Gothic Tuscany aps

Chronology

1943

07/09/1943 – Landing of Allied troops in Sicily

13/07/1943 – No.244 Wing, Desert Air Force (No.92 and No.145 Squadrons RAF and No.1 Squadron South African Air Force) arrives in Sicily from Malta.

07/19/1943 – Meeting between Mussolini and Hitler in Feltre: new German troops will be sent to northern Italy

07/22/1943 – Dino Grandi, President of the Chamber of Fasci and Corporations, meets Mussolini to communicate to him the intention of the Grand Council to bring down the fascist regime

07/24/1943 – With 19 votes out of 28, the Grand Council of Fascism declares the fall of the Mussolini government, accused of having dragged the country into a disastrous war: the command of the Armed Forces passes to King Vittorio Emanuele III

07/25/1943 – Marshal Pietro Badoglio is appointed head of the Government by the King. Mussolini is arrested and the political prisoners gain freedom. Italy remains at war still formally allied with Germany. Badoglio's radio statement to the nation.

13 August – The Sicilian campaign ends with the capture of Messina. Over the course of the campaign, the Allies destroyed more than 1,000 aircraft on the ground and 740 in the air by the Axis forces. Allied air force losses were 385, 25 of which were caused by "friendly fire".

August 1943 - A dense network of diplomatic relations between Badoglio and the Anglo-Americans, culminating in the meeting on 18 August in Madrid, resulted in the King's decision (08/27/1943) to accept the armistice. Discontent spreads in the country and disappointment, anti-fascist agitation takes place and hatred towards the Germans rises, while in the north Hitler prepares to face the enemy on Italian soil.

02/09/1943 – In Prato an air raid by around 60 aircraft partially destroys the railway station and the Palco and Santa Cristina areas, injuring several people. After 69 alarms since June 1940, this is the first bombing on the city, as if to mark the turning point of the war operations that will occur with the armistice

09/03/1943 – In Cassibile, Sicily, the armistice is signed with the allied governments, with the intention not to immediately spread the news

09/08/1943 – In the evening the news of the armistice was made public via a radio statement from Badoglio, who was fleeing from Rome towards Brindisi with the king. The news creates confusion in the Italian army and chaos in the country, while in the north German troops occupy production units and communication routes and begin raids.

09/09/1943 – The National Liberation Committee (CLN) was born in Rome with representatives of PCI, PSIUP, PdA, Labor Democracy, DC, PLI

12/09/1943 – On the Gran Sasso Mussolini is freed by German paratroopers

09/12/1943 – On the same day, in the Cuneo area, there are the first episodes of partisan warfare by anti-fascist groups, mostly shareholders

09/18/1943 – Mussolini announces from Munich the birth of the PFR Republican Fascist Party

09/19/1943 – In Boves (CN) 23 civilians die in an SS reprisal

09/23/1943 – The Fascist Republic of Northern Italy is born with the seat of government in Salò on Lake Garda

09/27/1943 – An anti-German revolt breaks out in Naples which will lead to the escape of Hitler's troops on 1 October, shortly before the arrival of the allies (4 days of Naples)

10/13/1943 – Italy declares war on Germany, not as an ally of the Anglo-Americans, but as a co-belligerent

10/16/1943 – 1024 Jews are deported to Germany after a roundup in the Jewish ghetto of Rome

November 1943 – In northern Italy there are more and more anti-fascist groups ready to resist against the Germans and fascists. Many deserters, young people and soldiers now called to arms by the Republic of Salò join the "Garibaldi", "Giustizia e Libertà", "Matteotti" partisan brigades

11/11/1943 – A bombing lasting an hour and a half hits the Prato railway station and the surrounding areas, causing the death of two people and the wounding of twenty others. Damage to the water network, fires triggered by bombs, destruction of civilian homes and factories make the resumption of normal activities increasingly difficult from now on, while the population's impotent anger towards the authorities who raised the alarm after the bombing began grows

14-16/11/1943 – The fascist militia is born and the "social" laws of the Republic of Salò are introduced

30/11/1943 – A circular from the RSI orders the rounding up of Jews and the seizure of their property. Jews, gypsies and political prisoners will be deported to Italian, German and Polish concentration camps

11/18/1943 – An "anti-German" strike starts from Fiat Mirafiori throughout northern Italy (the aim of the strike is also to sabotage machinery and armaments intended for the German army). The agitations, supported by the CLN and the partisan forces, will continue until the following year.

12/28/1943 – The Nazis shoot the Cervi brothers in Campegine (RE)

1944

01/03/1944 – In Valibona, 18 partisans led by Lanciotto Ballerini are surrounded during the night by a unit of the National Republican Guard of Prato acting together with fascists and the Carabinieri of Calenzano. A fight breaks out that leads to a real massacre, with subsequent fascist reprisals on the local population.

