Italian Social Republic
Italian Social Republic Repubblica Sociale Italiana (Italian) | |||||||||
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1943–1945 | |||||||||
Motto: Per l'onore d'Italia "For the honour of Italy" | |||||||||
Anthem:
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Status | Puppet state of Nazi Germany[2][3] | ||||||||
Capital | |||||||||
Largest city | Rome | ||||||||
Common languages | |||||||||
Duce | |||||||||
• 1943–1945 | Benito Mussolini | ||||||||
Plenipotentiary | |||||||||
• 1943–1945 | Rudolf Rahn | ||||||||
Historical era |
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8-19 September 1943 | |||||||||
23 September 1943 | |||||||||
25 April 1945 | |||||||||
28 April 1945 | |||||||||
2 May 1945 | |||||||||
Currency | Italian lira | ||||||||
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Today part of | Italy | ||||||||
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The Italian Social Republic (Italian: Repubblica Sociale Italiana, pronounced [reˈpubblika soˈtʃaːle itaˈljaːna]; RSI), known prior to December 1943 as the National Republican State of Italy (Italian: Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia; SNRI), but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò (Italian: Repubblica di Salò [reˈpubblika di saˈlɔ]), was a Nazi-German puppet state with limited diplomatic recognition that was created during the latter part of World War II, which existed from the beginning of the German occupation of Italy in September 1943 until the surrender of German troops in Italy in May 1945. The German occupation triggered widespread national resistance against it and the Italian Social Republic, leading to the Italian Civil War.
The Italian Social Republic was the second and last incarnation of the Italian Fascist state, led by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his reformed anti-monarchist Republican Fascist Party. The newly founded state declared Rome its capital but was de facto Salò (hence its colloquial name), a small town on Lake Garda, near Brescia, where Mussolini and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were headquartered. The Italian Social Republic nominally exercised sovereignty in Northern and Central Italy, but was largely dependent on German troops to maintain control.
In July 1943, after the
Around 25 April 1945, 19 months after its founding, the RSI all but collapsed. In Italy, the day is known as Liberation Day (festa della liberazione). On that day, a general partisan uprising, alongside the efforts of Allied forces during their final offensive in Italy, managed to oust the Germans from Italy almost entirely. Mussolini was captured and killed by Italian partisans on 28 April as he and an entourage attempted to flee. The RSI Minister of Defense Rodolfo Graziani surrendered what was left of the Italian Social Republic on 1 May, one day after the German forces in Italy capitulated.
Context of its creation
On 24 July 1943, after the
The next day,
While the Germans formally recognised the new status quo in Italian politics, they intervened by sending some of the best units of the Wehrmacht to Italy. This was done both to resist new Allied advances and to face the predictably imminent defection of Italy. While Badoglio continued to swear loyalty to Germany and the Axis powers, Italian government emissaries prepared to sign an armistice at Cassibile in Allied-occupied Sicily, which was finalized on 3 September.
On 8 September, Badoglio announced Italy's armistice with the Allies (although termed an "armistice", its terms made it akin to an unconditional surrender). German Führer Adolf Hitler and his staff, long aware of the negotiations, acted immediately by ordering German troops to seize control of Northern and Central Italy. The Germans quickly occupied Italy, disarmed the Italian troops and took over all of the Italian Army's materials and equipment, meeting only limited resistance. The Germans also dissolved the Italian occupation zone in southeastern France and forced Italian troops stationed there to leave. The Italian armed forces were not given clear orders to resist the Germans after the armistice and so resistance to the German takeover was scattered and of little effect. King Victor Emmanuel made no effort to rally resistance to the Germans, instead fleeing with his retinue to the safety of the Allied lines. On 10 September 1943, after two days of battle between the Wehrmacht and the remnants of the Royal Italian Army, Rome fell to the Germans.
