April 28:

1945 : Benito Mussolini is captured and executed by Italian partisans

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.

history.com/tdih.do


1789 : MUTINY ON THE HMS BOUNTY:
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6881

1969 : De Gaulle resigns as leader of France
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4955

1977 : Red Army Faction trial ends
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4956

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