Vehicles
The majority of the Italian soldiers that enlisted in the German Army or that joined the Axis forces after the Armistice of September 1943 were deployed in anti-partisan operations, together with some Gendarmerie, Polizei, and other German second line units. Only a few Italian divisions were trained in Germany and participated in the fighting against the Allied forces. The initial opposing Partisans were formed by former members of the Italian armed forces who had refused to surrender and were supported by a few anti-fascist civilians.
These men and women mainly gathered in mountainous areas, where they started a guerrilla campaign against the Germans and the military of the newly established Repubblica Sociale Italiana (English: Italian Social Republic), a puppet state of Germany led by Benito Mussolini.
The Italian Partisans became a significant presence, especially from 1944 onwards, dividing into various ideological formations that gradually grew in size. They managed to create liberated zones within the Repubblica Sociale Italiana, known as the Repubbliche Partigiane (English: Partisans Republic) or Free Zones. They organized the Great Partisan Insurrection, unleashed on 24th April 1945 in Northern Italy, which led to the liberation of major cities in the region, such as Genoa, Milan, Turin, Venice, etc.
Source: Istituto piemontese per la storia della Resistenza e della società contemporanea ‘Giorgio Agosti’
Italy and the Armistice of 8th September 1943
The Regno d’Italia (English: Kingdom of Italy) officially joined the Axis side in the Second World War on 10th June 1940, attacking France from north-western Italy. In September 1940, the North African cCampaign started, with Italy attacking the British and Commonwealth forces deployed in Egypt. In October 1940, Italy invaded Greece, which was defended by Greek, British, and Commonwealth troops. During the subsequent two years, Italian divisions were also deployed in the Soviet Union and the Balkans, participating in the German occupation of these nations.
In May 1943, after bloody fighting against the Allied forces, which since November 1942 also counted with US forces, the German and Italian troops in North Africa surrendered, ending the African campaign. This created problems in the Italian mainland. The Regno d’Italia had been under embargo since the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. This meant that the Italian population had been under severe rationing of food and other basic necessities for years. The need for raw materials for the Second World War led the Army to requisition most civilian trucks and made it nearly impossible to find fuel for civilian purposes.
Popular dissatisfaction increased slowly every day, along with the disappointments over the fall of the colonies of Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia in East Africa, the retreat from Russia, where thousands of soldiers lost their lives and, finally, the fall of North Africa.
Some Fascist leaders realized that Fascism had failed in its attempt to make Italy great and decided to change things by dismissing Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy since 1922. On 24th July 1943, there was a meeting that began at 18:15, with the 28 members of the Gran Consiglio del Fascismo (English: Grand Council of Fascism) in attendance. One of them, Dino Grandi, proposed to depose Mussolini as the leader of Fascism and to establish a Monarchist government with the prime minister chosen by the King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele III.
The proposal was voted on at around 02:00 of 25th July 1943, with 19 votes for, 8 against, and one abstention. At 17:00 hrs of the same day, Vittorio Emanuele III received Mussolini in the king’s private residence in Rome. During the 20 minute private meeting, the king informed Mussolini that the new leader of Italy would be the Marshal of the Regio Esercito, Pietro Badoglio.
When Mussolini came out of the palace at about 17:30, he was arrested by the Carabinieri, accused of having brought the Italian people into the Second World War, of having allied himself with Nazi Germany, and for being responsible for the defeat in the invasion of Russia. Mussolini was first taken to the Podgora barracks and, after a few hours, to the Carabinieri School in Via Legnano (English: Legnano Street).
Source: Wikipedia
That night, the Italian king and the new prime minister announced via radio Mussolini’s ‘resignation’ as Prime Minister and leader of Italy. At the same time, Badoglio announced the intention of the Regio Esercito to continue the war alongside the Germans and the Axis powers.
Mussolini was moved on 27th July to the Ponza island prison until 7th August, and then moved to Villa Weber on Maddalena island, where he was imprisoned until 27th August 1943. Adolf Hitler ordered SS-Obersturmbannführer (English: Senior Assault-unit Leader) Otto Skorzeny to find the secret prison in which Mussolini was held and to free him with the help of the Fallschirmjäger-Lehrbataillon (English: Paratrooper Training Battalion). Skorzeny found information about Villa Weber on 27th August 1943, on the same day Mussolini was transferred by a CANT Z. 506 seaplane to a hotel in Campo Imperatore on Monte Gran Sasso.
A great number of German troops was already present in Italy from late-May early-June 1943, in preparation for the Allied invasion of Sicily. The arrest of Mussolini took Hitler and the German generals by surprise. In a few days, they reorganized their plans in order to take control of the Italian peninsula.
