| Original caption: “Achille Starace, One-Time Secretary of the Fascist Party, Mussolini, And Claretta Petacci, Mussolini’s mistress, hanging from a filling station front in the center of Milan after they were shot by Italian patriots.” Segretario del Partito Nazionale Fascista (“Secretary Of The National Fascist Party) Achille Starace (August 18, 1889 – April 29, 1945), Prime Minister and Dictator Il Duce Benito Mussolini (July 1883 – April 28, 1945), and Clara “Claretta” Petacci February 28, 1912 – April 28, 1945), hang from a Milan gasoline station awning in the Piazza Loreto after execution. Communist partisans captured the convoy of Italian Fascist leaders, guarded by Luftwaffe soldaten at Dongo near Lake Como, and released the Nazi Germans in exchange for handing over the Italians. Mussolini, ashen, brokenhearted over the collapse of the Salo Socialist Republic, refused Nazi entreaties to join them by putting on a German uniform overcoat and leaving with them. Mussolini feared betrayal and initially refused to be operated from his ministers. But he wore his stalhelm backwards, and the coat was too big, and a partisan saw him, the most recognizable face in Italy. He was pulled out of the Nazi German lorry. They were moved to Bonzanigo avoid any attempt by Fascist sympathizers to recover the party. Dozens of Fascist leaders arrested with Mussolini were executed over the next few days. It is not clear who actually executed Mussolini. Many Italian partisans claimed to be the executioner in the decades since his death. Mussolini was said to have shouted “Aim for my heart!” While Clara Petacci may have thrown herself in front of Mussolini in a vain attempt to save his life. Some partisans debated whether or not she was complicit in Fascist crimes, but she definitely attempted to influence policy decisions and Mussolini’s officer promotions. The men shot with Mussolini were Alessandro Pavolini (September 27, 1903 – April 28, 1945), Segretario del Partito Fascista Repubblicano, (“Secretary of the of the Italian Fascist Party,” Leader of the Black Brigades); Francesco Maria Barracu (November 1, 1885 – April 28 1945), Sottosegretario alla Presidenza del Consiglio dei ministri della Repubblica Sociale Italiana (“Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Social Republic”); Paolo Zerbino (June 21, 1905 – April 28, 1945), Ministro dell’Interno della Repubblica Sociale Italiana (“Minister of the Interior of the Italian Social Republic”); Fernando Mezzasoma (August 3, 1907 – April 28, 1945), Ministro della cultura popolare della Repubblica Sociale Italiana (“Minister of Popular Culture of the Italian Social Republic”); Ruggero Romano, (March 9, 1895 – April 28, 1945) Deputato del Regno d’Italia (“Minister of Public Works of the Italian Social Republic”); Augusto Liverani (August 7, 1895 – April 28, 1945), Ministro per le Comunicazioni della Repubblica Sociale Italiana (“Minister of Communications of the Italian Social Republic”); Goffredo Coppola (September 21, 1898 – April 28, 1945) Presidente dell’Istituto Nazionale di Cultura Fascista (“President of the National Institute of Fascist Culture”); Paolo Porta (January 26, 1901 – April 28, 1945) Segretario federale del Partito Fascista Repubblicano di Como (“Federal Secretary of the Republican Fascist Party of Como”), Luigi Gatti (June 19, 1913 – April 28, 1945), Segretario particolare di Mussolini (“Private Secretary of the Duce”); Ernesto Daquanno (January 7, 1897 – April 28, 1945) Direttore Generale dell’Agenzia Stefani (“General Director of Stefani Press Agency”), Mario Nudi (July 17, 1912 – April 28, 1945) il Comando della Scorta Personale di Mussolini, la Presidenziale (“Commander of Mussolini’s personal bodyguard, the ‘Presidential’”). and Nicola Bombacci (October 24, 1879 – April 28, 1945) consigliere di Mussolini (“advisor to Mussolini,” socialist known publicly as the Red Pope). Bombacci, a Communist who sought to legtimize Mussolini’s socialist Fascism, shouted out “Long live Mussolini! Long live socialism!” The public had responded to his socialist initiatives with strikes. Eighten bodies, including Petacci and Mussolini, were brought to the Piazza Loreto on April 29. By 0900 Hours a crowd had gathered; the newspaper L’Unità had announced the execution of Mussolini and his entourage. Radio Free Milan announced it as well. The bodies were dumped on the pavement, and arranged with Mussolini on top of Petacci. The crowd began to beat the corpse of Mussolini. 