The new Italian government had moved Mussolini from place to place while he was in captivity in an attempt to foil any attempts at rescue. Despite this, the Germans eventually pinpointed Mussolini at the
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Foreign relations
Establishment by Nazi Germany
Three days following his rescue in the Gran Sasso raid, Mussolini was taken to Germany for a meeting with Hitler in Rastenburg at his headquarters in East Prussia. While Mussolini was in poor health and wanted to retire, Hitler wanted him to return to Italy and start a new Fascist state under the protection of the Wehrmacht. Mussolini balked; he was tired of the responsibilities of the war and unwilling to retake power. Hitler told him the alternative would be a German military administration that would treat Italy no differently from other occupied countries. Hitler also threatened to destroy Milan, Genoa and Turin unless Mussolini agreed to set up a revived Fascist government. Reluctantly, Mussolini agreed to Hitler's demands.[8]
Mussolini returned to Italy and settled in Milan, from where on 15 September he announced the creation of the Republican Fascist Party and, three days later, the resumption of the war alongside Germany and Japan. The Duce immediately announced the formation of a new republican cabinet, although they actually came from a list chosen and appointed by Hitler himself. The Italian Social Republic was proclaimed on 23 September, with Mussolini as both chief of state and prime minister.[3][4] The RSI claimed Rome as its capital, but the de facto capital became the small town of Salò on Lake Garda, midway between Milan and Venice, where Mussolini resided along with the foreign office of the RSI. While Rome itself was still under Axis control at the time, given the city's proximity to Allied lines and the threat of civil unrest, neither the Germans nor Mussolini himself wanted him to return to Rome.[9]
On 18 September, Mussolini made his first public address to the Italian people since his rescue, in which he commended the loyalty of Hitler as an ally while condemning Victor Emmanuel for betraying Italian Fascism.[8] He declared: "It is not the regime that has betrayed the monarchy, it is the monarchy that has betrayed the regime". He also formally repudiated his previous support of the monarchy, saying: "When a monarchy fails in its duties, it loses every reason for being…The state we want to establish will be national and social in the highest sense of the word; that is, it will be Fascist, thus returning to our origins".[8]
From the start, the Italian Social Republic was little more than a
The RSI had no constitution or organized economy, and its financing was dependent entirely on funding from Berlin.[11] German forces themselves had little respect for Mussolini's failed fascism, and considered the regime merely as a tool for maintaining order, such as repressing the Italian partisans.[12] This work was also carried out by the infamous Pietro Koch and the Banda Koch on Germany's behalf.[13]
The RSI took revenge against the 19 members who had voted against Mussolini on the Grand Council with the
Territorial losses
The changing political and military situation re-opened questions regarding the status of Italian territories, particularly those with German-speaking majorities that were formerly under Austrian rule. Previously, Hitler had vigorously suppressed any campaigning for the return of lands such as
On 10 September 1943, the
After the Italian capitulation, the Italian Islands of the Aegean were occupied by the Germans (see Dodecanese campaign). During the German occupation, the islands remained under the nominal sovereignty of the RSI but were de facto subject to the German military command.[18]
The
Diplomatic recognition
The RSI was recognized as the legitimate government of Italy by
Finland and Vichy France, despite being in the Axis orbit, did not recognise the RSI. Even otherwise sympathetic States such as Spain or Portugal refused to establish formal diplomatic relations with the RSI. The Holy See did not recognise the RSI.[19][20]
Economy and war effort
During the existence of the Italian Social Republic, Mussolini, whose former government had banned trade unions and strikes, began to make increasingly populist appeals to the working class. He claimed to regret many of the decisions made earlier in supporting the interests of big business and promised a new beginning if the Italian people would be willing to grant him a second chance. Mussolini claimed that he had never totally abandoned his left-wing influences, insisting that he had attempted to nationalize property in 1939–1940 but had been forced to delay such action for tactical reasons related to the war.[21] With the removal of the monarchy, Mussolini claimed the full ideology of Fascism could be pursued; and to gain popular support he reversed over twenty years of Fascist policy of backing private property and relative economic independence by ordering the nationalization of all companies with over 100 employees.[22] Mussolini even reached out to ex-communist Nicola Bombacci to help him in spreading the image that Fascism was a progressive movement.[22] The economic policy of the RSI was given the name "Socialization", and Mussolini had even considered the idea of calling his new republic the "Italian 'Socialist' Republic".[23] In practice, little resulted from the declared socialization of the economy. Unions did not exert real control of their management and took no part in state planning (as they had the power to do on paper after the socialization). The Italian industrial sector was excluded from the new reforms by the Germans and Italian industrialists were opposed to the changes in any case. The Italian labour force (large parts of which had remained leftist despite fascist rule) regarded socialization as a sham and responded with a massive strike on 1 March 1944.[9]
In Greece, while the government of the Kingdom of Italy surrendered and many Italian soldiers in the Aegean were tired of the war and had become opposed to Mussolini, Italian Fascist loyalists remained allied to Germany in the Greek campaign; German forces in Greece convinced 10,000 Italians in the Aegean to continue to support their war effort.[24]
In 1944, Mussolini urged Hitler to focus on destroying Britain rather than the Soviet Union, as Mussolini claimed that it was Britain that had turned the conflict into a world war and that the British Empire must be destroyed in order for peace to come in Europe.
