The ''Brigate Osoppo-Friuli'' or Osoppo-Friuli Brigades were autonomous partisan formations founded in the headquarter of the Archbishop Seminary of
Udine
Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...
on 24 December 1943
[.] by partisan volunteers of mixed ideologies, already active in
Carnia and
Friuli
Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giuli ...
before the
Badoglio Proclamation The Badoglio Proclamation was a speech read on Ente Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche (EIAR) at 19:42 on 8 September 1943 by Marshal Pietro Badoglio, Italian head of government, announcing that the Armistice of Cassibile between Italy and the ...
of 8 September. The partisans in this brigade adhered to various and often conflicting ideologies, including both
secularism
Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations.
Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...
and
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, as well as
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...
and
liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
.
[.]
The Osoppo aimed to cooperate independently with the communist
Garibaldi Brigades
The ''Brigate Garibaldi'' or Garibaldi Brigades were partisan units aligned with the Italian Communist Party active in the armed resistance against both German and Italian fascist forces during World War II.
The Brigades were mostly made up of ...
and to contribute to the antifascist fight against the occupying
German forces. The latter had in fact established the
Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral
The Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral (german: Operationszone Adriatisches Küstenland, OZAK; or colloquially: ''Operationszone Adria''; it, Zona d'operazioni del Litorale adriatico; hr, Operativna zona Jadransko primorje; sl, Operacijs ...
, subtracting the whole territory of
Friuli-Venezia Giulia from the authority of the
Italian Social Republic and establishing an harsh regime of repression and dispossession, availing of the
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
formations,
cossacks and fascist republican forces.
[.]
This autonomous partisan group was led by Candido Grassi (battle name "Verdi"), Manlio Cencig (battle name "Mario"), two captains of the
Royal Italian Army and Don Ascanio De Luca (already
chaplain of
Alpini in
Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
and parson of Colugna,
Tavagnacco, at the time).
Because of the complex political-military situation of the Friulian territory and
Julian March
Venezia Giulia, traditionally called Julian March (Serbo-Croatian, Slovene: ''Julijska krajina'') or Julian Venetia ( it, Venezia Giulia; vec, Venesia Julia; fur, Vignesie Julie; german: Julisch Venetien) is an area of southeastern Europe wh ...
, at the middle of opposite nationalisms and secular ethnic and territorial conflicts, the Osoppo Brigades had often conflictual relationships with Garibaldi formations and they were in contrast with Slovenian-Yugoslav partisan forces.
The name "Osoppo" was a symbolic reference with the history of the region during the
Italian unification, when in 1848 the city of
Osoppo
Osoppo ( fur, Osôf) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about northwest of Udine.
Osoppo borders the following municipalities: Buja, F ...
resisted for seven months against the
Austrian
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
troops.
Eastern regions after the 8 September
Dissolution of the Italian state
After the 8 September, the Italian divisions of the ''2ª Armata'', already involved in an harsh repression and anti-guerrilla struggle in Slovenia against the Yugoslav partisan units and the indigenous population, broke up. In
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...
and
Gorizia
Gorizia (; sl, Gorica , colloquially 'old Gorizia' to distinguish it from Nova Gorica; fur, label= Standard Friulian, Gurize, fur, label= Southeastern Friulian, Guriza; vec, label= Bisiacco, Gorisia; german: Görz ; obsolete English ''Gori ...
, general
Alberto Ferrero left the command without any order. In
Fiume
Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...
general
Gastone Gambara
Gastone Gambara (10 November 1890 – 27 February 1962) was an Italian General who participated in World War I and World War II. He excelled during the Italian intervention in favor of the nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. During World War I ...
(commander of the ''11º Corpo d'armata'') waited until 11 September, when he was reached by the first German divisions who were quickly occupying
Istria and he gave them the command. The same happened in
Pula. The dissolution of many divisions and the lack of orders led to the deliver of more than 100,000 Italian soldiers deployed in the area to the Germans without any chance to draft a resistance plan. The German occupation did not extended immediately to the whole region and, after the dissolution of the Italian administration, the Yugoslav formations, already located and active in the lands on the border since 1941, took initiative.
