On 12 September, 1943, Mussolini was swept from his prison by Otto Skorzeny and 100 of his men from Gran Sasso. Mussolini, for the first time, met Hitler in Munich on 12 Sep 43 with nothing to offer him. Many decisions had to be made. Northern Italy had to be controlled, but Germany did not have the manpower to fight the Allies and maintain civil order. The only credible way to maintain order in Italy was to reappoint Mussolini as head of a new State. Mussolini accepted this appointment with little eagerness. He assigned Alessadro Pavolini as party secretary; Roberto Farinacci as Minister of Interior; Renato Ricci, head of the Militia; Filippo Anfuso, ambassador to Berlin and Marshal Rodolfo Graziani as Minister of National Defense.

Mussolini realized in the months following his new appointment that the RSI was little different than the other occupied countries of Germany. Northern Italy was to support the German war effort. Mussolini was flanked by German counselors, and even protected by 30 SS men of Hitler's personal body guards. After complaints by Mussolini, Italian troops were finally authorized to protect Mussolini to the same degree as the SS detachment. Mussolini also demanded the release of Italian military prisoners, but Hitler only counteroffered with better treatment of them. Mussolini would always push for more autonomy, but little was ever given.

The conference in Verona on 14 November 1943, discussed many factors: to established the structure and socialization of the new republic; that the acts of the Grand Council on 25 July 1943 were those of traitors and the need to stifle partisan actions. A bill of 18 articles was written by Pavolini and endorsed by Mussolini. After the conference, Pavolini organized the first of many RSI attacks on insurgents when 17 anti-fascists in Ferrara were killed. The focus of the RSI to avoid a civil war was reinforced when Farinacci commented on the 17 deaths: "The word of law is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. It has been thought that we do not posses the courage or the strength to react. The facts have now spoken".

Interrogating a suspected Partisan

The Tribunal

On 8 January 1944, a tribunal authorized by the Council of Ministers on 13 October 1943, was convened. Present were Ciano, returned to RSI police on 14 Oct 1943 by the Germans, along with Emilio de Bono, Giovanni Marinelli, Tullio Cianetti, Carlo Pareschi and Luciano Gottardi. The defendants explained their vote of no confidence at the Grand Council meeting on 25 July 1943. They declared that they did not intend to diminish the role of Mussolini, only to give the King authority over the military. The Tribunal concluded on 10 Jan 1944 with the sentence of death. Ciano, Marshal de Bono, Giovanni Marinelli, Carlo Pareschi and Luciano Gottardi were executed by firing squad the morning of 11 Jan 1944. Cianetti's life was spared with a prison sentence of 30 years.

Ciano mortally shot

Army and Militia

In October, the Germans demanded the liquidation of the Carabinieri, a predominately monarchist armed force. Graziani, knowing this German order would cause a lot of friction with the Italian population, plotted a way to end the existance of the Carabinieri without showing it as a German order. He called on Col. Casimiro Delfini on 4 October, and gave him an impossible order..."send 9,000 Carabinieri to Zara and defend it against the Slavs". Delfini could not oblige, most Carabinieri were not combatants and could only conduct police work. Graziani knew this could be the only response, and the Carabinieri were absorbed into the GNR, along with the MVSN and PAI.

In the fall of 1943, the ability of the RSI to develop an army was put to the test. Most males of draft age were either captured by the Allies, interned by the Germans, in important industry positions , or in liberated Italy. Italian armament was also exhausted. An inventory done by Marshal Jodl showed that on 8 September 1943, 1,255,660 rifles, 38,383 machine guns, 9,986 artillery pieces, 15,500 vehicles, 6,760 mules and horse were confiscated. Approximately 600,00 Italian soldiers were interned in German camps.

Renato Ricci proposed a party militia modeled after the German SS to quell civil unrest and partisan actions. He also wanted to create a small, but efficient navy and air force. This would allow the Wehrmacht to freely defend the front on the Italian peninsula. Graziani, proposed the creation of 25 divisions, made mostly of eligible draftees and voluntary interns. This proposition was not well accepted by German authorities. Even Ricci and Pavolini secretly disapproved of this because they felt it would give Graziani too much leverage in politics. Graziani was quick to note that it was the Italian government that turned their back on Germany, not its soldiers.