RSI military formations
Women volunteers served in uniform as noncombatants in paramilitary units and police formations (Servizio Ausiliario Femminile). The commander was the brigadier general Piera Gatteschi Fondelli.[29][30]
Army
Smaller units like the Black Brigades (Brigate nere) led by Alessandro Pavolini and the Decima Flottiglia MAS led by Junio Valerio Borghese (called "principe nero", the Black Prince) fought for the RSI during its entire existence. The Germans were satisfied if these units were able to participate in anti-partisan activities.
In March 1944, the bulk of the
On 16 October 1943, the Rastenburg Protocol was signed with Nazi Germany and the RSI was allowed to raise division-sized military formations. This protocol allowed Marshal Rodolfo Graziani to raise four RSI divisions totalling 52,000 men. In July 1944, the first of these divisions completed training and was sent to the front.
Recruiting military forces was difficult for the RSI as most of the Italian Army had been interned by German forces in 1943, many military-aged Italians had been conscripted into forced labour in Germany and few wanted to participate in the war. The RSI became so desperate for soldiers that it granted convicts freedom if they would join the army and imposed a sentence of death on anyone who opposed being conscripted.[32] Autonomous military forces in the RSI also fought against the Allies including the notorious Decima Flottiglia MAS of Prince Junio Valerio Borghese. Borghese held no allegiance to Mussolini and even suggested that he would take him prisoner if he could.[32]
During the winter of 1944–1945, armed Italians were on both sides of the
On 26 December 1944, several sizeable RSI military units, including elements of the 4th Italian "Monterosa Division" Alpine Division and the 3rd Italian "San Marco" Marine Division, participated in Operation Winter Storm. This was a combined German and Italian offensive against the United States Army's 92nd Infantry Division. The battle was fought in the Apennines. While limited in scale, this was a successful offensive and the RSI units did their part.
The RSI military was under the command of General
In February 1945, the 92nd Infantry Division again came up against RSI units. This time it was Bersaglieri of the 1st Italian "Italia" Infantry Division. The Italians successfully halted the United States division's advance.
However, the situation continued to deteriorate for the Axis forces on Gothic Line.[34] By mid-April 1945, the final Allied offensive in Italy had led German defences to collapse. At the end of that month, the last remaining troops of RSI were bottled up along with two Wehrmacht divisions at Collecchio by 1st Brazilian Division being forced to surrender after some days of fighting.[35][36][37]
On 29 April, Graziani surrendered and was present at Caserta when a representative of German General Heinrich von Vietinghoff-Scheel signed the unconditional instrument of surrender for all Axis forces in Italy, but since the Allies had never recognised the RSI Graziani's signature was not required at Caserta.[38] The surrender was to take effect on 2 May; Graziani ordered all RSI forces under his command to lay down their arms on 1 May.
Air Force
The National Republican Air Force (Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana or ANR) was the air force of Italian Social Republic and also the air unit of National Republican Army. It was organized into three fighter groups, one torpedo bomber group, one bomber group, and other transport and minor units. The ANR worked closely with the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) in Northern Italy.
In 1944, after the withdrawal of all German fighter units for home air defense over Germany, ANR fighter groups were left alone and heavily outnumbered to face the massive Allied air offensive over Northern Italy. During 1944 and 1945, the ANR shot down 262 Allied aircraft for the loss in action of 158 of its own.[39][40][41]
Little of the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) joined the RSI. This was because the bulk of the Regia Marina was ordered to steam to Malta at the time of the September 1943 armistice, where it was out of the reach of the Germans and the RSI. The RSI's National Republican Navy (Marina Nazionale Repubblicana or MNR) only reached a twentieth the size of the Italian Co-belligerent Navy that fought on the Allied side after the September 1943 armistice.[42] The National Republican Navy consisted of nine motor torpedo boats (two large and seven small) and dozens of MTSM small motor torpedo boats and MTM explosive motorboats.[43] The National Republican Navy also operated 15 CB-class midget submarines (ten in the Adriatic Sea and five in the Black Sea) and one larger submarine, CM1.[44]
Troops of the Decima Flottiglia MAS (the elite Italian frogman corps) fought primarily as a land unit of the RSI.