The situation was particularly confused: beside the Italian disbanded troops left alone without orders and the coming German divisions, the
9th Corps of the 4th Yugoslav Army penetrated in the area shortly after the 8 September with more than 50,000 soldiers who crossed the
Julian Alps
The Julian Alps ( sl, Julijske Alpe, it, Alpi Giulie, , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretch from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia. A large p ...
and advanced through
Karst Plateau
The Karst Plateau or the Karst region ( sl, Kras, it, Carso), also locally called Karst, is a karst plateau region extending across the border of southwestern Slovenia and northeastern Italy.
It lies between the Vipava Valley, the low hills su ...
and Istria, pointing towards Gorizia, Trieste, Pula and Fiume. Moreover, since the second half of 1941, in the provinces of Gorizia, Pula, Fiume and Trieste there was already an increasing partisan activity of guerrilla-warfare and sabotage by Slovenian resistance groups. The Yugoslav formations, kindled by a strong nationalism and by a spirit of vengeance after the occupation and the harsh repression and the Italianization on the eastern border and in Yugoslavia, did violent retaliations against the Italian minority and those considered as nationalists or fascists.
The merciless attitude of Italian troops and commands during the two years of occupation in Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro, characterized by harsh repressive measures and a high number of killings, devastations and deportations, provoked a violent Slav nationalist reaction at the arrival of the partisans in the Italian territory. Yugoslav formations, often supported by the local Slav population, began to arrest many Italian citizens on the charge of being fascists, but actually there was no distinction among the Italians who were generally considered as "enemies of the people". Arrests were concentrated in
Pisino
Pazin ( it, Pisino, german: Mitterburg) is a town in western Croatia, the administrative seat of Istria County. It is known for the medieval Pazin Castle, the former residence of the Istrian margraves.
Geography
The town had a population of 8,6 ...
and, after a brief trial, prisoners were shot and threw into the Karst carves. This event, known as
Foibe massacres, occurred in September 1943 and led to the death of more than a thousand of Italians, before the conclusion of a precarious agreement of antifascist collaboration between Italian
Garibaldi Brigades
The ''Brigate Garibaldi'' or Garibaldi Brigades were partisan units aligned with the Italian Communist Party active in the armed resistance against both German and Italian fascist forces during World War II.
The Brigades were mostly made up of ...
and
Yugoslav partisans
The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...
.
Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral and repression
According to the
Operation Achse
Operation Achse (german: Fall Achse, lit=Case Axis), originally called Operation Alaric (), was the codename for the German operation to forcibly disarm the Italian armed forces after Italy's armistice with the Allies on 3 September 1943.
...
as wanted by
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
and German commanders, the
province of Udine and the whole
Venezia Giulia
Venezia Giulia, traditionally called Julian March ( Serbo-Croatian, Slovene: ''Julijska krajina'') or Julian Venetia ( it, Venezia Giulia; vec, Venesia Julia; fur, Vignesie Julie; german: Julisch Venetien) is an area of southeastern Europe w ...
were immediately included into the
Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral
The Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral (german: Operationszone Adriatisches Küstenland, OZAK; or colloquially: ''Operationszone Adria''; it, Zona d'operazioni del Litorale adriatico; hr, Operativna zona Jadransko primorje; sl, Operacijs ...
, with the original
name used during the domination of the
Habsburg monarchy and the clear cancellation of what Italy obtained after the
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Those regions were put under the leadership of
Carinthian
Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Bavarian group. Carint ...
Friedrich Rainer
Friedrich W. Rainer (28 July 1903 – November 1950)Miller, Michael & Andreas Schulz, (2017). ''Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925-1945'', Volume II (Georg Joel - Dr. Bernhard Rust). R. James B ...
