During the last days of the war in Italy, Dictator Benito Mussolini attempted to escape the advancing Allied Army by hiding in a German convoy headed toward the Alps. Partisans stopped and searched the convoy at Dongo. They found him in the back of a truck wearing a private's overcoat over his striped general's pants. The partisans took him prisoner and he was later joined by his mistress, Clara Petacci, at Mezzegra. The council of partisan leaders, lead by the Communists, secretly decided to execute Mussolini and 15 leading Fascists in retaliation.
The proceedings of the Liberation Committee is now hidden in secrecy. However, it is known that Togliatti, the secretary of the Communist Party and the Vice-Premier of Italy ordered the execution of Duce. Colonel Valerio was entrusted with this important mission in the name of the National Liberation Committee. When he arrived at Dongo at 2pm, there was some confrontation between the Communist leader and the partisan leader, Pedro. Colonel Valerio damanded to see the list of Fascist prisoners. He then revealed he had orders to execute Mussolini. He arbitrarily selected 15 names from the list for execution. (See The Fifteen, below.)
On April 28, Colonel Valerio broke into the room where Mussolini and Clara had been resting. Valerio told them he had come to rescue them. They hurried to the awaiting car. They drove about a mile away and stopped near gate to the Villa Belmonte. They were ordered to get out of the car and stand next to the stone wall. Machine guns were raised and both were shot. A guard was placed over their bodies, and Valerio drove back to Dongo, where he rounded up the remainder of the 15 prisoners selected for execution from the list. They were hurriedly brought out to the square and given 3 minutes for the ministrations of a priest. They were shot down by a partisan firing squad. Marcello Petacci was also shot while trying to escape by jumping into Lake Como. At first, the partisans mistakenly thought Marcello was Vittorio Mussolini, the son of Il Duce.
On April 29th, the bodies were brought to the Piazzale Loreto in Milan. There, six of the corpses were hung by their feet from a girder of an Esso gas station. These included: Benito Mussolini, Clara Petacci, To the pile of bodies lying beneath them was added Archille Starace, who had just been captured and summarily executed on the spot. The crowd vented their anger on the corpses. When they got out of hand, the police turned on water hoses to control the situation*. The Allies ordered the bodies removed for burial.
2007-04-11 06:36:20
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answer #1
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answered by JOHN B 6
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The Italian citizens hung him and his mistress (don't remeber her name) upside down and chucked rocks at their bodies. This supposedly took place a little before Hitler and his new wife shot themselves. With no more Nazi support Mussolini was left as a target to his people who were a little pissed for being made an Axis country that suffered tremendous allied and Nazi bombing.
2007-04-11 06:39:03
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answer #2
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answered by Anonymous
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Mussolini and his lover were captured by Italian Partisans outside of Milan. They were executed and their corpses were strung upside down and the populace spent the day beating on them and otherwise disrepecting their bodies.
This played a central factor in Hitler's request that his remains be cremated. He did not want to end up like Mussolini.
2007-04-11 06:33:34
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answer #3
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answered by KERMIT M 6
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He was lynched by a mob and hung upside down in the open street along side his mistress. They beat him to death before hanging him one of the poorer examples of Italian justice. He had tried to escape disguised as a German soldier but his red striped pants and excellent boots gave him away when the retreating Germans were confronted by a partisan road block and the trucks were searched for Italian fascist sympathizers.
2007-04-11 10:47:50
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answer #4
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answered by brian L 6
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Despite orders to the contrary, Communist partisans shot him and his mistress. Their bodies were then displayed hanging from the feet at a gas station in Milan. Someone with a sense of decency tucked Clara Petacci's skirt in between her legs.
2007-04-11 06:36:50
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answer #5
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answered by obelix 6
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Him and his wife were hung upside down in a public square where Italians beat, mutilated, and threw rocks at his corpse. Discriptions of the account were so horrific that Adolph Hitler requested his body be burned after he committed suicide.
2007-04-11 06:32:16
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answer #6
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answered by Anonymous
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He was killed by the Italians and hung by his feet with his mistress, where passersby abused the bodies. My dad saw it.
2007-04-11 06:32:11
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answer #7
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answered by Beau D. Satva 5
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Caught and hanged by the Italians if I remeber right...
2007-04-11 06:32:39
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answer #8
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answered by Ryan F 5
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He hung out in the streets for a while.
I think they took him down and buried him, though.
2007-04-11 06:31:57
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answer #9
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answered by open4one 7
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we barbecue his body for 3 days
2007-04-11 06:37:31
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answer #10
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answered by Anonymous
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