On 5th August 1943, plan Fall Achse (English: Case Axis) was ready. However, from 27th July 1943, more German divisions arrived in Italy and in Rome, generating surprise among the Italian generals, who had not been informed of this.
The Armistice with the Allies was made public by the Allied powers at 18:30 on 8th September 1943 by Radio Algeri, while the Italian troops were informed only at 19:45 by the Ente Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche (EIAR) (English: Italian Body for Radio Broadcasting).
On 8th September, the German Ambassador in Rome, Rudolf Rahn, was also taken by surprise and was only informed by the German Command at 19:00. He escaped from Rome without any problems along with other German officers and reached Frascati, north-west of Rome, where General Albert Kesselring had placed the headquarters of the German forces deployed in Italy, until that moment only used against the Allies.
The German reaction began at 19:50 of 8th September, five minutes after Badoglio’s proclamation to the Italian population. Rome, the Italian capital, was captured after two days of fierce fighting during which about 100 German soldiers died, along with 659 Italian soldiers, 121 civilians, and 200 unrecognized bodies.
By 15th September 1943, 1,006,730 Italian soldiers were disarmed and 29,000 were killed. The Germans also captured 1,285,871 rifles, 39,007 machine guns, 13,906 submachine guns, 8,736 mortars, 2,754 anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns, 5,568 artillery pieces, 16,631 motorized vehicles, and 977 armored fighting vehicles.
In this context, former Italian soldiers and civilians began to mobilize against the German occupier.
Source: Bundesarchiv
Political and Military Organization
The Italian Resistance was mainly organized by political parties, which became the foundation of the partisan struggle. Each party had a partisan formation linked to it, although it must be acknowledged that very often these formations were apolitical and aligned with a party solely to receive supplies and funds. The strongest party in the resistance was the Partito Comunista d’Italia (English: Italian Communist Party) , which was the most organized in the partisan struggle and had the most units deployed in the territory.
A large portion of the Italian partisans, however, belonged to apolitical formations, meaning they were not affiliated with any party. These were often former Italian soldiers commanded by other former officers who had a strictly military view of the Partisan struggle and were primarily loyal to the King of Italy and the legitimate government of the Regno del Sud (English: Kingdom of the South), the part of Italy liberated by the Allies, where the King of Italy was.
| Italian Political Parties and Entities that formed the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Initials | English Translation | Representation/Ideology | Fighting Units | English Translation |
| Partito Democratico del Lavoro | PDL | Democratic Labour Party | Social democracy | // | // |
| Partito Comunista d’Italia | PCI | Italian Communist Party | Communism | Brigate Garibaldi ¹ | Garibaldi’s Brigades |
| Democrazia Cristiana | DC | Christian Democracy | Catholic Christian Democracy | Brigate del Popolo | People’s Brigades |
| Fiamme Verdi | Green Flames | ||||
| Partito d’Azione | PdA | Action Party | Liberal Socialism | Brigate Giustizia e Libertà | Justice and Freedom Brigades |
| Partito Socialista d’Italia di Unità Proletaria | PSIUP | Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity | Socialism | Brigate Matteotti | Matteotti’s Brigades |
| Partito Liberale Italiano | PLI | Italian Liberal Party | Italian Liberalism | // | // |
| Apolitical | Apolitical | // | Monarchists | Brigate Autonome ² 3 | Autonomous Brigades |
| Partito Repubblicano Italiano | PRI | Italian Republican Party | Liberal Republicanism | Brigate Mazzini | Mazzini’s Brigades |
| No Party | No Party | // | Anarchists | Brigate Bruzzi-Malatesta 4 | Bruzzi-Malatesta’s Brigades |
| Notes | 1 Named after Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian hero of the unification of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 2 Largely composed of former Regio Esercito soldiers 3 Also known as Brigate Badogliane (English: Badoglio’s Brigades) by Fascists and Communists, after the South Italian Prime Minister, Marshal Pietro Badoglio. 4 Affiliated with the Brigate Matteotti |
||||
These parties created the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale, which organized the Italian Partisan units. In the months following the Armistice, the first cores of resistance were formed in the parts of Italy under Nazi-Fascist control.
On 22nd April 1944, a new monarchic government was created in southern Italy. It was led by Pietro Badoglio as Prime Minister and supported by the coalition of six Italian anti-fascist parties that formed the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale.
In many cases, former Italian soldiers or civilians joined the Partisan brigades not for their specific ideology, but because they were the first Partisans they met when they fled from the cities to avoid capture or forced conscription.