, appointed as High Commissar with full powers, in anticipation of the formal annexation of the region into the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
[, second part: ''L'Adriatische Kustenland''.] In his diaries,
Joseph Goebbels talks about annexation project not only for the Adriatic Littoral but even also for the whole
Veneto
it, Veneto (man) it, Veneta (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 = ...
, in order to exploit it as a "tourist attraction area" for the German "
master race
The master race (german: Herrenrasse) is a pseudoscientific concept in Nazi ideology in which the putative " Aryan race" is deemed the pinnacle of human racial hierarchy. Members were referred to as "''Herrenmenschen''" ("master humans").
T ...
". On 10 September 1943, provinces of Bolzano, Belluno and Trento were unified into the "Voralpenland" while the territory comprising Udine, Gorizia, Trieste, Pola, Fiume and Ljubljiana was officially established as ''Adriatisches Kustenland'' in October, after the completion of the territorial occupation by the German armed forces between 9 September and 12 October.
On 2 October 1943, German troops went to the offensive and launched the
Operation Wolkenbruch ("Cloudburst") with three SS divisions and two infantry divisions that repelled the 9th Corps and destroyed the houses used by Yugoslavs as support bases; the operation ended with the German victory on 15 October 1943.
On 1 October 1943, Germans established the Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral, (OZAL) administrated by Supreme Commissar
Friedrich Rainer
Friedrich W. Rainer (28 July 1903 – November 1950)Miller, Michael & Andreas Schulz, (2017). ''Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925-1945'', Volume II (Georg Joel - Dr. Bernhard Rust). R. James B ...
to whom was flanked for the repression by SS
Gruppenführer Odilo Globočnik
Odilo Lothar Ludwig Globocnik (21 April 1904 – 31 May 1945) was an Austrian Nazi and a perpetrator of the Holocaust. He was an official of the Nazi Party and later a high-ranking leader of the SS. Globocnik had a leading role in Operation Re ...
, previously the coordinator of German
extermination camps in Poland.
On 9 October 1943, the Julian provinces (Gorizia, Trieste, Pola, Fiume), as well as Friuli, were merged into the OZAL and subordinated to the German military administration,
subtracting them from the
Italian Social Republic (RSI).
The policy of German authorities in the ''Adriatisches Kustenland'', ruled by Rainer with dictatorial powers, included the ouster of the political-administrative influence of the RSI, the planning and actuation of measures for a subsequent annexation to the Reich, the economic exploitation, the repression of dissent and anti-fascist partisan struggle. In
Carnia, German authorities established even the
Cossacks of
Don
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
*Don, Dang, a vill ...
and
Kuban led by general Krasnov and prince Zulikize, who created commands in
Verzegnis and
Paluzza
Paluzza ( fur, Paluce) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
A local term in the Bavarian language for " hello" is . Geography
It is located about northwest of Trieste and about nor ...
and organized wide plunders and devastations, collaborating into the massive repression of partisans.
Political authorities and military divisions of RSI participated to the repression and the fight against the Resistance formations: divisions of
X MAS initially manifested unrealistic anti-Slavic defence purposes on the borderlands but then they ended (completely ousted by Rainer, who did not tolerate any fascist "interference" in the territories he administered) to dedicate themselves in the repression of Garibaldi and Osoppo Brigades, while some members of the republican police, like
Gaetano Collotti and
Giuseppe Gueli, organized in Trieste violent and aggressive police apparatus against partisans and their supporters.
Resistance forces and creation of Osoppo Brigades
Born of the Resistance in Friuli and Julian March
In this tough and intricate situation, characterized by inter-ethnic hatreds, spirit of vengeance, opposite nationalisms and ideological extremes, repressions, internments and roundups, the first partisan formations were formed near Udine against the Nazi Germany and collaborationist RSI, with the autonomists of Mario Cencigh, communists of Giacinto Calligaris and Mario Lizzero, militants of the
Action Party led by Fermo Solari. In Venezia Giulia there were the ''Brigata Proletaria'' ("Proletarian Brigade", destroyed in Gorizia by Germans) and other communist formations were created in
Tarnova, Trieste and Istria.