Some of the naval personnel at the BETASOM submarine base in Bordeaux, France, remained loyal to Mussolini.
Paramilitaries
The fall of the Fascist regime in Italy and the disbandment of the MVSN or "
Labour battalions
Government
The Government of the Italian Social Republic held office from 23 September 1943 until 25 April 1945, a total of 1 year, 274 days.[45] Its head was Benito Mussolini.[46]
The Government wrote a constitution for the Italian Social Republic,[47] but it was never discussed or approved. On 13 October 1943, the Government announced that a Constituent Assembly would be called to write a new constitution, but that was cancelled by Mussolini on 14 November 1943 and delayed until after the end of the war. The disintegration of the Italian Social Republic at the end of the war meant that no new constitution was written.
The RSI was led by the Republican Fascist Party, established on 18 September 1943 out of the disbanded National Fascist Party.[48] The party's official newspaper was Il Lavoro Fascista, formerly the publication of Fascist trade unions; Mussolini was largely indifferent toward the new paper and generally wrote on the Corriere della Sera instead. The Duce explicitly refused to revive his former newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia, not willing to let it become a mouthpiece of the German occupation.[49]
On 14 February 1945, Mussolini authorized the formation of a second political party called the National Republican Socialist Rally (RNRS), later rebranded as the Italian Socialist Republican Party) under the leadership of Edmondo Cione. The party supported a leftist view of fascism strongly focused on the socialization of the economy, and included several former socialists, such as Pulvio Zocchi, Carlo Silvestri, and Walter Mocchi. It also published a newspaper called L'Italia del Popolo. It was politically insignificant and its membership is unknown.[50] Mussolini himself privately told German ambassador Rudolf Rahn that he only authorised the formation of the RNRS in an attempt to sway some working-class voters away from the National Liberation Committee and that it was never meant to create any real political pluralism.[51]
Legacy
In post-war Italian politics
While the RSI supported Nazi Germany, it allowed the Italian Fascist movement to build a completely
Stamps
A number of postage stamps were issued by the Republic of Salò. Initially, existing Italian issues were overprinted with a fasces, or the initials "G.N.R." for the Republican National Guard. Later the government designed and printed three series, all of which are very common.[53]
Currency
Banknotes in 50, 100, 500, and 1000 lire denomination were printed by the Republic. As issuer, the country was not mentioned on them, but rather only the Bank of Italy.[54]
In the arts
Futurist writer and poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, a Mussolini loyalist who had helped shape Fascist philosophy, remained in the RSI as a propagandist until his death from a heart attack at Bellagio in December 1944.[55]
See also
- 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Italian)
- Decima Flottiglia MAS
- Italian Civil War
- Italian fascism
- Ministry of Occupied Italy
- National Republican Guard (Italy)
- Republican Police Corps
References
Notes
- ^ Giacomo De Marzi, I canti di Salò, Fratelli Frilli, 2005.
- ^ Renzo De Felice, Breve storia del fascismo, Milano, Mondadori (Collana oscar storia), 2002, pp. 120–121.
- ^ ISBN 0-88295-993-X
- ^ ISBN 0-671-72868-7.
- ^ a b c Susan Zuccotti. The Italians and the Holocaust: Persecution, Rescue, and Survival. University of Nebraska Press paperback edition. University of Nebraska Press, 1996. P. 148.
- ISBN 9780520954274.
- ISBN 978-8884744227.
- ^ ISBN 1-58979-095-2.
- ^ ISBN 0-8032-6622-7, p. 131
- ISBN 0203501322.
- ^ Pauley 2003, p. 228
- ^ Smith 1983, p. 307.
- ^ Rees, Philip (1990), Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890, p. 212
- ^ Rolf Steininger. South Tyrol: A Minority Conflict of the Twentieth Century. Pp. 69.
- ^ Giuseppe Motta. The Italian Military Governorship in South Tyrol and the Rise of Fascism. English translation edition. Edizioni Nuova Cultura, 2012. P. 104.
- ^ Arrigo Petacco. Tragedy Revealed: The Story of Italians from Istria, Dalmatia, and Venezia Giulia, 1943–1956. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 2005. P. 50.
- ^ Jozo Tomašević. War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration: 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration. Stanford University Press, 2001. P. 300.
- ISBN 88-425-1285-0.
- ISBN 978-88-06-11806-8.
