Italy Switches Sides: Rome Declares War on Germany
Italy's switch from Axis to Allied cobelligerent in 1943 was neither clean nor bloodless. King Victor Emmanuel III dismissed Mussolini on July 25, and Marshal Badoglio secretly negotiated an armistice that was announced on September 8. The Germans responded immediately: they seized Rome, disarmed 600,000 Italian soldiers (most were sent to forced labor), and established the puppet Italian Social Republic under Mussolini in the north. On October 13, Italy formally declared war on Germany. The country was now fighting itself. Fascist loyalists battled partisans across northern Italy for the next 18 months. Allied forces ground their way up the peninsula through Monte Cassino and the Gothic Line. Mussolini was captured and executed by partisans on April 28, 1945, two days before Hitler killed himself in Berlin.
October 13, 1943
83 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on October 13
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