Chapter 19 04. Death is inevitable

After Mussolini was rescued by Skorzeny, with Hitler's support, he established the "Italian Social Republic" in northern Italy to fight against the Badoglio government. Before Mussolini was rescued, American troops had landed in the Gulf of Salerno.Marshal Kesselring, commander-in-chief of the German army on the southern front, commanded the German army to resist and tried to drive the Allied forces into the sea.Facts have proved that the German counterattack was quickly crushed under the attack of Allied artillery, naval guns and tanks.The Allied forces successively occupied Naples, Capua and other places, and established a solid line of defense in southern Italy.

In order to prevent the Allied forces from advancing further, Marshal Kesselring built a coast 80 kilometers south of Rome in the west, crossed the Apennines in the east, and traversed the "Gustav Line of Defense" in Italy.The center and commanding height of this line of defense is Mount Cassino. If the Allied forces want to enter Rome, they must take Mount Cassino.As a result, Mount Cassino and its surrounding peaks became the focus of contention between the two sides. After several offensive failures, the Allied forces began to bomb the famous building on Mount Cassino, the Cassino Abbey, on February 15.The monastery is condescending, overlooking the entire Cassino Mountains.The previous few times, the Allied forces had suffered a lot from the German artillery fire. Some Allied soldiers did not like the Cassino Monastery: they thought it was not only a monastery, but also an observation post for the German artillery.The Allies dropped 1,150 tons of high-explosive and incendiary bombs on the monastery, blowing up the entire top of Cassino into a cratered moon.

Every investigation since the Allied bombing of the Cassino Abbey has shown that the bombing killed only Italian civilians who had taken refuge inside the abbey.There is no evidence that the day the bombs were dropped on the Cassino Abbey resulted in the deaths of German soldiers.Fortunately, on the night of the bombing, most civilians escaped the rubble alive. The Allies learned later that the German army had reached an agreement with the monks of the Cassino Monastery at that time that as long as the monks were still in the monastery, they would not use the monastery for military purposes.It was precisely after the monastery was blown up that the troops of the German 1st Parachute Division occupied the ruins of the monastery and turned it into a fortress and observation post, posing a serious threat to the Allied offensive and causing many casualties.These casualties could have been avoided had the monastery not been bombed.

After several fierce battles, the British army finally occupied the side of Mount Cassino. In the middle of the night on May 11, 2,000 artillery pieces of the Allied forces began to roar, and the artillery shells poured down to the German position in Monte Cassino like a torrential rain.At this time, after months of bitter fighting, the German army was exhausted and could not withstand the fierce attack of the Allied forces. On the 12th, the Allies broke through the German defenses. On May 16, Field Marshal Kesselring ordered the retreat from the town of Cassino, the monastery and the surrounding hills.The Battle of Mount Casino was declared over.

Although the scale of the Battle of Monte Cassino was not comparable to the major battles in World War II, its tragic degree was comparable to the Battle of Stalingrad.What really made the Battle of Mount Cassino famous all over the world was the unprecedented machine gun battle in the history of human warfare.During these months, the German and Allied forces put more than 3,000 machine guns and 100 million rounds of ammunition into the tiny Cassino Mountains.The Allied forces launched 4 attacks successively, and after paying the price of 63,000 casualties, they finally occupied this stronghold leading to Rome.

On June 4, Rome was declared an open city.At 9 o'clock that night, the US Fifth Army took the lead in marching into Rome.After occupying Rome, the Allies continued to advance north, breaking through the Gothic line on September 28.At this time, due to the need for the Normandy landing, the Allied forces transferred 7 elite divisions from the Italian battlefield, and the Italian battlefield was once dormant. By April 1945, the Allied forces on the Western Front and the Soviet army launched a powerful offensive against the German army at the same time, and the Italian battlefield was also active.At this time, the morale of the German army was low, unable to resist, and retreated steadily. Kermantua, Verona, and Genoa fell one after another.To make matters worse for the German army, another guerrilla uprising broke out in northern Italy.

On the 28th, the guerrillas captured Mussolini and his mistress who were trying to flee to Germany on Lake Como.The fascist leader finally took his mistress and set foot on the "homeward journey".Although Hitler saved Mussolini once, Mussolini could not escape death after all, and he could not die well. When it comes to Mussolini's death, official sources say he was killed by Italian partisans.However, a new investigative article published by the British "Times" pointed out that it was not the Italians who sent Mussolini to the west, but British agents!It was the well-known British Prime Minister Churchill who issued the order to execute Mussolini!