01/15/1944 -300 bombs are dropped on the city of Prato, causing 31 deaths and 72 injuries, particularly in the Mezzana area.

01/22/1944 – The allies land at Anzio

28-29/01/1944 – The 1st congress of the CLN is held in Bari and is divided between monarchists and republicans; the institutional question is referred to a popular referendum to be held once the liberation has taken place; Also born this month was the CLNAI (National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy), as a coordination center for the local CLNs.

February 1944 – Allied bombing continues in central-northern Italy, while the RSI takes control of industrial and financial activities in the north.

02/12/1944 – The communists, with the support of the CLN, proclaim a general strike throughout northern Italy; the result is a total halt in war production. The Germans will implement a series of punitive reprisals with hundreds of arrests and deportations

02/22/1944 – Carlo Ferri forms the “Orlando Storai” partisan formation with about 40 men on Monte Iavello.

04/03/1944 – The general strike begins in Prato too. Despite the posting of intimidating posters, the workers continued their strike en masse for days and days. The fascist retaliation will immediately manifest itself with the indiscriminate roundup of many men, following the German request for 1900 people to be deported to German labor camps a real manhunt is unleashed, where anyone who happens to be on the street is captured.
At the same time, on March 7, another heavy bombing hit the city.

03/22/1944 – In Migliana the Storai formation puts to flight 200 soldiers of the “Ettore Muti” battalion, one of the most infamous and cruel organized fascist groups.

03/24/1944 – Massacre of the Fosse Ardeatine in Rome by the Gestapo (Command of Colonel Kappler). 35 political prisoners die in retaliation following an attack by Roman Gappists on a German column

04/12/1944 – King Vittorio Emanuele III abdicates in favor of his son Umberto who becomes Lieutenant of the Kingdom

04/24/1944 – The first national unity government chaired by Badoglio and with the participation of the CLN is born in Salerno. Meanwhile, the Allied bombings continue on the areas still occupied by the Nazi-Fascists.

05/20/1944 – The rice weeders' strike begins in the Emilian countryside.
02/06/1944 – Fifteenth air raid on the Prato area with interruption of the Prato-Pistoia railway line.

06/04/1944 – Liberation of Rome.

11/06/1944 – End of the Badoglio Government, replaced by Ivanoe Bonomi who will move the seat of government to Rome in July.

11/06/1944 – At the Carmignano station, in the Poggio alla Malva railway station, a team of partisans including Bogardo Buricchi and his brother Alighiero, manage to blow up eight carriages loaded with explosives destined for the front. The action, in which, in addition to the two brothers, Ariodante Naldi and Bruno Spinelli, were killed, represents one of the most important episodes of the partisan war in the Prato area.

06/15/1944 – New strike at Fiat Turin.

06/15/1944 – The Prato partisan Ruggero Tofani known as Tantana is tortured and barbarously killed by the Germans and fascists in the Catena area, in the house of an acquaintance with whom he had taken refuge the evening before after having participated with other partisans in the recovery of weapons for the resistance; long controlled by the fascists, he had not managed to escape them.

01/07/1944 - The PFR creates the "black brigades", action teams free from any control with an anti-partisan function, which will also be responsible for crimes against civilians.

July – November 1944 – While the allies advance towards Tuscany, 15 partisan republics are born throughout the centre-north

11/08/1944 – The Tuscan CLN gives the order for the general insurrection in Florence, where the allied vanguards had arrived on 4 August. The city will be definitively liberated only on September 1st.

12/08/1944 – Nazi massacre in S. Anna di Stazzema (560 victims).

09/01/1944 – The allies arrive at Campi Bisenzio, while the command of the German Feldgendarmeria leaves Prato after systematically destroying factories, civilian homes and entire streets.

04/09/1944 – In Iolo 3 dead and 3 wounded are the victims of allied artillery barrages.

05/09/1944 – 9 people are killed and 12 injured in Piazza Duomo in Prato following the explosion of various grenades. The Prato CLN, already in contact with the allies stopped at Campi Bisenzio, gives the order to the Buricchi Brigade to descend from Monte Iavello to occupy the city. In the evening the first allied soldiers arrive in Via Zarini.

06/09/1944 – The local CLN appoints the new Municipal Council. On the morning of the same day, 29 partisans of the Buricchi Brigade were captured and hanged in Figline by the Germans after a bloody clash. Subsequently, the Germans began a "partisan hunt" up to Monte Iavello and in the Bisenzio Valley.

10/09/1944 - San Piero a Sieve was liberated on 10 September 1944 by American troops, to whom a group of partisans from the Potente Division had provided the necessary logistical information for the advance.

11/09/1944 – Scarperia and Vicchio, like the other towns in Mugello, were liberated on 11 September.

