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N0KFQ > TODAY 28.04.12 17:07l 34 Lines 1442 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 21672_KB0WSA
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Apr 28
Path: IZ3LSV<I0OJJ<VE3UIL<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 120428/1501Z 21672@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.49
Apr 28, 1945:
Benito Mussolini executed
On this day in 1945, "Il Duce," Benito Mussolini, and his
mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot by Italian partisans who had
captured the couple as they attempted to flee to Switzerland.
The 61-year-old deposed former dictator of Italy was established
by his German allies as the figurehead of a puppet government in
northern Italy during the German occupation toward the close of
the war. As the Allies fought their way up the Italian peninsula,
defeat of the Axis powers all but certain, Mussolini considered
his options. Not wanting to fall into the hands of either the
British or the Americans, and knowing that the communist
partisans, who had been fighting the remnants of roving Italian
fascist soldiers and thugs in the north, would try him as a war
criminal, he settled on escape to a neutral country.
He and his mistress made it to the Swiss border, only to discover
that the guards had crossed over to the partisan side. Knowing
they would not let him pass, he disguised himself in a Luftwaffe
coat and helmet, hoping to slip into Austria with some German
soldiers. His subterfuge proved incompetent, and he and Petacci
were discovered by partisans and shot, their bodies then
transported by truck to Milan, where they were hung upside down
and displayed publicly for revilement by the masses.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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