A Civil War (47 page)

75
Bianco,
Guerra partigiana
, p. 103.

76
‘Dichiarazione', conserved in IG,
Archivio PCI
.

77
Letter by the Command of the 1
^st
Gramsci (Ossola-Valsesia) to Achille, 21 October 1944. The Command offered a compromise: in order to improve the rations, to put the money refused by the partisans into a kitty (IG,
BG
, 06647).

78
E. Cicchetti,
Il campo giusto
, Milan: La Pietra, 1973, p. 179.

79
See Pajetta,
Il ragazzo rosso va alla guerra
, p. 128 (Pajetta was referring to the formation commanded by Arrigo Boldrini, which was by now incorporated in the Allied army); a circular of the Command of Tito Speri division of 9 August 1944, in ISRBS, Q IV, 2. My thanks to Gabriella Solaro for having drawn my attention to this document.

80
See the above-mentioned document, (IG,
BG, Emilia-Romagna
, G.IV.2.2). For egalitarianism of this kind, see also Artom,
Diari
, p. 92 (28 November 1943).

81
For example, the Valsesia military zone organised (18 April 1945) an ‘ufficio assistenza' which established a ‘table of checks, indemnities and pensions' (IG,
BG
, 08594).

82
See the folder entitled ‘Formazioni GL. Circolari e direttive' of the Lombardy Regional Command (INSMLI,
CVL
, envelope 93, folder 5).

83
Respectively 200, 350 and 500 lire (A. Bravo,
La Repubblica partigiana dell'Alto Monferrato
, Turin: Giappichelli, 1964, p. 134).

84
See the document cited above (IG,
BG, Emilia-Romagna
, G.IV.2.2).

85
See Battaglia,
Un uomo
, p. 173.

86
Letter by Neri, vice-commander of the group of Lombard divisions, to Major Cavalleri, 22 September 1944. The major had the reputation of having at his disposal a great deal of money coming from America (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, pp. 362–4). For an analogous denunciation of certain breakaway groups, see the report by Moro, of the 4
^th
Piedmont division, to the General Command of the Garibaldi brigades, which is also dated 22 September 1944 (IG,
BG
, 04940).

87
Report by Belloni on ‘L'azione partigiana in Valle di Susa (5 mesi di attività)', 8 February 1944 (ibid., 004861).

88
Battaglia,
Un uomo
, esp. pp. 171–2, 140.

89
The memorial stone notes Salvatore Palumbo, Ciro Palumbo, Egidio Bramante, Angelo Ciorcari, Gaetano Rescigno.

90
The poster, affixed in Naples on 10 October 1944, is Appendix V of B. Croce,
Quando l'Italia era tagliata in due. Estratto di un diario
, Bari: Laterza, 1948, pp. 154–6.

91
Report given on 11 April 1944, in Togliatti,
Opere
, vol. V, p. 6.

92
See Fogar,
Le brigate Osoppo-Friuli
, p. 283.

93
Quoted in Revelli,
La guerra dei poveri
, p. 455.

94
Ibid., p. 234 (2 May 1944).

95
Gobetti,
Diario partigiano
, p. 148 (January 1944).

96
Fenoglio,
Il partigiano Johnny
, p. 338.

97
Gorrieri,
La Repubblica di Montefiorino
, p. 66.

98
See the ‘Relazione di Alpino Righi', cited in ibid., pp. 517–18.

99
See the ‘Relazione n. 3 (Macchi)', 15 July 1944 (IG,
BG
, 010547: see the passages in this report quoted in
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 178). Attention is drawn to strong antagonism between the local (Bergamasco) partisans and those who had come from the city in another ‘Rapporto sul Distaccamento 13 Martiri' (summer 1944?) (IG,
BG
, 010566).

100
See the ‘Relazione del “Comando Federale bis” di La Spezia del PCI sulla “situazione militare e politica della IV zona operativa” ', 28 March 1945 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 542).

101
‘Rapporto informativo e osservazioni' of Medici, inspector for the Pavese Oltrepò, to the PCI federal committee of Pavia, 10 August 1944 (ibid., p. 238).

102
‘Relazione sulla situazione delle Brigate Garibaldi dell Oltrepò Pavese', 3 September 1944, by Piero, political commissar of 73
^rd
Crespi brigade, to the delegation for Lombardy. The commissar adds, in view of a necessary displacement, that the locals had to be disarmed in favour of those coming from the plain (ibid., vol. II, pp. 303–7).

