He is trying to maintain order ion the country to prevent bloodshed and trying to ease the nation through a tough period of change before setting out definitely on a course.
Whether he will be any more adept than Pétain at politics is a question.
There is some indication that Rome is making an effort to placate the Allies. For instance, the Rome radio has discontinued its daily German lessons along with its daily Arabic lessons. The latter was a Fascist method of trying to spread itself through the Muslim world.
Not yet, my friend. Not yet.