A Civil War (138 page)

82
See the decree
Contro i traditori della patria
(Against the traitors of the country) which the CLNAI, in assuming governing power in the occupied territories, intended to present to the government in Rome in June 1944, (
Atti CLNAI
, pp. 141–2). The text is similar to that proposed to the CLN by the Garibaldi Brigades, published in
L'Unità
, northern edition, supplement, 20 November 1943, then in
Fratelli d'Italia
, of the CLN in the Veneto, 15 January 1944 (See Canfora,
La sentenza
, pp. 195, 312–13).

83
Atti CLNAI
, p. 116. Buffarini Guidi was denounced as a war criminal on 27 September 1944, again by the CLNAI (ibid., p. 178).

84
‘Giustizia partigiana'
, Il Partigiano alpino
, August 1944.

85
‘Giusta guerra di popolo', Northern edition, 31 October 1943.

86
‘Chiare parole agli esercenti', 12 July 1944.

87
Atti CLNAI
, pp. 209–10.

88
Instructions from the PCI leadership for occupied Italy to the insurrectionary triumvirates, 22 April 1945, in
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 664. The document also features the addresses of the Genoa SIAC, Bruzzo, San Giorgio, Eridania and Piaggio plants.

89
‘Direttive n. 16', drawn up by Luigi Longo, published in
La nostra lotta
III: 7 (10 April 1945), pp. 31–8; later republished in Longo,
Sulla via dell'insurrezione nazionale
, pp. 344–50.

90
‘Una canaglia', in the Northern edition. Filippo Mirabelli, already a national councillor of the Camera dei Fasci e delle Corporazioni, was head of Savona province from 25 October 1943 to 4 January 1945 (see M. Missori,
Governi, alte cariche dello Stato e prefetti del Regno d'Italia
, Rome: Bulzoni, 1978, p. 473).

91
Letter from the CLN to the public prosecutor, 19 January 1945 (INSMLI, old catalogue,
CLNAI
8, folder 2, subfolder 10).

92
See Canfora,
La sentenza
, pp. 134–5.

93
For example ‘Les traîtres', in
Le Patriote Martiguais. Organe du Front national de lutte pour la liberation de la France
(Organ of the French Resistance to Oppression), March 1944, and
Valmy
, June 1944: ‘Frenchman, with a view to “the settlement of accounts”, prepare the list of traitors and their friends'.

94
Command of the Stella Rossa brigade to the ‘Republican Fascists of Monzuno', June 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 89).

95
Cited in C. Pavone, ‘Aspetti della crisi della democrazia risorgimentale: mazziniani, garibaldini e internazionalisti nei primi anni dell'Unità', in
Il Cristallo
VI (1964), p. 78.

96
Atti CVL
, p. 79.

97
See Bruzzone and Farina,
La Resistenza taciuta
, p. 133, and Gorrieri,
La Repubblica di Montefiorino
, pp. 569–70.

98
‘Alcuni rilievi sulla organizzazione della 3a divisione', signed ‘Luigi', November or December 1944 (IG,
BG
, 010477).

99
See Lazagna,
Ponte rotto
, pp. 59–60

100
Atti CLNAI
, pp. 308–9.

101
Revelli,
La guerra dei poveri
, p. 153 (29 November 1943).

102
Artom,
Diari
, pp. 131–2 (25 December 1943).

103
Padoan (Vanni),
Abbiamo lottato insieme
, pp. 67–8.

104
Testimony of Tersilla Fenoglio Oppedisano, in Bruzzone and Farina,
La Resistenza taciuta
, p. 158.

105
A. Clocchiatti,
Cammina frut
, Milan: Vangelista, 1972, p. 259.

106
Note, furthermore, the letter which a Garibaldian sent to the bishop of Belluno on 21 September 1945, speaking of the cracks in the ‘granite certainties of an earlier time' (quoted in Tramontin,
Contadini e movimento partigiano
, p. 305).

107
Mario to the Lombard Delegation Command of the Garibaldi brigades, 26 July 1944 (IG,
BG
, 08688).

108
Such was Pesce's response to Di Nanni, who had reproached him for not having killed the captured
carabinieri
, who then rushed to sound the alarm (Pesce,
Senza tregua
, p. 119).