103
‘Relazione sull'attività svolta dalla Brigata Caiani', Florence, 16 August 1944 (ISRT, envelope 231,
Brigata Garibaldi Caiani
).

104
Letter by Fabio, military person in charge of the insurrectional triumvirate of Lombardy, to Retico, 23 February 1945 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 407). See also Domenico's ‘Relazione sulla mia ispezione in Valtellina' to the ‘Delegazione Comando', 4 August 1944 (IG,
BG
, 0540), and the letter by the delegation for Lombardy to the Command of the 1
^st
and 2
^nd
division group as well as the group of the 1
^st
Lombardia-Valtellina division, 17 October 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, pp. 444–5).

105
‘Relazione sul lavoro svolto', signed Giasone, 18 August 1944 (IG,
BG
, 04383).

106
See, for example, the letter by Pietro, commander of the 8
^th
Romagna brigade to Franz, liaison officer of the CUMER, 31 July 1944; the ‘relazione militare-politica' of the Command of the 6
^th
Liguria zone to the Regional Command, 7 October 1944; the anonymous report on partisan movement (‘movimento partigiano') in Friuli, 24 October–1 November 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, pp. 180–4, 412–14, 562–6).

107
The expression is used in Dellavalle,
Operai
, p. 151, relating to the Biella valleys in summer 1944.

108
See the letter by the Piedmont delegation to ‘dear comrades' (of the General Command?), 19 April 1944, and the one by the Lombard delegation to the Command of the 1
^st
and 2
^nd
division group, 24 October 1944. The latter takes its cue from the failure to support another unity that was heavily attacked (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. I, pp. 355–8; INSMLI,
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, envelope 2, folder, I, S folder I).

109
Antonio Gramsci's analogous reflections on prisoners are well known (
Lettere del carcere
, Turin: Einaudi 1965, pp. 72–3, letter to his sister-in-law Tania, 11 April 1927).

110
Revelli,
La guerra dei poveri
, pp. 144–5, 152–3.

111
The proposal was made by Virgilio, chief of the General Staff of Natisone, to the Command of the 9
^th
Yugoslav Corps (IZDG, envelope 223, folder II/4b).

112
Ugo Bodon, draft officer of the Nembo, reply to a questionnaire given to him by M. Di Giovanni (see Di Giovanni, degree thesis).

113
This is how Dellavalle,
Operai
, pp. 146–7, paraphrases the oral testimonies that he collected.

114
Revelli,
La guerra dei poveri
, p. 376 (29 December 1944).

115
This is point five of a circular by the commissary of the 2
^nd
sector, 26 March 1944 (in Bianco,
Guerra partigiana
, p. 64; then in
Formazioni GL
, p. 79).

116
Report by a political commissar of the 3
^rd
Aliotta Lombardy division, 31 December 1944 (IG,
BG
, 01728).

117
See Bernardo,
Il momento buono
, p. 57, and the report of Vice-Commander Neri of the Lombardy group to the Command delegation, 9 November 1944 (IG,
BG
, 01237).

118
Testimony by Angelo Repetto, in Bravo and Jalla, eds,
La vita offesa
, p. 85.

119
Circular by the Command of the 2
^nd
Piedmont division to the brigade Commands, 13 June 1944 (IG,
BG
, 04648).

120
Riccardo, inspector of the 3
^rd
Aliotta Lombardy division, to the delegation for Lombardy, 14 November 1944 (ibid., 01621).

121
Letter to the ‘Delegazione Comando per il Veneto', 9 November 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 556). Analogous concepts are expressed in other Garibaldini documents.

122
‘Rapporto al Centro del Partito' by Banfi (Vincenzo Marini), 16 December 1943 (IG,
Archivio PCI
). Analogous concepts in Cri.'s report to ‘cari compagni' from Bologna, late December 1943 (ibid.). Again, on 17 February 1945 Ciro, the Ossola commander, in a report sent to Switzerland, was to speak of the impossibility of enlisting everyone owing to the lack of armaments (IG,
BG
, 07942).

123
‘Notiziario e direttive' of commander ‘D' of the Piedmont GL formations to the military commanders of the formations and for the information of the political commissars of the work zones, 30 June 1944 (ISRP, envelope 29, folder B).

124
‘Relazione del commissario politico del Comando piemontese delle formazioni GL' (the author is Giorgio Agosti), 31 December 1944 (ISRP, envelope 29, folder C; published in
Formazioni GL
, pp. 267–86).