In 1944, the CLN of Milan, one of the most important in Northern Italy, was transformed into the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale Alta Italia (CLNAI) (English: National Liberation Committee of Northern Italy), which quickly became the political reference point for all Partisan formations in Northern Italy.
Source: Wikipedia
On 9th June 1944, the Corpo Volontario della Libertà (English: Volunteer Corps for Freedom), the armed branch of the CLN, was established. It had a general command that divided the territory into Comandi Zona (English: Zone Commands). After mid-1944, the CLN ordered partisan formations to adopt new names based on the number of personnel in the unit: squads (20 personnel), detachments (100 personnel), brigades (300 personnel), and divisions (1,000 personnel).
The Partisan’s equipment varied greatly. At the beginning of the resistance, the only weapons that the civilians who joined the resistance possessed were their own hunting rifles or pistols and a few guns recovered from abandoned Regio Esercito depots. The former soldiers of the Regio Esercito, such as the cavalrymen of the 2° Reggimento Cavalleggeri ‘Piemonte Reale’ (English: 2nd Cavalry Regiment), had their unit’s weapons. On 12th September, when the Regiment was disbanded near Turin, all the cavalrymen were free to choose their own fate, keeping all their equipment, weapons, ammunition, and money of the regiment.
During the almost 20 months of resistance, the Partisans captured many weapons and vehicles from their enemies by attacking convoys or isolated garrisons. The Allies also provided the Partisans with weapons and ammunition after 1944, parachuting them to pre-established areas.
Understandably, until mid-1945, the Partisan units only engaged in guerrilla actions against the Axis forces in the northern Italian peninsula. This was due to the strong presence of anti-partisan units in northern Italy and control of the countryside by Nazi-Fascist forces.
Only with the approaching end of the war, the Nazi-Fascist forces started to evacuate the most vulnerable and isolated garrisons and checkpoints all over the peninsula. Reducing their already limited presence in Piedmont, Lombardy, and Liguria, they concentrated in industrial cities or small cities with train stations used to patrol, and as a means of escape in case of attack. This increased the freedom of operation of the Partisan brigades, which could start capturing vehicles from Axis forces in these areas.
An uprising known as the ‘Great Partisan Insurrection’ was organized by the CLN’s leaders for 25th April 1945, preceded by a huge workers’ strike from all the north Italian factories that were still active.
Major Italian Partisan Units
Formazioni Garibaldi
The Formazioni Garibaldi (English: Garibaldi Formations) were the most widespread and numerous Italian Partisan units, with a total of well-organized 575 brigate (English: brigades). Their members were almost unanimously committed Communist, since they were units formed by the Partito Comunista d’Italia, but there were also members with other ideologies within.
The Formazioni Garibaldi were the most aggressive Partisan units, mainly because of their strong ideological commitment, and they often came into conflict with other Partisan units of different formations.
Source: montoso.bagnolopiemonte.com
The Formazioni Garibaldi also gave rise to the Gruppi d’Azione Patriottica (GAP) (English: Patriotic Action Groups), groups present in large cities that struck at the Germans and Fascists, and the Squadre d’Azione Patriottica (SAP) (English: Patriotic Action Squads). This came into being in summer 1944 to set up partisan groups inside factories or in the outskirts of cities where it was not possible to set up stable groups. After a short time, other formations also equipped themselves with formations similar to the SAP.
The 28a Brigata Garibaldi ‘Mario Gordini’ (English: 28th Garibaldi Brigade) joined the British Army after the conquest of Ravenna, collaborating with the British during the liberation of northern Italy and later becoming part of the Gruppo di Combattimento ‘Cremona’ (English: ‘Cremona’ Combat Group), a unit of the Italian Co-Belligerent Army.
Source: Imperial War Museum London
Formazioni Autonome
The Formazioni Autonome were partisan units not affiliated with any political party, although there were examples of units linked to the Democrazia Cristiana and the Partito Liberale Italiano. They were primarily composed of former members of the Italian armed forces. They are often referred to as Brigate Badogliane, a term used both by Fascists and Communists, and are frequently and mistakenly identified as monarchist formations.
The Formazioni Autonome’s brigades were mainly active in Northern Italy, and the largest Italian Partisan unit, the 1° Gruppo Divisioni Alpine (English: 1st Alpine Division Group), commanded by Major Enrico Martini ‘Mauri’, was part of this group. At the outbreak of the Great Partisan Insurrection, it could count on more than 5,000 personneñ.
These forces sometimes clashed with other Partisans, especially the Brigate Garibaldi, but they were also among the most organized units, often led by former Regio Esercito officers, while the actual partisans were mostly former soldiers with at least basic military training.
