Badoglio and After
SALVEMINI, GAETANO
Badoglio and After By GAETANO SALVEMINI fEOPLE have decided to forget that together with the Chief of Staff, Cadorna, end the Chief of the Third Army Capelle, Badoglio was responsible for the...
...When the Libyan troops got .their uniforms, they were the heavy woolen ones the Alpini should have had" (Martha Brown in "Collier's," April 26, 1941, p, 13...
...Admitting therefore that the provisional government is interregnum at order and acquiescence...
...IN 1929 be was sent as Governor to Lybia, and under his » leadership General Graziani subdued the eastern sector of Lybia (Cyrenaica...
...If really Badoglio had ever submitted peace plans against Mussolini's and Hitler's will, this crime of high treason would have been punished by death in Italy...
...No," was the reply...
...but some ef them are, and there is nothing «mite so galling for the'common people as seeing the long-hated pet enemy again in the saddle after the day of judgment...
...ge was chief of the General Staff during that fatal Fall ef 1920 when military authorities in Italy began to equip the Fascists with arms, ammunition, tracks, and officers on I lesve...
...e e· AS a result...
...In that way the Italians may find themselves on a' common front with the French people who, on seeing the self same gang cashing in first on the Third Republic then on the Germans and now on the Americana, might wall teeewettenre This problem of the Fascist personnel is Sitae mal/ serious...
...1940...
...Churchill and Roosevelt are the man of tha hoar te Spain...
...Therefore any provisional government which restores -a minimum of de-l cency and tries to cope seriously with tmrnediate problems will bring with it a sense of blessing and relief...
...In 1932 he reported that Lybia had been "pacified...
...With the United States coal and oil Franco is keeping the ammunition factories working 24 hours a day producing war machinery for Hitler, something the Spanish people do not understand, as they likewise do not understand the Franco "neutrality," with his "Blue Division" fighting for Hitler on the Russian Front...
...Kattbews, the Rome correspondent of the New York Timet, 'one 12, 1940, who jknew the secrete of the gods...
...Among the documents that the Greeks *°«nd in the archives of one of the Italian divisions after it **d been broken, there was a proclamation from General *·?·??, dated October 26, 1940, which said among other ¦Pfs: "In the past nineteen months in this hard land of A*ania, we have been preparing our arms and our hearts ? the undertaking that is at hand...
...The Case del Pueblo de Madrid (People's House of Madrid) is used by Franca as a Court House and Police Heamsmarters...
...Suddenly on December 6, 1940, the news flared that he had resigned...
...Badoglio played possum, escaped sttention, and became deputy chief of the new Chief ' «f the General Staff, who had succeeded Cadorna...
...After the Matteotti murder, the King went over, bag and baggage, into Massolini's camp...
...de Santillana's . raceat writings op Italy, including several articles in the "Atlantic Monthly," have resetted wide attention...
...His book on the Ethiopian campaign was adorned with a preface by Mussolini...
...The government, the Police Department and the Phalanx all know what is going on, but ¦no one knows where the workers meet or where theit revolutionary propaganda is printed...
...If there te aw revision whatever, even partial and symbolic, then it will devolve on the people, and the people alone, to call the guilty to account, while every effort is likely te he »ade from ea high to check or divert the movement...
...Whoever, in Italy, for any reason, seems to fall apart from Musse Ii ? i becomes eligible in London and Washington as a "leader" of postwar Fascist pro-Allied Italy without Mussolini...
...If it were true that in April, 1942, he was organising an Italian peace movement (New York Timet, April 18, 1942), that in May, 1942, he was seen in Italy as a possuVe successor to Mussolini (Sew York Timet, May 31, 1942), that in November 1942 he was seized for an alleged plot to overthrow Mussolini (New York Timet, November 30, 1942), and that in February, 1948, he submitted a peace plan to Great Britain (jVesr York Timet, February 26, 1943), we may be sure that he did not do anything except under orders from the King...
...to fall broken on the rocks below...
...ptlauimas te a lie...
...What happened to the Italian forces at the French frontiers ia a matter of history...
...Toe are mistaken, sir, because I am a member of the Socialist Party from the year 1916...
...If can be helped back into tha community of nations only by understanding and forbearance, and a strong sense of justice making themselves felt from the rest of the civilised world...
...dosed eggs that previously coat two pesetas, coat hi March 18 and 80 pesetas...