The two main groups of Resistance in those regions were the communists, from the working class of Eastern Veneto, and the rural populations and bourgeois, firmly anchored to the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, both united by the anti-German hate but divided by ideologies, while the socialist and Action formations were particularly weak. On November–December 1943, the Osoppo Brigades were formed with the merger between the socialist and Action formations with the catholic ones.
Organization
The purpose of Osoppo Brigades, in which converged also the
Giustizia e Libertà
Giustizia e Libertà (; en, Justice and Freedom) was an Italian anti-fascist resistance movement, active from 1929 to 1945.James D. Wilkinson (1981). ''The Intellectual Resistance Movement in Europe''. Harvard University Press. p. 224. The mov ...
formations located in the region, was to fight against Germans and fascists for a democratic state within the Resistance, trying to keep an active collaboration with the Garibaldi communist units and protecting moreover the interests of the Italian population of Friuli and Venezia Giulia facing Yugoslav partisan forces. The
Cappello Alpino and a green handkerchief were chosen as recognition signs.
The Brigade was named after the small town of Osoppo which resisted to an
Austrian
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
siege lasted 168 days in 1848.
The group decided to be autonomous on the operative field, as requested by the non-communist members during the NLC session of 25 November 1943. The Osoppo accepted instead the political direction of NLC of Udine, refused by the
Garibaldi Brigades
The ''Brigate Garibaldi'' or Garibaldi Brigades were partisan units aligned with the Italian Communist Party active in the armed resistance against both German and Italian fascist forces during World War II.
The Brigades were mostly made up of ...
.
1944 and the Republic of Carnia
In the spring of 1944,
the ''Brigata Osoppo'', with the command headquartered in the Castello Ceconi of
Pielungo (comune of
Vito d'Asio
Vito d'Asio ( fur, Vît) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pordenone in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about northeast of Pordenone.
Small villages (Frazione)
Anduins, Casiacco, ...
), was formed by seven battalions led by Candido Grassi with Don Ascanio De Luca as political commissar. Battalions were dislocated as follows:
* Two in
Carnia ("Carnia", "Tagliamento")
* Two in
Carnic Prealps ("Italia D.D.", "Piave")
* Three in
Julian Prealps ("Julio", "Torre", "Udine")
On 19 July 1944, the headquarter of Pielungo was put on fire by Germans and a situation of instability occurred in the command after divergences between militants of
Giustizia e Libertà
Giustizia e Libertà (; en, Justice and Freedom) was an Italian anti-fascist resistance movement, active from 1929 to 1945.James D. Wilkinson (1981). ''The Intellectual Resistance Movement in Europe''. Harvard University Press. p. 224. The mov ...
and the other Osoppo members.
On 21 August 1944, the Osoppo Brigade was reformed into five brigades between
Carnia, Carnic and Julian Prealps and the plain.
Garibaldi-Osoppo Unified Commands
The Osoppo Brigades were coordinate, for a brief period of 1944, by the Unified Divisional Military Commands to the Garibaldi Brigades (''Comandi Militari unificati di Divisione alle Brigate Garibaldine''), despite having still the organizational autonomy. At the end of July, a coordination command was formed between the Osoppo of Sinistra
Tagliamento
The Tagliamento () is a braided river in north-east Italy, flowing from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea at a point between Trieste and Venice.
The Tagliamento river is considered as the last morphologically intact river in the Alps. (Its c ...
and the
Natisone
The Natisone ( fur, Nadison; sl, Nadiža; la, Natiso) is a river in Slovenia and Italy. It flows for some time as a border river between Slovenia and Italy, continues in Slovenia and then crosses the border and continues in Eastern Friuli, in no ...