Source: parcoletterario.it
Formazioni Giustizia e Libertà
The Formazioni Giustizia e Libertà were born soon after the Armistice through the Partito d’Azione, a party formed in 1942, with Liberal Socialism and Republican leanings, that was dissolved shortly after the end of the war.
About 24,000 partisans joined the Formazioni Giustizia e Libertà, with a total of 10 divisioni (English: divisions) in Piedmont, 7 in Lombardy, and 20 brigate in Veneto.
Source: archivi.polodel900.it
Formazioni Matteotti
The Formazioni Matteotti were linked to the Partito Socialista Italiano di Unità Proletaria, but were small entities that mainly appeared in northern Italy. On the eve of the Great Partisan Insurrection, they could number about 20,000 personnel, but were never very important and carried out limited actions in collaboration with other formations.
Source: storiaememoriadibologna.it
Other Minor Formazioni
Other smaller formations, which counted on only a few hundred partisans, also operated in the Italian Resistance.
The Brigate del Popolo were formations linked to the Democrazia Cristiana that were born in summer 1944 and operated in the cities of Lombardy. They never carried out any major actions, counting on only a few partisans.
Source: mauroleonardi.it
The Brigate Bruzzi-Malatesta were formations of anarchist ideology, operating mainly in Milan, Lombardy, and some valleys in the Veneto region. They often operated in collaboration with other formations. Their numbers were extremely small, and immediately after the Great Partisan Uprising in Milan, they had just 1,200 men.
Source: inventati.org
The Brigate Mazzini were republican partisan formations that came into being in late 1943. They were formed from six small brigades near Milan and other smaller units located in Veneto, Romagna, and Tuscany.
The Repubbliche Partigiane
With the increasing numbers of partisan formations, especially in Northern Italy, in many areas the Nazi-Fascist forces began to lose ground to the Partisans, who often established free self-governing zones as enclaves within the Repubblica Sociale Italiana. These free zones were often transformed into Repubbliche Partigiane, named after the city or village that served as their capital.
The forms of self-government varied. Sometimes they were directly governed by the Partisans, other times by members of the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale (CLN) (English: National Liberation Committee) sent specifically for this purpose, or by a mixed council with various members from the free zone territory.
There were 21 Repubbliche Partigiane which were mostly spread across Northern Italy. The most famous and efficient were the Republic of Ossola and the Republic of Alba (Piedmont), the Republic of Montefiorino (Emilia-Romagna), the Republic of Torriglia (Liguria), and the Republic of Carnia (Friuli). However, these ‘experiments’ in freedom were short-lived, with most republics not lasting more than a month before being reoccupied by Nazi-Fascist forces.
Source: https://e-review.it/carrattieri_confini_liberta
Use of Armored Vehicles and Logistical Problems
Armored vehicles were useful during quick ambushes on Nazi-Fascist columns or assaulting isolated garrisons. However, clandestinely maintaining a tank or an armored car was rather difficult in Italy. Most of the partisan units hid in small villages or isolated houses in high mountains, difficult to reach by anti-partisan units operating on foot and impossible to reach with armored vehicles.
Until early 1945, the Nazi-Fascist forces controlled the majority of main roads and most important cities, meaning that the Partisans could not use roads to quickly move the armored vehicles in support of other partisan brigades.
At the same time, spare parts, ammunition, and fuel were really difficult to find for the Partisans. These consumables were usually recovered from Nazi-Fascist garrisons or illicitly received from pro-Partisan workers that had stolen them from their factories. Usually, this equipment was delivered in limited numbers, barely adequate for repairing and operating civilian cars and military trucks.
The clandestine forces could not attack larger Axis facilities or depots in order to obtain adequate resources to maintain their armored vehicle. Furthermore, for any kind of repair, the Partisans could not reach a workshop without being noticed by Axis forces. At the same time, it was impossible to organize a Partisan-led workshop in Partisan territories due to a lack of trained mechanics, adequate infrastructure, and machinery.
These problems resulted in only rare occurrences of armored vehicles in Italian Partisan service. Throughout the 20 months of civil war between the Nazi-Fascist forces and Italian Partisans, the Partisan formations only deployed captured vehicles shortly after their capture. They then abandoned or sabotaged them after a couple of raids due to the absence of fuel and ammunition.
Despite this, in at least a pair of situations, partisan units deployed armored vehicles in their ranks. The most famous one was an Italian medium tank stolen by Piedmontese partisans. It was deployed on many occasions by the partisans against isolated garrisons, but at the same time, its use forced the partisans to perform dozens of missions to steal adequate amounts of fuel, ammunition, and spare parts to keep the tank operational.
