#OTD in 1943, Aldo di Loreto, Medical Captain was executed by the Germans. Aldo was on leave when the Armistice was declared and immediately founded a partisan band. Before being shot he ordered the squad to aim for his heart. #WarInItaly@histodons
#OTD in 1944, Forli, "The City of the Duce" was liberated by the partisans and Allies. 9th of November was as well the anniversary of the foundation of the Fascist Party... I bet it stung.
The Germans left Forli causing as much destruction as they could. #WarInItaly
"Two Horses dragging a German artillery piece, break into a full run during a MG attack by P-47s. As the Huns retreat northwest of Bologna, Italy. Later reports indicated that the animals were killed and the gun damaged" 20.04.45 #WarHorseWednesday#WarInItaly
NAID: 204912440 @histodons
Brigadier General Alberto Murer was deported to Flossenbürg in September '44, together with 242 of his men, because of his links with the Resistenza. #OTD in 1944 a camp kapo broke his skull, killing him, because he was hiding 4 potatos. Only 2 of his men survived the camps #IMI#RegioEsercito#WarInItaly@histodons
Italian civilians returning to their homes in Naples after the liberation; extreme poverty, barefoot women, and a woman carrying an elderly lady on her back. Heartbreaking.
IWM CVN 314 #WarInItaly @histodons
#OTD in 1943, during the Four days of Naples, Gennaro Capuzzo, 11yo was killed whilst attacking German tanks with hand grenades. Cappuzo is the youngest person ever awarded with the Gold Medal of Military Valour. 🌹🕯 #WarInItaly @histodons
#OTD in 1943, Filippo Illuminatoz who was only 13yo, was killed in combat during the Four days of Naples. He attacked a German armoured car with hand grenades, advancing under heavy fire. #WarInItaly @histodons
#OTD in 1943, Matera (Basilicata) was the first town in Southern Italy to rise in arms against the German invaders. Italian soldiers and civilians managed to drive the Germans out, but before leaving, they dynamited the Milizia Garrison (used as a prison) killing 15 people . #WarInItaly @histodons
#OTD in 1943 the Germans committed the first civilian massacre in mainland Italy. Troops under the command of J.Peiper killed 23 people (including the priest, who was burned alive) and burned 350 houses in Boves. #WarInItaly @histodons
#OTD in '43, Pasquale Sacco (London, 1900), an Italian carabiniere, took a group of children to cover during an Allied bombing. He was killed by a strafing aircraft whilst helping the last kid. Nobody knew about his heroism until 1995 when one of the kids he saved tried to find him. #WarInItaly @histodons
#OTD in 1944; Franco Cesana, the youngest partisan fallen in combat was killed near Modena. He was 13yo.
Franco joined a partisan group after the 8th of September 1943, when Turin was occupied by the Germans who started persecuting and deporting Jews. #WarInItaly@histodons
#OTD in 1917 the Italian Chilean pilot Arturo Dell'Oro rammed an Austrian Hansa-Brandenburg C.I with his Nieuport XI because his machinegun jammed. He was 21yo.
He received the Gold Medal of Military Valour for this action. #WW1#WarInItaly@histodons
#OTD in 1944, after 2 days of tortures Albino Abico (23), Italian partisan and veteran of the Russian campaign, was shot by nazi-fascist troops. Together with other 40 partisans liberated Baggio (Milan) and even repelled the 1st counterattack earlier that summer... There is still who affirms that the Italian partisans only came down from the mountains after the towns were liberated by the Allies... #WarInItaly @histodons
#OTD in 1944, Vignale (Piemonte, N Italy): Nazi-fascist soldiers executed 13 young men (18-24yo) who refused to join the Italian Social Republic's army. #WarInItaly#WW2 @histodons@militaryhistory
#OTD in 1943: Royal Marines patrolling in the rubble-strewn streets of Catania, 5 August 1943.
Impressive pic! It is a shame that the IWM has only scanned the caption side of most of the pics of these series. #WarInItaly
IWM NA 5336 @histodons