- ISBN 978-88-16-95081-8.
- ISBN 0-394-71658-2
- ^ a b Smith 1983, p. 312.
- ^ A. James Gregor, The Ideology of Fascism: The Rationale of Totalitarianism, New York: NY, The Free Press, 1969, p. 307
- ^ Anthony J. Papalas. Rebels and Radicals: Icaria 1600–2000. Wauconda, Illinois, USA: Bolchazi-Carducci Publishers, 2005. pp. 188–190.
- ^ Smith 1983, p. 316.
- ISBN 978-1-929631-59-9. P.608
- ^ a b Smith 1983, p. 317.
- ^ Smith 1983, pp. 317–318.
- ^ Petra Terhoeven, "Frauen im Widerstand: Das Beispiel der Italienischen Resistenza", Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, 2004. 52#7 pp 608–625.
- ^ M. Fraddosio, "Woman and War: Aspects Of Womens Militancy During Fascism, From Civil Mobilization to the Origins Of The Servizio-Ausiliario-Femminile in the Italian Social-Republic." Storia Contemporanea 20#6 (1989): 1105–1181.
- ^ "WWW.WAFFEN-SS.NO "The 29th Waffen Divisionen der SS (Italianishe Nr. 1)"". www.waffen-ss.no.
- ^ a b Smith 1983, p. 308.
- ^ Blaxland, p243
- ^ Ibidem. Clark, 2007.
- ISBN 0-16-048134-1. CMH Pub 72-33. Page 23.
- ISBN 8874182848. Pages 146–48.
- ^ Bohmler, Rudolf "Monte Cassino: a German View" Cassell, 1964. ASIN B000MMKAYM. Chapter IX (final).
- ^ The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, Hans Dollinger, Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 67-27047
- ^ Italian Air Forces 1943–1945 – The Aviazone Nazionale Repubblicana by Richard J. Caruana, 1989 Modelaid International Publication
- ^ Aircraft of the Aces 34 Apostolo: Italian Aces of World War 2
- ^ "Italian biplane fighter aces - Ugo Drago". surfcity.kund.dalnet.se.
- ISBN 0-517-54478-4
- ^ Spencer C. Tucker, World War II at Sea: An Encyclopedia: An Encyclopedia, p. 389
- ^ Jack Greene, Alessandro Massignani, The Black Prince and the Sea Devils: The Story of Valerio Borghese and the elite units of the Decima MAS, p. 42
- ^ Wikisource. [Minutes of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Social Republic September 1943 - April 1945/23 September 1943] (in Italian). 1943 – via
- ^ Verbali del Consiglio dei Ministri della Repubblica Sociale Italiana, September 1943 – April 1945
- ^ "Costituzione della Repubblica Sociale Italiana". University of Turin.
- ISBN 978-88-6944-733-4.
- ISBN 978-88-389-3300-4.
- ISBN 978-88-7188-495-0.
- ISBN 978-88-04-43290-6.
- ^ Laura Kolbe. 2019. Basani the Memorious. New York Review of Books. 15 August.
- ^ "Giorgio Bifani..." www.giorgiobifani.net.
- ^ "Pettinaro Bros. World Paper Money Market: Italian Social Republic". www.papermoneymarket.com.
- ISBN 978-1611477566
Further reading
- Bosworth, R.J.B. Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915–1945 (2007)
- Gat, Moshe. "The Soviet Factor in British Policy towards Italy, 1943–1945", Historian (1988) 50#4 pp 535–557
- Knox, MacGregor. Common Destiny: Dictatorship, Foreign Policy, and War in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany (2000)
- Maximiano, Cesar. with Bonalume, Ricardo N. & Bujeiro, Ramiro. Brazilian Expeditionary Force in World War II. ISBN 9781849084833(Print version).
- Morgan, Philip. The Fall of Mussolini: Italy, the Italians, and the Second World War (2007)
- Moseley, Ray. Mussolini: The Last 600 Days of Il Duce (2004)
- Smith, D. Mack. Modern Italy: A Political History (1997) online Archived 5 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- OCLC 804881568.
External links
- Fascist Italy and the Jews: Myth versus Reality an online lecture by Dr. Iael Nidam-Orvieto of Yad Vashem
- Italian newsreel: The last speech of Mussolini in Milan on 16 December 1944 on YouTube
- Axis History Factbook – Italy
- Comando Supremo
- Historical flags of Italy
- War flag of Italian Social Republic