1 mother fired 5 shots into his head, for “her five dead sons.” His skull cracked and 1 of his eyes fell out of its socket. Another man tried to put a dead mouse in his mouth. The crowd shouted for the partisans, who tried to control the crowd with gunshots and fire hoses, to hoist the dead higher. Above the body of Bombacci, there was a handwritten sign that read Supertraditore (“Super-Traitor”). Mussolini was hung 1st; upside down in the medieval way for crimes of infamy. Petacci was next; her skirt fell down, exposing that she did not wear underwear. A partisan chaplain climbed a box and tucked in her skirt around her legs to cover her. 4 more bodies were raised. Terrified fascist prisoners arrived, heads shaved, with red hammer and sickles pained on the foreheads; among them was a young girl. A truck arrived with Achille Starace. He was made to stand beneath the hanging corpses, and said to the impromptu firing squad, “Do it quickly, instead of hitting and insulting a man who is about to be shot.” He shouted. “Viva Il Duce!” and the submachine guns of the firing squad cut him down. The bodies hung in the Piazza Loreto until 1300 Hours. Mussolini was taken away for autopsy. They could not determine his actual height; the top of his skull was so crushed they had to estimate it. No autopsy was performed on Petacci. The Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale Alta Italia (CLNAI – “Committee of National Liberation for Northern Italy”) was horrified by the conduct in the Piazza Loreto. They distanced the resistance from the actions of the crowd. The CLNAI claimed it was Fascists, recently under the control of the party, not partisans blooded in the field after years of action. Special Operations Executive operative and Communist partisan leader Leo Valiani (February 9, 1909 – September 18, 1999) put out a statement: “Those in the piazza who insulated the dead were not the partisans moulded in resistance and prepared austerely for years for the insurrection; they were Fascists who until a few weeks earlier had adulted the tyrant.” On April 21, 1946, the corpse of Mussolini was removed by Domenico Leccisi (May 20, 1920 – November 2, 2008) a Fascist politician. The body was held by the authorities until 1957, when Leccisi successfully campaigned for reburial in Mussolini’s birthplace in Predappio. Mussolini, Mistress Executed By Firing Squad By James E. Roper [(August 13, 1995 – November 9, 1998)], United Press Staff Writer “Milan, April 29, 1945 (United Press) – Italian Patriots executed Benito Mussolini Saturday, and Sunday a howling mob is kicking and spitting on his remains lying in the center of this city where Italian Fascism was born.” “Mussolini’s face wears a disdainful snarl. He died shouting ‘No! No!’ to a firing squad which took his life, and that of his mistress, near the village of Dongo on Lake Como near the Swiss border at 1610 Hours.” “The body was taken by truck to Milan and dumped in the city’s square.” “A bullet penetrated Mussolini’s bald head through the left forehead and passed entirely through it, tearing out part of the skull above and behind the right ear.” “The brains which took Fascist Italy into the war ooze onto the filth of a dirt plot in the center of Milan.” “Along with Mussolini, the Patriots killed his mistress, Claretta Petacci, and sixteen other Fascists, many of them members of his cabinet.” “The bodies of all were brought to Milan, which American Fifth Army troops entered Sunday. A mob of more than five thousand persons immediately set upon the corpses marking the final end to Fascism which carried Italy to its doom.” “One woman reportedly fired five shots into Mussolini’s body, crying: ‘Five shots for my five assassinated sons!’” “All bodies were strewn about a small area. A few patriot guards tried to hold the crowds back but the guards were shoved back so that they stepped on the bodies.” “While I was examining the remains Sunday, the crowd surged forward and almost shoved me atop the body. Partisan guards began firing into the air and some semblance of control was regained.” “Early in the morning, when the bodies were dumped into the square, Mussolini’s head had rested on the breast of his dead mistress. Her body had several bullet holes in the chest. Blood stains showed crimson on the dainty white blouse with lace ruffles, which miraculously had escaped most of the muck and filth which