Mussolini, mistress executed by firing squad

Clara Pe

"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 Alessandro Pavolini, Francesco Barraco, Paolo Zerbino, Fernando Mezzasoma, Ruggero Romano, Augusto Liverani, Goffredo Coppola, Paolo 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, one 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."