The Underground War in Italy

...The slowing down of the Allied offensive after the conquest of Rimini has csused a new offensive of the Germuns against the Patriots...

...Praise for the Italian Patriots by Allied Army Chiefs h atss sanlieit...

...Near Parma, in older to get rid of some Patriots, the Germans burned an entire forest, and forty of them were taken prisoners and shot...

...Tnp>bj ths opinio* »f ths chiefs of the different ¦ilium...

...The French Committee of Liberation officinlly stated that in the Paris struggle Italian Patriota had a place of honor...

...On the same day communications in the Gothic Line were interrupted...

...Bernsrd Psss...

...x*is barbarous slaughter by the Nszi-Fascists stif-^•¦•u'tihe resistance of the Italians...

...On the other hand, the silence of the American press ee the Italians' fight cannot be attributed to the Amelias* Government I lesrned what I shall relate below from the releases of OWI and only when my source is ether than the OWI ahall I mention it...

...The bulk of their forces was constituted by fourteen Garibaldi Brigades, grouped in two divisions of seven brigades each...

...The whole month of June was very unfavorable to the Nazis and the Fascists...

...Bm sMh bj n»i the opinion of lac Was »...» Timet •Sitae**I of September It, where we reed that PA stasia's Armistice is less harsh tbsn Italy's, be-ranse ths better contributions of Rsmsnis to the A Uses' wsr effort...

...Thr reeitlanre and the rim/ie of the txajvitty of the wotkeit were organized by thr So-i 'atmt I'ai ty...

...Air Vice Marshal aj^easMfMsearlet said that Italian aviators showed ex-gaefdhasry skill and great courage...

...About whst hsppened in Rome a special article will be necessary...

...the Guardia Naziovale t'aieitta, that is th* Fascist Army, which Mussolini tried to build up...

...Many rumors of s general German withdrawal from Northwest Italy have appeared in the papers sines ths end of August...

...The formation of such an army was made possible by the constant communication with the Allies ami by the Alljed successes which culminated in the occupation of Rome...

...In Lombardy the Patriots were sble to dominate the hills of Valtellina and the main highways...

...Real battles between Germans and *****°t» took place in, Romagna, between Bologna and jwarinl, and in Tuscany...

...ths' Germans profited from the slowing down of the Allied'advance during July and initiated strong counter-¦Weiorea.' On July 17, Marshal Kesserling published » proclamation against the "civil war" in Italy, threat-«**gv to" kill the families of Patriots and hostages...

...What an ived wss s strong German offensive whieb recently reconquered Domodossola...

...Cannobio also was so firmly in the hands of the Patriots that a regular trial was held there of some Fascists who were hanged in the public square...

...Information and political orders come to the brigades from the Committee of National Liberation, which has formed many Provisional Committees...

...But on* must emphasise that this is impossible for guerrilla fighters...

...However, the London radio on October fl stated that the Patriots completely control the west side of Lake Como, ths tones around Mount Bianco and a vast region between the Alps of Venezin Giulia and the Yugoslav frontier...

...Each unit receives orders by radio and bigger units have radio transmitters...

...On July 6, it was announced that the Partisans of Carpi, in the province of Modena, attacked a train of German soldiers and killed many of them...

...t«neral insurrection of the Patriots began at the JN of June...

...and there are some British am) American officers as adviser* and observers...

...Each brigade hud about 1,000 soldiers...

...They had time to build up two airfields in order to obtain from the Allies arms and plsnes...

...Marshsl Kesselring was compelled to declare a state of siege...

...Even the Director of the Fiat company, Valletta, is said to have joined the Patriots...

...What the guerrilla warfare of the Patriots could do ' was to harass the German armies, to disrupt the formation of a new Mussolini army, to occupy mountainous regions, to destroy trains, roads, bridges, to interrupt telegraph and telephone lines and to give infor-•mation about the enemy to the Allies...

...On June 1, it was announced that .15,000 soldiers and 499 commissioned officers of all ranks deserted...

...The aim of the operations is simply ths lib erstion of the region between Genoa, Turin and Milan...

...Finally Lilliii*a1>^aithf Xfinkn of the patriots, well organized i, nuasarsMS groups, who hsvs sccomplished ssbotsgs •ark,' transmitted precious information sbout ths anemy, ssd csused a greet desl of damage while suffering ssnsidersble losses...

...i^T the beginning of July the German* ordered the machines of the Fiat factories to be brought to Germany...

...They allied themselves With the French Maquis snd went into France to fight the Germans snd the Vichy militia...

...Italian Patriots have dominated the main passes between Italy and France since at least ths month of June...

...Of course these rumors will be verified when the Allied armies definitely enter the Po valley...

...On July 2<i, thirteen Patriots were condemned to death in Venice...

...Perhaps by sighting Russia...

...The workers sn-****¦ the martial law by a series of strikes and by fcT*min* P*toioU- Every Patriots captured was killed, u»talso every Nazi-Fascist captured was killed...

...sWanw&lle' those Patriots who had abandoned their w»*i<believlng in the promised amnesty of Mussolmij' *•*» shot...

...Even in the fight for the liberation of Paris Italian Patriots fought snd died...

...The Underground War in Italy The first Complete Picture of the Worker's Resistance in the North By Lionello Venturi f Bs> ajnerican press hss paid little or ne attention to ea«#4fk*«' the Italians for the liberation of their eoun-bbS ths Alliad Amy chiefs, the Office of Wsr ljiisssir-~ ana the American Government in general, knew very well the importance of the 1 taluW struggle...