109
Chiodi,
Banditi
, p. 139 (17 April 1945).

110
Revelli,
La guerra dei poveri
, p. 325 (25 August 1944).

111
Pesce,
Senza tregua
, p. 285.

112
Cicchetti,
Il campo giusto
, p. 145.

113
Note, here as in other cases, the invocation of mothers and sisters but not of fathers and brothers: ‘Profili' in
Il fuori legge
(The Outlaw), organ of the 7
^th
P. Stefanoni Brigade of the Valtoce division, Di Dio group, January 1945 (quoted in Falaschi,
La Resistenza armata
, p. 23).

114
Sentence issued by the extraordinary court martial of the Valle Stura Brigade of the 1
^st
Alpine GL Division, 14 August 1944 (ISRP, envelope 35, folder c).

115
‘Direttive operative', 13 February 1945, in
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 379, n. 4.

116
As referred to – though it was not the only case – by the Command of the 81
^st
Volante Loss Brigade in its ‘Relazione sull'attacco al presidio di Fara', 21 March 1945 (IG,
BG
, 08315).

117
‘Disposizioni di carattere generale' of the 1
^st
Garibaldi Division (Ossola-Valsesia), 26 August 1944 (ibid., 06239).

118
Bernardo,
Il momento buono
, p. 152.

119
Letter from the Command of the 8
^th
Asti Division to the brigades for which it was responsible, 1 December 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 7).

120
Report by Piero, of the 3
^rd
Aliotta Division, to the General Command, 27 December 1944 (ibid., p. 146). ‘Piero' was Orfeo Landini.

121
I. Calvino, ‘Attesa della morte in un albergo', in his
Ultimo viene il corvo
, p. 93.

122
Revelli,
La guerra dei poveri
, p. 322 (22 August 1944).

123
Bernardo,
Il momento buono
, p. 153.

124
See Gorrieri,
La Repubblica di Montefiorino
, p. 384.

125
Ciro, commander of the divisions group for Valsesia, Ossola, Cusio and Verbano, to Fabio (Pietro Vergani), of the General Command, 23 April 1945 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 469, n. 2).

126
This was the flavour of the reprimand sent on 18 November 1944 by the Lombardy Delegation to the Command of the 53
^rd
13 Martiri di Lovere Brigade (in Bergamasco). The latter had offhandedly failed to grab ‘the truncheon by the handle': the Germans, indeed, having secured the release of their imprisoned men in exchange for the promise not to carry out reprisals, did not keep their word (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, pp. 356–7).

127
Testimony of Anna Cinanni (Bruzzone and Farina,
La Resistenza taciuta
, p. 102).

128
Barca's report on the ‘inspection of 1 and 2 January' in the Val di Susa, 4 January 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. I, p. 216).

129
‘Per il capo politico', 9 December 1943 (IG,
Archivio PCI
).

130
Artom,
Diari
, p. 145 (31 December 1943). On 20 December, faced with a case of ill-treatment, Artom asked ‘What would Pisacane say?' Pisacane was the name of the Garibaldian formation in which Artom was active at the time.

131
‘Il responsabile di zona' to the ‘Comando della brigata Carrara' (Bergamasco), 23 March 1945 (IG,
BG
, 010642).

132
Padoan (Vanni),
Abbiamo lottato insieme
, p. 167.

133
Giustizia e Libertà. Notiziario dei patrioti delle Alpi Cozie
, October 1944, article ‘Ritorsioni' (quoted in Giovana,
Storia di una formazione partigiana
, p. 201).

134
Revelli,
La guerra dei poveri
, pp. 193, 196–7, 199 (12, 13, 14 and 16 April 1944).

135
Casali,
Il movimento di liberazione a Ravenna
, pp. 73–4.

136
Letter from Michele, political commissar of the 1
^st
Gramsci Division (Ossola-Valsesia), to Picciolo, battalion vice-commander, 1 March 1945 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 428).

137
Order of 18 September 1944, on the day of the Command of the 1
^st
Piedmont Division (IG,
BG
, 04421).

138
Padoan (Vanni),
Abbiamo lottato insieme
, p. 240. On the Fascists, see Mazzantini,
A cercar la bella morte
, pp. 66, 99–100.