Garibaldi Brigade. In Destra Tagliamento, instead, the Osoppo Garibaldi was formed at the end of August from the "Ippolito Nievo" unified divisions of plain and mountain while the ''2ª divisione Osoppo Territoriale'' was created in September. The Unified Command was solicited also by the Allies, who did not want any political issues as hinder to the fight against nazis; despite difficulties caused by ideological differences, the Unified Command was efficient in the brief experience of the
Free Republic of Carnia (August–September 1944).
Republic of Carnia
Despite contrasts, the Unified Command was established, with the bond of unanimity decisions, in a free zone of Sinistra Tagliamento and
Collio, formed by Garibaldi
Mario Fantini "Sasso" (Commander) and
Giovanni Padoan Giovanni may refer to:
* Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname
* Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data
* ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...
"Vanni" (Political commissar) of Garibaldi Brigades, together with
Francesco De Gregori
Francesco De Gregori OMRI (born 4 April 1951) is an Italian singer-songwriter. In Italy, he is popularly known as "Il Principe dei cantautori" ("The Prince of the singer-songwriters"), a nickname referring to the elegance of his lyrics.
He is of ...
(Deputy commander) and
Alfredo Berzanti (Deputy commissar) of Osoppo.
From August to September 1944 the Osoppo Division took part with the Friuli Garibaldi Division to the liberation of Carnia and the establishment of a "
partisan republic"; after conflicts and little battles, partisan (almost 3,500 men) occupied a zone of 2,500 km
2 with 78,900 inhabitants and 37 comuni. The council of the
Free Republic of Carnia was established on 26 September in
Ampezzo
Ampezzo ( fur, Dimpeç, german: Petsch) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about northwest of Udine. As of 31 December 2004, it had a popula ...
and tried to develop projects regarding administration, economy, justice and education. In the defence field, contrasts between Osoppo and Garibaldi Brigades of Carnia and Friuli did not allow instead the formation of a unified command.
The following repression conducted by over 40,000 men, between Germans, Social Republicans,
X MAS, ethnic formations and cossacks, dismantled the Carnia Republic and caused heavy losses to defenders and civil population; nazi-fascist forces devastated the territory, made roundups and deportations; a formation of Osoppo was decimated along with the Garibaldi Brigades, but on 27 November, a chosen Osoppo group was still able to repeal an attack of German mountain troops. After new clashes in a harsh and inhospitable territory, the Osoppo Commander Candido Grassi ("Verdi") ordered the conversion of his troops into plain formations who succeeded to pass through the enemy side and take refuge into the plain.
1945 and contrasts between Osoppo and Garibaldi partisans
The ''Gruppo Brigata Osoppo dell'Est'' (Group of East Osoppo Brigade), a unified command with the
Divisione Garibaldi Natisone, did not accept to pass east of the
Isonzo river and to be subordinated to the Slovenian
9th Corps of the
National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia
The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...
led by
Josip Broz Tito. On 22 November 1944, the Italian Communist Party (and not the
CLNAI, the only command allowed to give orders legitimately regarding the operative deployment of partisan forces) ordered to the Italian partisans located in the zone to pass under the dependence of the Yugoslav 9th Corps in order to create (according to
Palmiro Togliatti
Palmiro Michele Nicola Togliatti (; 26 March 1893 – 21 August 1964) was an Italian politician and leader of the Italian Communist Party from 1927 until his death. He was nicknamed ("The Best") by his supporters. In 1930 he became a citizen of ...
in a letter to Vincenzo Bianco, PCI representative in the 9th Corps):
The disposition provided that "all the Italian units of the zone
he Friulian Adriatic Littoralmust operate only under the command of the 9th Army Corps of Tito", adding that whoever refused this order would be considered as fascist and imperialist; the command of Osoppo Brigades repealed the requested saying ''pai nostris fogolârs'' in
Friulan
Friulian ( ) or Friulan (natively or ; it, friulano; de-AT, Furlanisch; sl, furlanščina) is a Romance language belonging to the Rhaeto-Romance family, spoken in the Friuli region of northeastern Italy. Friulian has around 600,000 speaker ...