125
Bernardo,
Il momento buono
, p. 100.

126
The manifesto is signed ‘5
^a
Brigata G. Mazzini (formazioni GL) – Divisioni d'assalto Davito Giorgio (formazioni Matteotti)'; the criticism is found in a report, 23 March 1945, by the Biellese zone Command (IG,
BG
, 05373).

127
Par. 7, ‘Leggerezza e mobilità', of the ‘Direttive per la lotta armata', in
Atti CVL
, Appendix I, document P (p. 550).

128
Letter by Gracco, commissar of the 12
^th
brigade, to the ‘delegato ispettore delle brigate Garibaldi Nord Emilia', 2 August 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, p. 188).

129
Revelli,
La guerra dei poveri
, p. 324. On that occasion the number of men descended from over 400 to 250. See also ibid., pp. 453–4, 234–5, where, finding himself before ‘a list of little cowards and sick evacuees', prepared by the quartermaster after another roundup, Revelli remarks: ‘Many sick: no cowards'.

130
‘Relazione sui fatti d'arme di Faedis-Attimis-Nimis del 27 settembre 1944' of the Command of the division, 15 October 1944 (IZDG, envelope 272b, folder I/A). See Bernardo,
Il momento buono
, p. 57: ‘I grandi rastrellamenti liberarono i reparti di questa zavorra e costituirono il banco di prova per chi veramente intendeva combattere per la liberazione del paese' (‘The great roundups freed the units of this dead wood and constituted a test for those who really intended to fight for the liberation of the country)'.

131
Mautino,
Guerra di popolo
, pp. 149, 168.

132
Artom,
Diari
, pp. 149–50 (2 January 1944); letter by C. (Ragnoli) to ‘carissimo C.I.', 22 August 1944, in ISRBS, Q IV, 2. My thanks to Gabriella Solaro for drawing my attention to this document.

133
As has already been recalled, these expressions are used, with sociological rigidity, in the research directed by Ardigò,
L'insorgenza partigiana
. See, in particular, S. Porcu's contribution,
Il processo di diffusione territoriale. Un' analisi morfologico-strutturale e socio-demografica
, pp. 68ff, which adopts the scheme proposed by E. M. Rogers,
Diffusions of Innovations
, New York: Free Press, 1962.

134
Letter by the Command of the 1
^st
Gramsci (Ossola-Verbano) to the ‘Centro informazioni e polizia', 26 February 1945 (IG,
BG
, 08025). See also the letter by the group Command, same zone, to the Command of the 2
^nd
division, 30 January 1945 (ibid., 08060).

135
Northern edition, 25 May 1944.

136
Circular of the ‘Comando Gruppo brigate A. Garemi' (Veneto) to ‘all the dependent Commands', November 1944. The General Command of the Garibaldi brigades appreciated this text to the extent that it proposed it as a model in one of its circulars to all the delegations of 9 November 1944 (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. II, pp. 553–6).

137
See the ‘Rapporto generale' by Pietro Mauri, commander of the 8
^th
Romagna brigade, on military activity in Romagna up to 15 May 1944 (ibid., vol. I, pp. 407–21). Regarding the episode, see Flamigni and Marzocchi,
Resistenza in Romagna
, p. 169; see also, p. 706, n. 20.

138
See the letter by the Command of the 55
^th
Rosselli brigade to the brigade group Command, 24 August 1944 (IG,
BG
, 0646); 24 May is significant as the anniversary of Italy entering the First World War on the Entente side.

139
See the communications by the Command of the 1
^st
division to the Command of the Lombardy divisions' group and to the 90/A brigade Command, 7 September and 5 October 1944 (ibid., 0671 and 0724).

140
Bernardo,
Il momento buono
, pp. 209–10.

141
These words appear in a report by Costa, commissar of the 8
^th
Asti division, to the delegation for Piedmont. These systems, the commissar warned, ‘could provoke ill feeling in the populations, and some regrettable accidents have been provoked' (
Le Brigate Garibaldi
, vol. III, p. 520).

142
The note, probably dating from January 1945, is conserved in INSMLI,
CLNAI
, envelope 10, folder I, Subfolder 2. In summer and fall 1944, Mauri's formations used the name ‘Esercito italiano di liberazione nazionale' (see the documents conserved in INSMLI,
CVL
, envelope 26, folder I, Subfolder 6, and envelope 27: Diario di Mauri, 7 October 1944). The Green Flames defined themselves as ‘Armata italiana dell'Interno', possibly taking their cue from the French (ibid., envelope 90, folder 13b, relating to August 1944).