covered the bodies of Mussolini and the others.” “Her dark, curly hair had been dragged in the wet soil.” “Signorina Petacci was about twenty-five years of age [actually thirty-three]. She was the daughter of a Rome doctor. Mussolini met her on a beach in 1939 and built a large villa for her outside Rome and, with his influence, tried to make her a motion picture star but she failed in that venture. The mistress was arrested after Mussolini was ousted as premier in July, 1943, but the Germans rescued her and she joined Mussolini in Northern Italy.” “Mussolini’s face was ashen gray. His dark jowls hung loosely. He wore a nondescript military jacket and gray riding breeches of the Italian militia, which had a tiny red stripe down the sides.” “But the air of splendor which once surrounded the blacksmith’s son who rose to become the world’s first dictator was gone. His body, which had been manhandled many times, was covered with grime. He wore high black boots but there was no luster left in their polish.” “Civilians spat on the bodies. Occasionally someone would break from the crowd and run across them, making sure that he tramped on Il Duce.” “The story leading up to Mussolini’s capture and execution was told to me by a Partisan leader whose battle name is ‘Eduardo.’ He commanded Italian Patriots south of the Po River.” “‘I had heard Mussolini had been arrested and taken to a villa near Dongo,’ he said. ‘I was in command of two thousand men in Milan Province and none of us wanted Mussolini to be freed or to escape to Switzerland, so I sent ten men with an officer to Dongo.’” “‘Mussolini was in a cottage on a hill outside Dongo with his mistress. When he saw the Italian officers coming toward him he thought they had come to free him and he threw his arms happily around the woman.’” “‘When he was told that he was going to be tried he was shocked. But our men under an officer gave them both a trial and condemned them to death.’” “‘When he heard the death sentence Mussolini cried: ‘Let me save my life and I will give you an empire!’” “‘However, the trial committee – from the 52nd Garibaldi Brigade and an officer from the Milan Partisan Command – continued their plans for the execution almost immediately.’” “‘Mussolini and Petacci were shot together at the cottage.’” “‘When the soldiers were about to shoot, Mussolini cried, ‘No! No!’ Those were his last words.’” “‘He did not wear a blindfold.’” “‘The jury some hours later examined the other Fascists and my men shot them all together in the Dongo town square. Among them was the brother of Mistress Petacci. When they were led out to be shot, Petacci tried to escape but he was shot down.’” “‘These men died well. Mussolini died badly.’” Among the men shot with Mussolini were Allessandro Pavolini; Francesco Barraco [sic]; Paolo Zerbino; Fernando Mezzasoma; Ruggero Romano; Augusto Liverani; Goffredo Coppola; Paola Porta; Luigi Gatti; Ernesto Daquanno; Mario Nudi, and Nicola Bombacci. “‘Eduardo’ said the last words uttered by Pavolini, former Fascist Party secretary, were: “Viva L’Italia.” Barraco, 1 of the Fascist leaders during the German occupation of Rome, wore a gold medal, and his last request to the execution squad was “Do not hit the medal.” “Eduardo,” concluding his story, said: “All bodies, including those of Mussolini and his mistress, were loaded into a large closed van, like a moving van, and brought to Milan late Saturday night. On the way the truck was repeatedly halted by Partisan road blocks. “The driver had to show his documents repeatedly. It was raining and after a while the documents became so wet they could hardly be read. One group of Partisans thought my men were Fascists trying to steal Mussolini’s body. They lined my men up against a wall for over an hour and threatened to shoot them. However, they finally were allowed to continue and arrived in Milan.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii0666.jpg |
| Image Size | 180.95 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 1069 x 1284 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Air Force |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | April 29, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | Milan |
| State or Province | Lombardy |
| Country | Italy |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | 342-FH-3A23918-57704AC |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
Author of the World War II Multimedia Database