("For our homes").
![Prefettura 1786](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Prefettura_1786.jpg)
Over 3,500 communist partisans of ''Garibaldi-Natisone'' division accepted but not the autonomous of Ossopo, including Elda Turchetti, a militant killed and reputed by communists as an X MAS spy.
If the Osoppo members were based on principles of defence of national interests, which should have been discussed only after the end of the war, Garibaldi partisans were also very doubtful given the political positions and authoritarian methods adopted by Slovenian in their territories.
Despite that, almost 1,500 Garibaldi partisans, even with hardship, were obliged to accept the strategy of PCI leaders on 24 December 1944 and they crossed the
Isonzo. Their command moved toward
Circhina and
Zakriž, in the current
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
. At the end of the war, Garibaldi partisans were sent to free Lubiana and not Trieste, as initially promised.
Allied missions and conflict between Osoppo and Garibaldi Brigades
Since July 1944, the American
Office of Strategic Services (OSS) had begun a linking mission in Friuli with the partisan called ''Chicago-Texas''. This mission was led by two Italian agents affiliated to PCI, Alfredo Michelagnoli and
Giuseppe Gozzer.
[.]
The mission was organized accordingly to a wider agreement between OSS and PCI, providing the enrolment of "experienced men" appointed by the party, in exchange for the use of the radio of the secret service by the party in order to communicate with their leaders in the territories occupied by nazi-fascists.
However, Gozzer, although he headed a mission of the Allies, began soon the chief of staff of the ''Brigata Garibaldi-Friuli'', generating uncertainties among the members of
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
(SOE, one of the British secret services for the operation behind the enemy lines) already active in the zone, who did not know when consider the initiatives of Gozzer as adopted in his qualify as representative of Americans or in that of communist partisan commander.
[
On the other hand, there was not any specific coordination between the missions of OSS and SOE and this situation generated "the most complete confusion", putting in involuntary competition the missions started independently on the same territory, and provoking inefficiency and undue dangers for the Allies agents themselves. Moreover, the different approach of the Allied missions did not provide to partisans a coherent figure of the Anglo-American alliance and made their military action less efficient.
The scarcity of material sent by air by the Allies (always subordinated to the needs of war on other fronts and starting from a limited availability) and the notable gap between the promises of missions and the material actually sent (beside the different promises of OSS and SOE agents), induced the local Resistance to a cynical attitude following the development of a lack of trust in the Allies, thus encouraging revolutionary propaganda and adherence to pro-Soviet tendencies.
In general, as ]Claudio Pavone
Claudio Pavone (30 November 1920 – 29 November 2016) was an Italian historian and archivist.
Pavone was the president of the Historic Institute of the Liberation movement in Italy, the president of the Italian Society of Contemporary History an ...
explains, if the supplies did not reach the brigades, or few came, partisans often tended to believe that this was due to the fact that "the British and American armies were still instruments of two capitalist and imperialist powers and imperialist".
Agent Nicholson of the British service, who also supported the Garibaldi groups in negotiations with the Osoppo Brigades, assessed the work of Gozzer with extreme harshness,[.] stigmatizing how, in his opinion, the OSS was relying on a "mercenary puppet" completely under the control of "the most violent communist" in northern Italy. At the same time, Michelagnoli sent reports to the OSS in which he praised the Garibaldi Brigades for their "fighting spirit" and "sure anti-fascism", while he accused the Osoppo of having numerous ex-fascists and politically compromised personalities among their members, while remarking that there were no noteworthy incidents between the two formations.[
A different version was given by reports of another OSS mission - led by the American Major Lloyd Smith - sent to the area and controlled by a section of the service different from the one responsible for the ''Chicago-Texas''. Lloyd Smith, in his reports, indicated Gozzer as an active communist propagandist, consciously committed to sabotaging peace attempts between various partisan groups in which Lloyd Smith himself was engaged. Lloyd Smith unsuccessfully asked his command to be given the necessary authority to impose his point of view - that it was the political one on the Allied side, considering the pacification and coordination between Osoppo and Garibaldi as useful and necessary - arriving at threaten the withdrawal of their mission. In November 1944 similar protests of the British side, relating to the same situation, came to the OSS command of ]Caserta
Caserta () is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial, and industrial '' comune'' and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Ca ...