...A LTHOUGH the Fascist forces entered Madrid more than four years ago, and General Franco has sought to stamp out opposition by propaganda and terror, the overwhelming majority of the people of Spain, the men and women who fought Fascism with unparalleled heroism for three years, are ready and willing .to take up arms again to end the regime of oppression and starvation...
...olive oil has risen from 16 to 80 ? us Has per'kHo This is the situation that Franco and his Phalanx have brought to Spain...
...In ' 1935 Mussolini entrusted the war against Ethiopia to a Fascist general, De Bono, who made such a mess of everything that Mussolini had to replace him and sent Badoglio to take his place.- Badoglio again showed his technical ability, and brought order out of the chaos that De Bono had created...
...Not only is there no relief for prisoners eg any kind, but the number .is increasing as Franco seas himself teas secure with every passing day...
...Franco's terror is answered by acta of heroism and defiance...
...Greece re-lived an "Ne epic similar to that which, two thousand five hundred lean ago, she owed to Xerxes and his generals...
...But »hat is going to be the attitude of the.Vgflnes* If assured ef unlimited L. S. support, as it ? aemtmjpear the Vatican «111 probably try to sit oa the ltd...
...Their speeches, reprinted aad distributed, by the «sresss» Embassy in Madrid, are read by the Spanish pasphleM a' blessing from Ged^Jtbe^oar FraedeamtoM dowa by ftff*Historic Moment *t*BE8E articles by Professors ' ,? Salvemeni of Harvard and George de Santillana of Massa-ekmetts Institute of Technology Mm...
...Franco, as well as his brother-in-law Serrano Suner, and the rest of the "senoritoe" that form the "Falange Espanola" are today the most hated persons in Spain...
...It would have been "¦paasible, for Badoglio to have been kept in ignorance of...
...Sentences of twelve, fifteen and twenty years in jail are imposed on anyone carrying the Socialist paper, or for belonging to a labor union or maintaining connection with any* political party belonging to the Popular Front before at sm^mmmmmr...
...de Santillana for aa article •a the immediate political problems ahead...
...The people of Spain are hungry, but what Franca gives them is what the Spaniards call with sarcasm tha "beiuto japones...
...military preparations...
...the door of Italy, but as soon as the Austrians had entered the trap, they found that for one reason or another, the opposite wall was not so strong as the Napoleon had supposed...
...Of the three responsible for the disaster, the two who were more prominent, Cadorna and Capelle lost their positions...
...r lW portrait of Marshal Ba-toflio by GaeUno Salvemeni...
...In a message to Mussolini, Badoglio pledged we...
...Whatever Badoglio's acquiescence to the regime he thought he had to serve, we shall always remember that, when confronted with the French armistice commission made up of that same gang of generals and admirals who have become our moat trusted ? friends, he resisted their repeated offers to deliver up Ute political refugees in French concentration camps, and even broke up the sitting to lecture them on what military honor is supposed to mean...
...Among the largest supporters of the Guerrillas are the farmers, who supply them wtih food, the middle class and many Catholic priests, but their strongest support comes from the women who have a husband, brother or father in jail or concentration camp...
...At the head of these protests and underground activities is the Socialist Party...
...For if nations find themselves abandoned by God and Man, unable to sidetrack—let alone bring to trial—the outfit that sold them out to destruction, then that is the time for Statut to step in...
...Italian political conscience is debilitated by a twenty years' paralysis, and only too quick to jump to cynical and despairing conclusions...
...Then the bluff concocted in London and Washington is relayed to our papers as coming from Berne or Ankara...
...Inside Spain Today — Socialists Lead Guerrilla Warfare Against Franco By ANTONIO REINA Editor of "Jutticia," Spanith organ of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union...
...In this way...
...New 'the Allies will probably behave rather generously, and even a little generosity from sn enemy goes a long way, whereas nothing is so sool-searing as being let down by a friend...
...In actual fact, the army was in a "Ms of utter disorganization, and when in September, 1939, ajtler started war in Poland, Mussolini had to declare "non-esffigerency" for no other reason than that he was not in a >Position to be "belligerent" If May, 1940, all Italian newspapers were ordered to carry Jon their front pages a report from Badoglio asserting that Wy was rea'dy to take the jump into war (New York Timet, Shi'22, 1940...
...4...
