Grandad and Benito Mussolini
Every now and then I come across some family information that has a startling tie to American history. Recently my parents came across an essay my grandfather wrote about his encounter with Benito Mussolini’s corpse in World War II. We all knew he had seen it in some manner, but he would never talk about the details. To find an essay about it was stunning.
This is the sort of thing war documentaries are made of, so I thought I’d share a very personalized glimpse into a global memory…
James O. Woodman
Captain, U.S. Army
During WWII I was an infantry officer assigned to the 5th Army, Allied Military Government in Italy. I served in 1944 and in 1945 until the end of the War. It was my assignment to make a survey of the towns and villages where the advancing troops had passed and to determine the needs of the people who had been left destitute by the war.
Food supplies and other necessities were trucked in to alleviate the hardships caused by the war. Frequently, the things that were deperately needed were destroyed, such as bakeries, utility plants and such.
I remember that the date was April 28, 1945 when my driver, Carrara and I left headquarters and drove north toward Milan. We passed the beautiful Lake Como and approached the small village of Dongo. Ordinarily we would not have even slowed down at such a small place — but today we noticed a small group of people beside the road and we also noted that there were Partisans, with rifles in the crowd. So, we stopped to find out what was going on.
The Partisans were Italian youths who opposed Mussolini — and Hitler — and were friendly to the Americans and to the British. And they were violently opposed to Mussolini and blamed him for his aligning Italy with Hitler and the Germans.
We were surprised to learn that the Partisans the day before had stopped a truck with German soldiers and discovered Mussolini and his mistress, Clarice Petacci, inside the truch disguised in German military clothing.
The pair were taken to a nearby house, tried by what I suspect was a crude “Kangaroo Court” type of a trial and sentenced to die. After the trial the pair were marched back to a spot in front of a rock wall — which we could see from where we were standing — and unceremoniously shot. Then, the bodies were placed in the back of the truck and hauled to Milan.
Word about Mussolini had evidently reached the people in Milan because a crowd was waiting when the bodies arrived. There, the bodies were kicked and beaten and spat upon and finally tied by their feet, upside down, just across from the world famous Cathedral of Milan.
Later, the bodies were taken down and removed to a small frame building at the edge of town that served as a temporary morgue. When we learned that the bodies of Mussolini and Petacci had not been buried we decided to visit the morgue. The building was a plain unpained structure and one got the impression that the building had been used to store lumber. When we went inside we noted that there were plain wooden boxes around the wall; some of the boxes propped on end and leaning against the wall and others flat on the floor. From the shape of the boxes we realized that these were coffins. There must have been a dozen of the boxes and upon inspection we found that there was a corpse in each box. Most of the boxes had sawdust in the bottom. There was no identification that we were able to find on any of the boxes.
And as we walked around the inside of the building looking at the dead bodies — there was Mussolini and Clarice Petacci — side by side.
On viewing the dead Mussolini my first reaction was a feeling of pity. Then I thought of the countless thousands of people who had suffered and many of them died — all because Mussolini’s ambition to ally Italy with Hitler and Germany and to rule the world. After all, Mussolini’s death had been quick and painless — while many of the victims of his autocratic rule were not so fortunate.
Addendum:
The detail about the bodies ending up in a morgue was a bit of a suprise to me… if you google Mussolini’s execution you’ll generally see information stating he was buried right after the public display in Milan. So, what’s the deal with Grandad’s claim about seeing the body in a temporary morgue afterward?
I started to have my doubts until I came across this old wartime film reel: Combat Bulliten Number 14: Axis Surrender Films (Signal Corps). One of the clips is listed as follows: “10. Mussolini’s body is hung at a gas station in the piazza at Milan. Police attempt to control the enraged mob. Mussolini’s mutilated body is photographed at the local morgue.” Looks like Grandad was right after all.
More information and pictures (warning: graphic) of these events can be found at Execution of Mussolini.
December 25th, 2005 at 21:00
Going through my uncle’s old photo albums we came across some pictures taken in Italy during WWII. One of these photos was of Mussolini and his mistress laying among a pile of bodies. Looking at your site we noticed that your grandfather was in the 5th Army division as was our uncle. We were interested that there were some of the same photos that were on your site and wondered if maybe you had any further information about the buddies you mentioned going with your grandfather to see Mussolini’s body. We think that our uncle may have been in that group. He was a military police officer with the 5th Army division. His name was Lonnie Proffitt. Would love to hear from you. If you have any info please email me at Olearyrockers@[protected]. Thanks!