. However, the head of the criticized mission, Suhling, severely rejected the accusations, turning them over Nicholson and Smith, claiming that they were the ones who gave a political connotation to their action in order to "unify formations of different ideological origins", thus contributing to interpret allied action as a "political pressure" and claiming to "influence if not to lead" the partisan organizations. Suhling concluded by proposing the removal of Smith.[
The tiring but largely unsuccessful attempts of pacification and unification of the Osoppo and Garibaldi Brigades conducted by British agents during the summer of 1944 failed definitively when the area was subjected to violent raids by Germans. Nicholson could only acknowledge that, among the Garibaldi, the hostility towards the Allies (due to the lack of supply launches and to the poor progress of the advance in Italy) and to the Osoppo had grown, rather than decreased. At the same time the Garibaldi had increased their political activity. Indeed, the British agents had been threatened with arrests and executions. Following these facts and threats, Nicholson himself moved to Udine, thus abandoning his sector. On the eastern side of the Tagliamento river (which constituted a true natural border with a large gravel bed about one kilometre wide) the situation was even more difficult, as this territory was openly claimed by the Yugoslav partisans. These combined a strongly hostile policy towards the Osoppo with a continuous pressure so that the Garibaldini were placed directly at their dependencies. An allied agent sent to the area, led by Major Thomas MacPherson, wrote a report to his command in which he stated that the Slovenian 9th Corps considered the major and the Osoppo as collaborators of the Germans and that, for this reason, both the British mission and the Osoppo had to be eliminated at any cost, as they were considered elements that opposed their annexation design. The Osoppo Brigades, in particular, were considered as the "natural enemy" by Slovenian partisans, who led violent propaganda against them, disarming them wherever possible, and denying them any right to recruit. At that point, the agent concluded, the Osoppo Brigades were fighting against seven enemies at once: the Germans, the Russians (serving the Germans), the RSI Fascists, the Slovenians, the Garibaldi partisans, the civil spies and the winter.
In November 1944, the ''Garibaldi Natisone'' division passed under the direct dependence of Slovenians, closing each contact with the Osoppo. MacPherson, solicited also by the Allied command of Caserta tried to do a last but vain mediation. On 15 December 1944 MacPherson met the leaders of ''Natisone'' and complained how, since their passage to the 9th Corps'','' frequent incidents occurred between the Garibaldi and Osoppo Brigades, adding that the political divergences had to be absolutely postponed to the end of the war and that they could not be a hindrance to military operation in any case, underlying how the Allies were bound by international agreements which did not allow them to interfere in the internal politics of the freed countries. However, the appeal was vain. In his report written after the end of the war, MacPherson thought that the Garibaldi partisans had accepted the advice of a unified command with the Osoppo Brigades only in order to obtain in exchange an increase of launches of supplies by the Allies, then bagging most of them.that they preserved during the German fall attack, while the Osoppo partisans, heavily defeated, lost most of their equipment.
The passage of the ''Natisone'' under Slovenian command marked the occupation of the whole area by the 9th Corpss which, according to MacPherson, declared the ]Italian language
Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about ...
illegal there, imposing the use of Slovene in every sphere, and organized some annexation "plebiscites" with voting papers opened under the threat of weapons. Men of the 9th corpus also launched a violent propaganda campaign against the Osoppo Brigades, arresting and deporting some of the relays, and accusing their partisans of capitalism, fascism and collaboration with the Germans. However it was the Slovenes, in a certain sense, who collaborated with the Germans, reporting to them the Osoppo bases and movements. At the same time, both the Osoppo and the British mission were accused of being German spies. Despite these complaints, the position of the SOE was not changed in an anti-communist sense and, indeed, it was concerned to keep clear that the positions expressed by its agents were to be attributed exclusively to themselves, and not to the service. Therefore, at the beginning of February 1945, SOE informed its agents that it was not possible to intervene in any way on the Slovenes, and that the agents were required to stay out of any clash between Slovenes and non-communist partisans.