139
Report of 20 January 1945 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, pp. 288–9, n. 4).

140
On the first point, see the instructions from the PCI military official responsible for the Modena mountain area, from 10 to 25 May 1944, cited in Gorrieri,
La Repubblica di Montefiorino
, pp. 284–5 (‘putting to death two enemy officers is always a political act: officers and sub-officers, apart from very few exceptional cases, must be rubbed out'). On the second point, remember that the forest militia in the Cansiglio, after giving the partisans some reinforcements, had asked to be disarmed, so as not to be too compromised in the eyes of the Germans; but the partisans were later reproached for having let a colonel and a captain go free (report from the Veneto detachment-command to the general command, 11 April 1944:
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. I, pp. 349, 352, n. 8).

141
Letter from the Fregona CLN to the Command of the Vittorio Veneto brigades-group, 17 April 1945 (INSMLI,
CLNAI
, envelope 7, folder 2, subfolder 7).

142
‘Aux magistrats de répression – Aux policiers trop soumis', in
Le Père Duchesne
, ‘Year 151', September 1942.

143
Report from the Command of the 9
^th
Liguria Brigade, 19 June 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 43).

144
For example, a Verona CLN tract had called for ‘a mass desertion, an armed desertion' (undated – IVSR,
Archivio
, I. envelope 49, CLN, Stampa non periodica).

145
On the extent of desertion, see the figures supplied by Pansa,
L'esercito di Salò
, p. 71. Up to the end of April 1944, there were between 25,000 and 26,000 deserters from the army, ‘more than 10 percent of the total force and almost 17 percent of the levy from the classes called up before that date'. See also Deakin,
Brutal Friendship
, p. 664, on German and Fascist worries, and the section ‘Si disgrega la GNR' in Bocca,
La Repubblica di Mussolini
.

146
For example, after the assault on a barracks in San Vincenzo (Livorno), the prisoners – fifty-two Italian soldiers and twenty Mongols – were sworn in, and thus ‘considered part of the formation' (report by Major Mario Chirici on the activity of the 3
^rd
Brigade, 18 July 1944, in
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 148).

147
See Gorrieri,
La Repubblica di Montefiorino
, p. 350.

148
Mautino writes that the necessary purge among the prisoners brought into the Garibaldi-Osoppo division was pre-empted, in September 1944, by the fact that ‘after three days of fighting, neither among partisan ranks nor among the mountains in that area was it possible to find a single one of these individuals' (Mautino,
Guerra di popolo
, p. 101). We can find more positive appraisals of at least some of the recruited prisoners – those who had not joined at the last minute – in Giovana,
Storia di una formazione partigiana
, pp. 139, 322–3.

149
Instructions sent to the Command of the 118
^th
Servadei Brigade, 9 January 1945 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 222).

150
Note the ‘serious incident' that took place in Saga (Cividale del Friuli), where on the night of 16 June 1944 a stronghold of around ninety well-armed men, almost all conscripts, disappeared without trace (Pansa,
L'esercito di Salò
, pp. 112–13).

151
Letter from the inspector Giorgio to Remo, the political commissar of the 51
^st
Capettini Brigade (Oltrepò Pavese), September 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 361).

152
Report from the commissar Remo on the history of the 3
^rd
Aliotta Brigade, 31 December 1944 (IG,
BG
, 01728).

153
The deserters wrote a bombastic letter to the Command, held at IG,
BG
, 05065.

154
See Lazagna,
Ponte rotto
, p. 222.

155
‘Bergamo Zone Operations Command' to the Lombard Regional Command, 10 April 1945 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 599, n. 1).

156
‘Relazione politica', from the Ancona PCI federation to the Party leadership, undated but early December 1943 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. I, p. 148).

157
Eleven people are listed: one is said to be ‘with son', and two ‘with family'. The – undated – poster is headed ‘Popolo della zona di Sassuolo' (ISRM, Fondo Borsari, s.II.10, Miscellanea).

158
‘Informazioni', undated, IZDG, envelope 272a, folder II/A.