The official account of Mussolini's death is this: At 4:10 pm on April 28, 1945, Mussolini and his mistress were executed by Italian partisans on the shores of Lake Como.Their bodies were then hung upside down in the Milan square, where everyone spurned them. However, according to the latest investigation, all of this is a disguise.In fact, Mussolini was executed at 11:00 am on the 28th, not at 4 pm; In the hands of Agent Robert Maccarone. A documentary broadcast in Italy said that when Mussolini fled, he carried a secret letter from Churchill.In this letter, Churchill tried to reach a compromise with Italy, allowing Italy to abandon Germany and negotiate a truce with the West alone.

Peter Topkins, a senior American journalist who participated in the production of this documentary, believes that Churchill tried to reach a compromise with Mussolini in order to deal with the threat of the "Iron Curtain" from the Soviet Union after the war.He said: "Churchill has been anti-Bolshevism all his life. He has long believed that the conflict with the Soviet Union after the war will be inevitable." However, some research experts who wrote Mussolini's biography believe that the relationship between Churchill and Mussolini There is no secret agreement at all.

Did Mussolini and Churchill have a behind-the-scenes deal?Some of the newly declassified letters can be used as evidence.According to Mussolini's last letter, written on April 24, 1945, he implored Churchill to "intervene personally" to ensure that he "gets a fair deal". In this way, Churchill had a reason to decide to kill and silence in order not to expose the behind-the-scenes transactions between himself and Mussolini.Former Italian Communist guerrilla Signo Lonatti also confirmed that the purpose of the British agent "Captain John" sneaking into northern Italy was to get rid of Mussolini.

The grandson of Tommaso David, the head of Mussolini's intelligence service, also confirmed this.He said that when his grandfather was alive, he not only said there was a connection between Churchill and Mussolini, but also that Churchill had promised to help Italy gain lost territories. Lonatti also recalled that after learning that Mussolini had been arrested by Italian partisans, "Captain John" went secretly with him to the place of detention.They heard that Mussolini was carrying a suitcase with him when he was arrested, and Mussolini also solemnly told the partisans that the contents of the suitcase were very important to the future of Italy.After sneaking into the room, Lonatti found Mussolini's mistress sitting on the bed, with Mussolini himself standing aside. At this time, "Captain John" conveyed an action order to Lonatti: get rid of these two people.The reason why Mussolini's mistress was not spared was also because she knew too many secrets.But Lonatti said that he would not kill women, and "Captain John" said that he would do it himself, but asked Lonatti to deal with Mussolini. The meaning of "Captain John" is very clear, that is, Mussolini must die at the hands of the Italians. At this time, Mussolini already knew that his death was approaching, and requested to go outside for a last breath of fresh air under the supervision of Lonatti and others.Mussolini's mistress also smiled sadly at "Captain John" and begged to be shot in the chest instead of the head. "Captain John" and Lonatti took Mussolini and his mistress to the shore of Lake Como, stood them up against a fence, and pulled the trigger. After executing the two men, "Captain John" took a camera from his backpack and took pictures of the dead.At the same time, he also found the "very important document" on Mussolini. Another producer of the documentary said that when Lonadi told the truth, almost everyone looked at him with suspicion.After a long period of investigation and evidence collection, they decided that what Lonadi said were all facts and there was not a single lie. In addition, a woman living nearby said in the documentary: "I heard gunshots at the time. I looked up at the clock and it was almost 11 o'clock." It is said that her mother, who was working in the garden, He saw the execution scene with his own eyes. After Mussolini was executed, other Italian partisans rushed to the scene, took away the two bodies, and erected Mussolini's body to make it look as if he was alive.Subsequently, the guerrillas transported the bodies of Mussolini and his mistress to the "official execution ground" that had been prepared, and performed a "fake shooting". An uninformed guerrilla saw something strange at the time. He found the bodies of Mussolini and his mistress "just shot" "unnaturally stiff and twisted" and "barely bleeding."This shows that Mussolini had been executed before this. Regardless of who died at the hands of Mussolini, the conclusion on his coffin will not change, that is - all people who are against humanity will be abandoned by humanity. The next day, the bodies of Mussolini and his mistress were transported to Milan and hung upside down in the square in the city center in a medieval manner. On the same day, that is, April 29, 1945, the U.S. Fifth Army occupied Milan and the British Eighth Army occupied Padua. General Fettinghof, commander of German Army Group C, sent a representative to sign the unconditional surrender, and on May 2 effective date. At this point, the Italian campaign is all over.