...The cost of living is today the big problem confronting Spain as most food is requisitioned for Germany...
...Be was the first rat to leave the sinking ship...
...Franco's boast about amnesty forsp»"ti...
...This Important problem seems to be the starting point in uniting, all the factions in Spain now...
...one kilo of beans that coat lift) pesetas now cost 10 or 12 pesetas...
...Italians are resigned, and have long lost the habit of civil liberties...
...Badoglio never objected to such sadistic methods of warfare...
...But let us admit -that, from the day *4)??????\> civil liberties arc restored...
...For this reason Gra...
...Msny unite of the Italian army "ere left in the Alps without food for days...
...The following prices of some of the most, important articles in the life -of the Spanish people will give em team what the situation fat: Rice, before the war coat tern flma one peseta per kilo (about be per pound) now caste stetson pesetas...
...The underground movement is on the march in Spain today, as the misery and poverty increase daily...
...In the once happy meeting place of the wolkers there now functions the War Council, and downstairs the Phalanx aad the Civil Guard beat the people to death to obtain information...
...Mussolini decided to restore the balance between Hitler yd himself by gulping down Greece...
...Here again, while there are plenty of generals as fatuous and servile as Giraud (here Graziani comes to mind with some misgivings, or worse still...
...and the fob would not even have teen a difficult one...
...Goliath (New York, Viking Press, 1940, p. 114) tells us that Badoglio had "schemed the daring Napoleonic plan of luring the Austrisns into a trap, there to smash them He opened to...
...Even a large section of the wealthy class that supported Franco during the Civil War are disillusioned...
...The anti-Franco ssntisamit goes from the simple citizen to the middle class people aad to tha wealthy families as well...
...The workers of Madrid have been saying for a long time with the good humor that characterises tha Ma-drilenos: "????* Franco ? mas pan bianco" (teas Franco and more white bread...
...will go from a rightist coalition in charge of »nimammp- and a moderate democratic party (which might well he* called to share the responsibilities ? to the new Action Pakyi which is a sort of liberal socialism oi a mature and «kodern kind, and the orthodox socialist and communist...
...Editor's Note...
...Arab chiefs were taken up in planes ami flan* out into the air...
...Cases like this can be counted by the thousand in Spain today...
...But 'when things grew hot, he withdrew from the General Staff, leering to others the responsibility for carrying on military sedition...
...In Andalusia, for example, the farmers receive the Phalanx and other government requisitionists, with guns in their .hands, to...
...This ends Mot of gossip about divergencies of opinions," stated Mr...
...The small group of Asturian miners, who never surrendered to Franco, vand are fighting in the mountains of the mine regions to this ""day, now have thousands of new adherents...
...Its bulletins have more readers than all the Fascist papers combined...
...Badoglio and After By GAETANO SALVEMINI fEOPLE have decided to forget that together with the Chief of Staff, Cadorna, end the Chief of the Third Army Capelle, Badoglio was responsible for the Italian disaster of : Caporetto in October 1?7 G. A. Borges*, in his...
...From now onwards Badoglio, as Chief of all armed forces, became responsible for all war preparations...
...hen disaster hid begun to set in in Greece, towards the ¦Jddle of November, 1940, Badoglio was still the Chief Of all Italian armed forces, and want to Innsbruck (Tyrol) to confer with General Marshal Kettet (Now ???* Timet, November 16...
...proclamation, made last week, pamaiissd tfar daatrpetion of the Fascist tribunals, pledged freedom of speech and press in Italy and stated thai political prisoners would be released...
...one kilo of sugar that coat one ? ess to In ??*·, costs today 28, 30 or 36 pesetas...
...one kilo of white bread that cost 1.7S pesetas, "now costs 12 pesetas...
...There ought to be a minimum agreement of...
...Recently, the Secretary of Labor tried to deliver a speech in Linares, Andalusia...
...And Franco is worried, for even his own supporters are split and bicker constantly among themselves...
...He has the soul of a mercenary of the fifteenth century...
...And since the King would never dare to do anything against Mussolini's will, and Mussolini would do nothing against Hitler's will, Badoglio's moves would fit into Mussolini's and Hitler's schemes...
...After the "March on Rome," so long as the attitude of ' '. the King still «Ua not clear, Badoglio bided his time...
...I say' ^SSp^tsas...
...The only relief iffirnmte has given to prisoners is in the so-called Christian J^agtelation,' which he signed resantly...