A compromise was established of 4 divisions made of 12,000 interned volunteers and 51,162 through conscription, a Militia made up of Brigate Nere (Black Brigades) and Republican Police, and the Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana (GNR) or Republic National Guard. A total of 200,000 Italians made up the RSI armed forces at the end of 1943.

The four divisions were trained in Germany, and started to arrive in Italy the summer of 1944. These divisions were named "Italia" which was trained in Heuberg, "Littorio" trained in Sennelager in Wurttemberg, "Monterosa", trained in Munzingen nel Baden, and "San Marco", trained in Grafenwoer. Mussolini would visit these divisions in training twice, in April and July 1944. These divisions, along with 3 German ones would be known as the "Liguria" Army. This army was to be placed in the alpine region and the coastal zones of Genoa and La Spezia. The main purpose of this Army was to thwart a possible Allied landing in those areas and were in all respects, first line divisions. However, their duties became mainly those of anti-partisan actions and when moral began to sink, the desertion rate would climb. In 50 days, the "Monterosa" division lost 1,105 men and the "San Marco" lost 1,400.

But a point to mention is that the Monterosa division would see the most action in the remaining year of the war. They beat back an attack by Brazilian forces on 2 October 1944 and a successful counterattack.

The militia composed of 40 Brigades, plus three mobile and one autonomous. Junio Borghese, who had 1,300 X Mas members still present at La Spezia, had Dönitz's approval for the acquisition of a Naval Infantry comprising 8,000 men of a Brigade with two Regiments. By orders of the German General Wolff through Himmler, 9,000 repatriated Italian interns formed the Italian Waffen-SS for anti partisan duties under the direct control of Germany with an oath to Hitler. On 4 June 1944, the Allies liberated Rome. The Gustav line was falling apart and the general population the RSI realized the war was all but lost. Partisan membership soared to new levels in the occupied zones and the RSI devoted more and more troops and militia to anti-partisan duties.

RSI soldier on mountain

Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana

In October, 1943, a agreement was reached between Lt. Col Ernesto Botto and Luftwaffe Commander Generalfeldmarchall Wolfram von Richthofen in which Lt. Col Giuseppe Baylon was named head of the Italian Air ministry. This new Air Force would be named the Republican National Air Force (ANR). Initially, it was quite difficult to get an effective air force in action because the Germans captured approximately 1,000 of the Italian aircrafts still remaining in areas controlled by Germany. Towards the end of 1943, a number of C.205 V's were handed back to the Italians to form the Iº Gruppo Caccia, which debuted over Turin on 3 Jan 1944.

Next came the Squadriglia Complementare Montefusco, equippied with G.55's and the IIº Gruppo Caccia, which was formed in April, 1944. IIIº Gruppo Caccia formed in summer 1944, but never achieved combat status.

Losses were very high and the lack of spare parts made it quite difficult to maintain available aircraft. In most situations, the Italian pilots had to be retrained in the use of German BF 109G's due to the high losses of their domestic aircraft.

In August 1944, the Germans tried to disband the ANR to force Italian pilots into the Luftwaffe. The pilots refused and burned their aircraft after their bases were surrounded by SS units. The crisis was resolved when German authorities reversed their decision.

During the last year of war in Northern Italy, the ANR had the only Axis aircraft flying in the region. During the period it flew Macchis, the Iº Gruppo Caccia claimed 100 Allied aircraft with the same amount of losses. It downed more aircraft than any other Italian unit of its size.

RSI Navy and Xa MAS

Most of the Regia Marina sailed to Malta as part of the instrument of surrender. What remained with the RSI was a minimal naval force. 4 Mas, 2 anti-submarine vessels and various other light vessels. There were 5 submarines stationed at Betsom and 5 in the Black Sea.

The submarines at Betasom remained in RSI hands once Enzo Grossi, Commander of Betasom, reassured the Germans of his loyalty and raised the RSI flag on 12 Sep 1943.

The story of the submarines in Romania is a revelation of the strange relationship between Axis partners. On 14 Nov 1943, Alberto Tozzi, established a deal with the Romanian government for the transfer of the submarines to Romanian control. Even though Romania recognized RSI as the legitimate Italian government, they protested and stalled for almost seven months in returning the 5 submarines into Italian hands. Even a letter from Mussolini to Antonescu on 14 Jan 44 met with little results. Only 4 submarines would be returned in July 1944, because that was all the RSI could afford to pay Romania after they sent the maintenance bill to Italy.