Another obvious issue were the tracks left by the vehicle on the ground. This problem was solved by erasing the tracks or running the vehicle through rivers so that the Fascists would not detect their hideout. Although both the Fascists and the Germans launched multiple missions to track down the tank, none could find it.
During the last months of war, the Partisans stopped destroying captured armored vehicles. In early 1945, they started to reuse them to free the north Italian cities.
Already in mid-April 1945, many Axis units started to move north to reach the northern borders of Italy. Many of these units, equipped with a few trucks full of soldiers and equipment, were blocked by the Partisans. In many cases, there was no need to start a gunfight to force the Germans to surrender.
Even if their service is badly documented, the Italian Partisans managed to deploy a plethora of armored vehicles of German, Italian, and Allied production in the last days of war on Italian soil. These included a handful of armored cars of the AB series that were reused against their former owners.
Armored Cars Used by Partisans
Armored cars were widely used in the anti-partisan struggle by both the German units and the Repubblica Sociale Italiana, making them a prime target for the Partisan forces, who could increase their firepower with the weapons of these armored cars. In the end, however, the Partisans captured only a few armored cars, mostly during the Great Partisan Insurrection when many Nazi-Fascist forces surrendered without a fight and without destroying their armaments. This allowed the Partisans to use the armored cars to attack enemy columns.
The captured armored cars were mostly the Italian-produced Autoblinda AB41 and Autoblinda AB43 (English: AB41 and AB43 Armored Cars), which were used by both the forces of the Repubblica Sociale italiana and the German units.
On 26th April 1945, the 81a Brigata Garibaldi Volante ‘Silvio Loss’ (English: 81st Fast Garibaldi Brigade) arrived in Novara (Piedmont) and received six Autoblinde AB43 armored cars and a Lancia Lince scout car from the workers of the Manifattura Rotondi. The motorized column then advanced towards Veveri, where there were some German units that soon surrendered. The motorized column then reached Milan on 28th April.
Other armored cars were captured by the 79a Brigata Garibaldi (English: 79th Garibaldi Brigade) in Como (Lombardy), while in Turin, one Autoblinda AB41 was captured by an unknown partisan unit at the Caserma ‘Alessandro La Marmora’ barracks on Via Asti (English: Asti Street). Finally, an Autoblinda AB43 was captured by the Partisans in San Martino in Rio in the Reggio Emilia province.
Improvised Armored Vehicles used by Partisans
During the Italian Civil War, there were examples of improvised armored vehicles used by Italian Partisans.
In Piedmont, the 19a Brigata Garibaldi ‘Eusebio Giambone’ (English: 19th Garibaldi Brigade) used some improvised armored trucks. These had armored cabins with some plates, while on the truck bed, they mounted some 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns captured at the Venaria Reale airfield. With these vehicles, the Partisans carried out several attacks against the Nazi-Fascist forces.
Source: Carri Armati “Partigiani”
in Friuli Venezia Giulia, near Barcis on 8th (other sources say 10th) August 1944, after the Partisans of Battaglione ‘Cellina’ (English: Battalion) of the 5a Brigata Osoppo (English: 5th Osoppo Brigade) and Battaglione Garibaldi ‘Mazzini 2’ (English: Garibaldi Battalion) attacked a German tank – probably an Italian M tank – they removed its main gun, together with 78 47 mm rounds, and mounted it on a makeshift carriage on a Fiat 508 ‘Balilla’ car. The fate of the vehicle is unknown.
The Partisans also used improvised vehicles from the Repubblica Sociale Italiana captured during the General Insurrection, such as the armored Lancia 3Ro Blindato (English: Armored Lancia 3Ro) of the XXXVIa Brigata Nera ‘Natale Piacentini’ (English: 36th Black Brigade) captured by the Partisans of the 52a Brigata Garibaldi ‘Luigi Clerici’ (English: 52nd Garibaldi Brigade) near Musso on 27th April 1945, or other vehicles captured in the main cities of Northern Italy.
Source: Carri Armati “Partigiani”
Source: Carri Armati “Partigiani”
Another improvised armored vehicle was the armored tractor of the Banda Autonoma ‘Marmore’ (English: Autonomous Band), deployed in the Valle d’Aosta (English: Aosta Valley) (Northern Italy). It was constructed in the summer of 1944 but never saw combat and was captured by Fascist forces in October after an anti-partisans action.
Source: Carri Armati “Partigiani”
Sources
- Riccardo Affinati, 1943-1945 Partigiani Italiani, Chillemi, 2009
- https://www.anpi.it/libri/le-formazioni-partigiane
- Crippa P., Manes L., Carri Armati Partigiani, Soldiershop Publishing