...Mussolini •as the Xerxes of the twentieth century, and Badoglio was J" Chief of Staff...
...If this diagnosis is correct, the moment will coma whan only American and British public opinion can save the day...
...The Italians aid not advance a step except towards Menton where several brigades were sacrificed in order to gain a few ¦nndred yards...
...Italy was a partner of the Axis...
...siani was known as "the breaker of the natives...
...When the Alpini were •reared to the French border up in the cold mountain lasses, they were sent in khaki cotton uniforms that assjaJd have gone to Libys...
...they broke it and poured like a deluge into more than balf the region of Venice...
...The British Foreign Office and the American State Department would not have so stupidly betrayed that move...
...New York «"¦··, June 28, 1939...
...ten what the people are going to think ef the whole ar- ' rangement m quite another matter rV>,„ Many in that outfit are not very bad, not particularly responsible...
...scientists composing the Natural Research Council to «? cooperation fffew York Times, May 29, 1940...
...In this, the Vatican ami the oligarchy will hare the solid support of the whole administrative nmeateer that . ma ratei te not only the creation ef the Fascist regime hat has been crammed in thane mat weeks dawn te the teat nook aad cranny with Party utisunnsl te whom the State was offermg insarsnce ia extremis...
...Badoglio did -j...
...Of the official reaction to sack ? crisis we have a preview in the releasee signed by Harald Caltesmmr on the French situation...
...The army obeyed and hundreds of people were killed on both sides...
...Badoglio did 3L^fJ^ June 1937* Hitler «»nferred upon him the *f»nd Cross of the Order of the German Eagle (New York...
...Guerilla warfare is beginning to spread to other parts of the country...
...Franco and his Phalanx are trying to suppress this movement...
...Badoglio became one of the coming men for ? the Colonel Blimps of Great Britain and America...
...written before the fall of Maasolisi and assumption of „ 4P premiership by Marshal I Immediately after the invasion * ef Sicily, The New Leader asked Mr...
...Ia September 1922, while that combination of a military coop d'etat and opera bouffe which was to lead to ?? so-called "March on Rome" waa being engineered, and the King seemed hostile to the Fascist movement, Badoglio made no mystery of the fact that if the King gare him orders to stamp oat the Fascist movement, he weald carry them out...
...The fact ia that Badoglio te today what he always has been: a professions 1 soldier, loyal to the King, ready to add fresh salaries aad fresh pensions to hie former eateries aad pensions, hat net interested in politics...
...The Phalanx issues leaflets against the government and the Catholics...
...the Catholics fight with the Phalanx...
...we revise ear definition of whet Fascism te, the whole system is bound to sup between the meshes of retributive justice...
...In Madrid and other large cities the Socialist Party and the General Union of Workers publish newspapers and leaflets three and four times a week, and the discontent of the people can easily be fanned into open rebellion...
...nxttee...
...Communications among peoples must be reestablished, and with them clear agreement on the meaning of certain fundamental words, on the sincerity of car-tain fundamental aims...
...A Socialist on trial in Madrid, was asked by the judge: "Are you a member of the Socialist Party since 1920...
...he noted Italian historian, was part ef a series of portraits of passible Italian "Darlans" that Sap tar sd in the Italian anti-fas-smt magazine 'Coontercurreota...
...The outlook for Italy in the transition period is less gloomy than is that of France, in that it does net lead itself to qo«* so many unpleasant surprises...
...For three successive times the Guerrillas have blown up the guft poWder plants of Manjoya, Oviedo, which is working for the Nazis under the direction of German technicians...
...In June 1939, he announced that "it is evident that the Army, Militia, Navy, and Airforce of Imperial Italy, rich in experience gained in a succession of victorious wars, have Ptefected their organization and raised themselves to a level •ever before reached and one that improves to meet our JJpire's necessities of prestige and security...
...For one, the Italians know that they are getng to be treated as conquered enemies, and have been taught to expect little from the Allies...
...because Allied intentions as to military goverameflfifSnd the possible commitments of the United ?1?(??| gsmw clear, and so long aa the jealously guarded tlksjsMjaiphs agreement remains under lock and key the g laiesWiloabm are justified...
...Cavallerol, it will not he easy to bypass men like Badoglio or Caviglia, who have in them some of the old and simple virtues...