...that is the Mont-Cenis, the Monte Ginevrs, the Little St...

...This should go far toward wiping out the shame for the aggression against France by Mussolini and the King of Italy and renew the friendship of the French and Italian people...

...Not xmly the Gestapo but the c*«m*n Army had to face the insurrection in Flor-«•»**, Siens, Arezxo, and Ancona...

...We heard that the patriots fought so herd in Florence that fifteen hundred of their men were killed without mentioning their wounded, And General Hume recognized that they had "a great part in the liberation of Florence" We heard that soma dsys before the entry of the Allies into Siena the town had been cleared of Germans by the Patriots...

...They succeeded in kidnapping 3,000...

...We heard of the heroic three days when the Neapolitan people with improvised arms or with their hands fought slone sgsinst ths Germsns...

...ThIS is a very incomplete picture of what the Italian Patriots did in the last five months in the regions still under the Germans...

...In Piedmont large parts of the province of Novara were in the hands of the Patriots and during the month of July nobody could enter Novara without the permission of the Patriots...

...ThE first general picture of the Put riot forces was given on July 10...

...Supplies arrive generally by plane...

...But the expected plsnes did not srrive...

...Neither the French Maquis nor the Tito forces chased the Germans out of their countries...

...It is true that the Italian Patriots were not able to chase the Germans out of Italy...

...The Germans wanted to kidnap them and send them to Gei-niany...

...But the others escaped and joined the Patriots...

...they •sought their arms to the Patriots and became Patriots themselves...

...Recently the Allies estimated that the Garibaldi brigades consist of about 200,000 men...

...In Vslsesis, where an independent republic nsj'been formed, thousands of murders were accom-*'**"d by the Nasi-Fascists: in Novara 350 were shot, » Varese 210...

...Meanwhile one must emphasize the political consciousness of the Italian Patriots, not in the sense that they belong rather to one party or another, but in the senss that they consider themselves representatives of Italy and look ahead to Italy's relations with its neighbors...

...branches *f the Allied Commiesios is Italy...

...But at the beginning of September a new outburst of violence appeared...

...The New Leader readers, 1 hope, will be glad to know facts with winch American public opinion should be acquainted...

...I prefer to choose Allied sources in order to avoid the suspicion of nationalistic exaggerations...

...The counter-measures of the Nazi-Fascists against the Patriots produced a sort of stalemate during the month of August...

...Meanwhile a general **• bad been declared in Genoa, sabotaging not only m**try and communications but also the Navy...

...The telephone lines between Leghorn and Bologna, Genoa and Turin were cut and the military telephone had to be repaired every day...

...What they did in the towns now liberated is a little better known, but not well enough...

...They had been taken prisoners when a grand scale atlack of the Patriots had been made against the Germans some time before...

...And in the city of Milan numerous spies and Fastists were shot...

...They succeeded in interrupting railroad communications between Milsn and Como, Milan and Domodossola, Milan and Varese and Sondrio...

...Each Provincial Committee has military units of its own, outside the Ganhnldi bri-fsdes, Actions of a large style are accomplished by (he brigades, the everyday fight in the towns and the villages is due to smaller units...

...The command of the brigades is provided by Italian staters...

...This is Italian Patriots hsvs done, snd they deserve the praise which the Allied authorities give them and which the public opinion hss so for fsiled to give...

...At least news of important actions during that month is lacking...

...Also in the territory close to the actual fighting around Bologna, the Patriots have attacked the Germans, conquered Bcl-laria and delivered intact the bridge over the Rubicon to the English...

...Other battles between Germans and Patriots were fought in the provinces of Padua and Vicenza...

...On the other hand, in the whole province of Milan railroads, telegraph and telephone services are thoroughly sabotaged...

...A general insurrection1of Patriots in the region of Lake Magglore reached Domodossola, an important point because it is at the Italian end of the Simplon Pass...

...TlIE offensive operations of the Garibaldi brigades have been concentrated under a single command at four points: Turin, Novara, Liguria and the region of Lake Maggiore...

...Besides ths repeated praise from Gsn-aiaj jtlsassder, Major Genera) Browning, of the Allied uaiiiissiir stated an August tt thst the recognition ,f theMalisn Army wss necessary not only in the Alga* Prsss hut in the Allied Mind...

...Rear Admiral Morgan spoke of the extremely useful work ef the Italian submarines, and of the extremely dangerous .pirniit---* the Italian Navy...

...In Turin they owned snd conducted arms factories of their i own...

...But when the Fascists wanted to shoot some more, the Parma women made such a demonstration that they were compelled, at least for the moment, to suspend the executions...

...The Turin workers answered by a strike...

...Not only was the formation of* a regular Patriots' army made possible, not only was the Fascist army liquidated, but also the situation became so critical to the Germans in Italy that w*a the German consul of Milan had to provide himself with German guards as if he were in an enemy country...

...The whole Ossola valley became an independent republic governed by Patriots under the Italian and British flags...

...On July 17, some Gaiibaldi brigades attacked the seventy-ninth German division while it was going toward the front lines, and inflicted remarkable losses upon it...

...To face the situation, three German divisions,* some armored, had to be brought from Yugoslavia and Hungary...

...There were 161 opera tinn more this yssr of whieh 132 were successful end tee it ssxsueeessful were due to the weather...