The RSI navy would have no effect in the remaining years of the war, and by German order, the only naval vessels allowed to carry the Italian flag were those dependent on the X Flottiglia Mas. Because of that, the Black Prince, Borghese, spent most of the war commanding the naval ground forces of the Barbarigo, Fulmine, Freccia, Sagittario, Lupo, and Valanga autonomous battalions.

These battalions were very respected by both German and Allied forces, however, they still felt the sting of German occupancy. To garnish needed supplies, members of the X MAS would meet German authorities at a Beretta manufacturer, get them drunk and steal the needed weapons. In other situations they would trade pigs for German cannons, managing to assemble 4 batteries of 152's. On another occasion a Xa MAS Lt. was promoted for stealing 5,000 liters of fuel from under the nose of Germans!

The Jewish Question

In the summer of 1943, there were approximately 40,157 Jews living in Italy, of these, 6,500 were non Italians. Italy had laws discriminating Jews as of 1938 after the publication of the Race Manifest, but no substantial actions were placed against them. In fact, in the first few years after Italy's entry into the war, Adolf Eichman announced that the French, Yugoslav and Greek zones occupied by the Italians had become a Jewish refuge. This all changed after the fall of Italy. On 16 October, 1943, 1,259 individuals were arrested by German authorities. Of these, approximately 200 were released because they were not Jewish. 1,022 were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. 839 did not meet labor standards and were exterminated. Only 17 of this initial group of Jews would survive the war. Mussolini was aware of Germany's deportation of Italian Jews. His official position was endorsement, but he was irritated by the fact that these actions seemed to undermine the legitimacy of his government. On 5 December, 1943, the first Italian internment camp specifically for the Jews was opened in Fossoli. On 14 March 1944, the Office of Races was created. By the end of the war, approximately one third of all Jews in Italy were either interned or exterminated.

The End

By January 1945, the Russians had entered Germany and the war was all but lost. Mussolini held hope in Hitler's "Secret Weapons" to change the balance of war, but he was not convinced. Mussolini was upset that Germany was not giving him the authority he needed to do what he felt was necessary, and Graziani was aggravated that Germany could not trust the Italian military with independent military actions. Mussolini decided to move his government to Milano, where he could initiate contacts with the Allies. If these contacts did not bear favorable terms of surrender, he would establish a final front in Valtellina. This Allies would accept none other than a unconditional surrender and to Mussolini's dismay, only 2,000 to 5,000 soldiers could be assembled for what he percieved as a "final heroic stand". On 18 December 1944, Mussolini had moved his office to Milano. German Ambassador Rahn, suggested he move to Merano or the Brenner Pass, but Mussolini chose Milano due in part to his wish to distance himself from German authority.

On 25 April 1945, Graziani announced to Mussolini the imminent surrender of German forces in Italy. Mussolini planned a radio broadcast announcing the Germans as turncoats, but events unfolded too quickly. That evening, Mussolini decided to escape. He brought with him documents that could be used as leverage to any war crimes trial. These documents are still a subject of great mystery. Even the details of this escape are sketchy, however, Valtellina, Switzerland or areas still controlled by the Wehrmacht were the most likely areas. On 27 April 1945, his convoy was stopped at Musso, near Dongo, by Partisans. He was immediately recognized with his girlfriend Clara Petacci. On the morning of 28 April 1945, Mussolini and Petacci were shot and killed. Other members of the convoy were killed later that evening. Their bodies were displayed the following day in Milano.

Mussolini, Pavolini and F. Barracu on 25 Apr 45. Three days before his execution

German troops surrendered in Italy on 2 May 1945 and the RSI ceased to exist. In the end, The RSI could not function as a state with the overbearing German occupation and the pressure of Partisan attacks. The last two years of the war was, in reality, an Italian civil war...fascists against partisans. Approximately 12,000 to 300,000 fascists were killed by Partisans in the last months of war. An unknown, but significant amount of Partisans were killed by Fascists.

Sources:
Benito Mussolini by Gino Avolio
La Repubblica di Salò by Gianni Oliva
Macchi C.202 in Action by Squadrom/Signal Publications
Italian Aces of World War 2 by Osprey Aviation
La Repubblica di Mussolini by Giorgio Bocca