...When »»* attack upon France and England was started, Mussolini wpnrmed Badoglio as Chief of the General Staff...
...The "boilito ja pones" is a Bute ball of bread, very black and disgusting in appearance as are to oa tha Japanese In calling this ugly, black bread "boilito tepeaes" (Japanese bread balls» the humor and the protest go together with great effect...
...Badoglio followed in the train of his lord, _ As s consequence, Mussolini took him into his fold, and in 1927 he bestowed upon him the title and—what was more important to Badoglio—the salary of Marshal...
...The Falange party received news of the meeting and gave orders to the army and civil guards to break it up by force...
...revolutionary situations arise: and the authoritative splasan abroad, as usual, will be that here agate Is a ease of Red intrigue...
...He allowed his subordinates to play politics...
...You cannot deny that because we have your record here before us...
...Therefore he was regarded aa an anti-Fascist...
...Eisenhower...
...have also destroyed several times the electric supply lines of the ammunition factories in Viesgo, Asturias, and broken the railroad line that goes from t\fe ammunition factories to the border and then to Germany...
...the Monarquistas attack the Phalanx...
...The Spanish people are waiting for aa opportunity of taking up arms again to fight Nazism and Fasciam with the same courage they displayed jmr July 18, 198*, to repel the foreign invasion...
...They are aa ominous sign of , the times...
...and in the meddle of his talk the audience arose and said: More bread and teas speeches...
...prevent the little food products they have from being taken away to be shipped to Germany as part payment for the help Hitler gave Franco during the Civil War...
...These men will than survive the disappearance ef the Party...
...The loss of the Italian Empire will be felt, ? at leant for a time, as a good riddance, and the end of an intolerable drain on the country's finances...
...It ia to be assumed that, during and after military occupation, the provisional government will be on strictly conservative lines, including notables designated by the Throne and the Church, and representatives of the army...
...Under this law experienced workers and specialists are permitted to leave jail sc concentration camp to work for the "big" money of two pesetas a day (about 20 cents American money...
...The Spanish people will not accept the Monarchy any more than they have made peace with the Franco regime or fascism...
...Jnnc 3. 1937...
...Most likely everything we read about Badoglio in our papers does not come from inside Italy, but is concocted in London and Washington to prepare our minds for some unholy compromise with the man and his peers when Italy has been occupied by the forces of the United Nattens...
...The political ipimsVsmTji tern begin to understand from the news that seep tm^jsdjm...
...THE victory of the United Nattens in North Africa has * brought some hope to the people of Spain, who' hope for in the triumph of the Allies the liberation of their owe country...
...A friend of the writer, recently escaped from the Franco inferno, told of.some of the work performed by the Guerrillas in Spain...
...In September 1937, Mussolini ap-PWod him President oi.the Nstursl Research Council (New *** Timet, September 23, 1937) which was supposed to agp in preparing the armed forces for the coming war...
...THHIS maneuver of England to bring back the monarchy * to Spain is the most unpopular project that the United Nations could possibly think of...
...Many of these women lead the Guerrillas with heroism...
...As a reward he had bestowed upon him title of Duke of Addis Ababa and—what was more important to him — he received "a full Vice-Regal salary for life...
...What Can Be Expected BY GEORGE DE SANTILLANA QENEBAL EISENHOWER'S proclamation, even trans-la ted as it was into incomprehensible Bronx pidgin, mast have- reassured the Italians considerably...
...This is done1 te: order to meet the scarcity of experienced workers in many Industries and enterprises, as steel mills, mines, etc...
...T the Axis...
...Now the soldiers do not want to fight the Guerrillas any more and when the army is sent to persecute them some soldiers escape and join with their brotheri workers...
...by any legal or semi-legal means: for once that srshism ef ever hauling comes a p. it ia not difiWalt to see where it mir hi lead...
...all parties on the need for-political and moral...
...He waa only a mercenary, indifferent to politics, who had given his allegiance to the King of Italy aad was ready to comply with any command coming from his ford and master...
...Was he not Chief of all armed ifj^te- He, no less than Mussolini, was responsible for the ™»hster in Greece as well as for that in France...
...It bears ia it the crisis ef the as> Immediate future...
...the Civil War...
...Recently a meeting was called outside of the city of Gijon, Asturias, in which thousands of persons participated, to protest ajrainit the Franco help to Hitler...
Vol. 26 • July 1943 • No. 31