09/14/1944 -20th Air Force: Italy: Medium bombers attack defensive positions in zones E and C of the Gothic Line; the sector is heavily defended by the enemy, especially the Giogo Pass and Monte Altuzzo. Fighter-bombers continue attacks on communication routes and movements in the Po valley.

09/16/1944 -20th Air Force: Italy: Medium bombers attack supply and fuel depots and defensive positions in the Bologna and Rimini area while fighter-bombers and fighters hit roads and railways north of the Northern Apennines combat zones while the US Fifth Army attempts to overcome enemy resistance on the hills north of Prato, along the main ridge of Monte Altuzzo, on Monte Verruca, I Monticelli and other positions of the Gothic Line. The 85th Bombardment Squadron, 47th (light) Bombardment Group moves from Salon (France) to Follonica with the A-20s and the 526th Suadrone Fighter, 86th Fighter Group moves from Poreta (Corsica) to Grosseto with P-47s.

09/17/1944 – 20th Air Force: Italy: B-25 bombers hit troop concentrations in the British 8th Army's zone of operations near Rimini. B-25 bombers hit railway bridges in the western area of the Po valley while fighter-bombers operating in the Po valley hit railways, roads, trains, road bridges, vehicles and other targets. On the Apennines, after a bloody battle that caused very serious losses on both sides, the Allies broke through at the Giogo Pass. The 5th Army breaks through the Gothic Line at the Giogo Pass, takes Monte Altuzzo and Monte Pratone, clears Monte Verruca and gains the Monticelli ridge.
The headquarters of the 86th Fighter Group and the 527th Fighter Squadron move from Poreta (Corsica) to Grosseto with the P-47s

09/19/1944 – At 4 pm, the first American infantry units set foot in Firenzuola. Upon entering, the soldiers moved with caution among gutted and mined buildings; the streets could barely be made out under the rubble that covered them.

09/28/1944 – Marzabotto massacre: 1,836 dead.

10-13/10/1944 – The 2nd Battalion, 338th Inf. (85th US Inf. Div.) takes Monte delle Formiche

10-14/10/1944 – The Battle of Livergnano: action of the 361st Infantry 91st Division

11/13/1944 – “Alexander Proclamation”, from the name of the British general who orders the partisan formations on the radio to cease large-scale military operations.

02/12/1944 – The corps of volunteers for freedom speaks out against the dismantling of the forces in the field during the winter wait. The partisan republics, created in the autumn of '44 in various locations (in the Langhe, Valsesia, Val Maira, Montefiorino and Val d'Ossola) cease to exist.

07/12/1944 – The CLNAI, in the persons of Alfredo Pizzoni, Ferruccio Parri, Gian Carlo Pajetta and Edgardo Sogno, signs an agreement in Rome with the command of the allied forces: the partisans will obtain financial and military aid until the end of the war, committing in exchange to recognize the authority of the allies and to hand over their weapons once the liberation has taken place.

12/26/1944 – The Bonomi government recognizes the CLNAI as the representative body of the Italian government in the north still occupied by the Nazi-fascists; on the other hand, the Committee recognized the southern government as the "only legitimate government"

1945

04-11/02/1945 – Yalta conference between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin.

February March 1945 – The civil and partisan struggle in the north (north wind) gradually manages, with the support of the allies and the military operations launched by them on a European scale, to defeat the enemy. The SS negotiated the capitulation of the German forces in Italy in Lugano while on 13 March Mussolini sent the allies in Rome a surrender proposal that guaranteed the personal safety of the members of the RSI.

04/05/1945 – The Allied offensive begins in the Tyrrhenian sector; while Togliatti supports the start of a popular insurrection in the north, the allies insist on a postponement.

04/18/1945 – Mussolini moves to Milan, where he will soon realize the imminent and now inevitable defeat. On the same day, a pre-insurrection general strike was proclaimed in Turin, from where it would spread to the entire region. On April 25th the partisans will go into action, before the Allies enter the city on May 1st.

04/21/1945 – The Douglas A-20K Boston Mark V serial number BZ590 It took off from the Forlì airfield at 8.54pm to attack a target in the Taglio di Po area with cluster bombs. During its return it was hit by anti-aircraft fire and suddenly fell in the Copparo (FE) area.

04/25/1945 – After the liberation of Bologna, Genoa, Cuneo, the CLNAI gives the order for a general insurrection. Partisans throughout the north occupy factories, barracks and prefectures. In Milan, Mussolini was asked for the unconditional surrender of the Republic of Salò, but in the evening he and his entourage, escorted by the SS, fled towards Como.

04/27/1945 – The partisans intercept Mussolini near Como on his way to Switzerland; together with some hierarchs and Clara Petacci, he will be shot the following day, and the bodies will be exhibited in Milan in Piazzale Loreto.