p In April and May 1945, while the Red Army was mopping up the remnants of the battered nazi war machine, armed risings swept Europe against the German occupation forces. The Prague rising was but one of many.

p The resistance movement was gathering momentum in Italy. Speaking on its behalf, the Italian Communist Party issued a directive on April 10, 1945, saying in part:

p "Now is the tune not only to intensify the partisan war, but to prepare and spark a real uprising."  [234•1 

p The following day a partisan offensive began, and two days later the partisans cut the roads along which German troops were retreating north out of Italy.

p On April 25 all Northern Italy was up in arms. Action by the people of the three biggest working-class centres —Genoa, Milan and Turin —was a signal for a general rising. The more than 30,000 German troops stationed in and around Genoa were attacked by the insurgents, and surrendered. Bitter fighting erupted in Turin, with the hitlerites resisting desperately. By April 30, however, the city was fully cleared. The workers of Milan, too, wiped out a large fascist garrison. Thus, in the north town after town were cleared of the invader. After Genoa, Milan and Turin, the nazis were expelled from Bologna, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Verona, Padua and other cities. The partisans prevented destruction of factories and communication lines, captured depots of arms and ammunition, and took tens of thousands of prisoners. In the liberated towns and areas they established National Liberation Committees, exercising local authority. On behalf of the troops under his command in Liguria, General Meinhold surrendered in Genoa, to Remo Scappini, a worker and chairman of the local National Liberation Committee.

p As many as 256,000 Italian partisans organised in 1,090 brigades participated in the liberation war against fascism. 235 As many as 575 were named Garibaldi brigades, activated and led by Communists. Out of the 350,000 people taking part in the liberation struggle during the war, 210,000 were members of the Communist Party. And out of the 70,930 partisans killed in battle 42,558 were members of Garibaldi brigades.  [235•1  Luigi Longo observed that "the popular resistance and national liberation war owe their scale, depth and success primarily to the activity and policy of the Communist Party, its rank-and-file, and the mass of the people".  [235•2 

p The patriotic movement in Italy was against the German occupation forces, which committed the same atrocities in Italy as they did in other occupied countries. Also, it was against the Mussolini regime, reduced to a nazi puppet and ensconced in a small northern resort, the name of which, Saio, was given to the “republic” founded by the fascist leader under German protection. A rising in that part of the country soon put an end to "La republica di Salo".

p Mussolini knew the people would not spare him, and fled with the Germans. However, on April 27, 1945, a partisan detachment commanded by Tedro stopped near the’ border a German column consisting of an armoured car, several motorcycles with mounted machine-guns, a passenger car and 38 personnel carriers. The partisans were but 18 in all, but engaged the enemy fearlessly and finally compelled him to negotiate. In the ensuing negotiations the Germans were told they could continue on their way to the border after a thorough check.

p In the armoured car was Mussolini and his entourage, many valuables and the Duce’s personal archive. The fascist dictator climbed unnoticed into one of the personnel carriers, tied a handkerchief round his cheek, feigning a toothache, put on dark glasses, and wrapped a German army greatcoat round his shoulders. Masquerading as a German soldier, he lay down on the bottom of the lorry. That is where he was spotted by partisan Giuseppe Negri. The latter gave no sign of recognition, quietly approached his commander and informed him of his find. Mussolini was arrested. So were his associates, who made a desperate bid to escape in the armoured car. Sentenced by a military tribunal of the Northern Italy National Liberation Committee, Mussolini, his mistress 236 Glaretta Petacci, the ideologue of extremist fascist terror Alessandro Pavolini, and a few other close associates of the Duce, were executed by a firing squad. Their corpses were put on display in Piazza Loreto in Milan.

p The workers of Trieste rose on April 28. Helped by the Yugoslav People’s Liberation Army, which approached Trieste from southeast, they cleared the city of Germans in two days. The US and British rulers regarded Trieste as an important strategic point, for which reason British tanks swept into it on May 2. Churchill ordered Field-marshal Alexander to put down the insurrection. "It would be wise,” he wrote, "to-have a solid mass of troops in this area, with a great superiority of modern weapons and frequent demonstrations of the Air Force.” He added: "Have some strong naval forces there."  [236•1  His order was obeyed. Alexander set up a stiff occupation regime, based on Mussolini’s fascist legislation.

p A new series of risings erupted in nazi concentration camps. Headed by Soviet POWs, an uprising broke out in Buchenwald on April n, culminating in victory.

p Thus, all through the war and especially in 1944 and 1945, significant risings occurred in many European countries — Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Poland, Rumania, France, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia which grew into popular armed struggle. Nothing even approaching that scale had ever been seen in European history. Everywhere on the continent the risen people hit the invaders, contributing to the common anti-fascist cause.

p The strength of the Resistance movement was incontestable. It was inspired by the example of the Soviet soldiers and the Soviet offensives were a major contribution to the success of Resistance fighters in all countries. The Resistance and the stand of the Soviet people against the German fascists were evidence of the enhanced role of the masses in the process of history. Last but not least, the Resistance demonstrated the peoples’ craving for national independence and freedom, for deep-going social reconstruction.

It was natural that the popular movements developed. In a number of countries there emerged a people’s democratic power. But even where the people failed to overcome their class adversaries for one reason or another—external rather 237 than internal —the Resistance bore the features of a popular revolution and left an ineradicable mark on the mass consciousness. Battaglia says the following on this score: "No matter what the adversities the future may hold for Italy, it is beyond doubt that the way to the future lies through the Resistance movement and doubtless, too, that the popular forces have deep roots in the country.... No attempt at establishing foreign or internal domination can ever rob the people of Italy of their homeland, retrieved despite all difficulties."  [237•1