Porzûs massacre
The Osoppo Brigades were involved in a massacre occurred on 7 February 1945 near the malghe of Porzûs (comune of Faedis
Faedis ( sl, Fojda) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about northeast of Udine, on the border with Slovenia.
Faedis borders the following ...
, Eastern Friuli
Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giuli ...
). The event, connected to the specific situation on the eastern border with the strong ideological motivations of communist Garibaldi partisans and the nationalist rancours between Slavs and Italians, was the most severe bloodshed between partisan formations during the Resistance.
In Porzûs there was the command of the ''Gruppo delle Brigate Est della Divisione Osoppo'' ("Group of the Eastern Brigades of the Osoppo Divisio") led by Alpini commander Francesco De Gregori
Francesco De Gregori OMRI (born 4 April 1951) is an Italian singer-songwriter. In Italy, he is popularly known as "Il Principe dei cantautori" ("The Prince of the singer-songwriters"), a nickname referring to the elegance of his lyrics.
He is of ...
, known as "Bolla". His autonomous formation operated in region dominated by Garibaldi formations of Slovenian 9th Corps. The Osoppo partisans, with their continuous protests against the Yugoslav nationalist aims and the collaborationist policy of the Garibaldi, reported also by Bolla at the Udine NLC, provoked the reation of the communist members of the Committee who ordered the GAP members of the zone to attack the Osoppo headquarter.
About a hundred gappisti were then sent to the place under the command of Mario Toffanin "Giacca", a highly ideological and extremist partisan who captured "Bolla" and other Osoppo commanders, including the GL member Gastone Valente "Enea". Toffanin immediately shot them and subtracted correspondences, weapons and supplies. Later, all the other Osoppo partisan, including Guido Pasolini (elder brother of Pier Paolo), were killed excepting two who accepted to join the GAP.
The massacre had judiciary consequences with a long trial which ended with severe penalties.
March and April 1945
In March, the Osoppo brigades operated with five divisions and included:
* ''1ª Brigata Osoppo Prealpi'' with a Prealps battalion
* ''2ª brigata Osoppo'' with "Val But" and "Tolmezzo" battalions
* ''3ª brigata Osoppo'' with ''battaglione Giustizia''
* ''5ª brigata Osoppo'' with ''battaglione Piave'';
* ''1ª divisione Osoppo Carnia'' with ''battaglione Carnia''
* ''2ª divisione Osoppo territoriale'' with "Pontebba" and "Ledra" battalions
* ''2ª divisione Gruppo sud'' with ''brigata Osoppo Martelli'' and ''2º battaglione Partidor''
* ''Brigata Autonoma Rosselli''
* ''Battaglione Divisionale Guastatori''
* ''Battaglione Divisionale Monte Canin''
Notable members
* Primo Cresta
* Cecilia Deganutti
* Renato Del Din
* Paola Del Din
* Francesco De Gregori
Francesco De Gregori OMRI (born 4 April 1951) is an Italian singer-songwriter. In Italy, he is popularly known as "Il Principe dei cantautori" ("The Prince of the singer-songwriters"), a nickname referring to the elegance of his lyrics.
He is of ...
* Galliano Fogar
* Don Aldo Moretti
* Guido Pasolini
* Tarcisio Petracco
* Zefferino Tomè
Zefferino Tomè (1905, in Casarsa della Delizia – 1979) was an Italian lawyer, partisan (during the Second World War) and politician. He was a Christian Democratic senator from 1949 to 1958. He was a friend of Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pi ...
Awarded
The followings are the partisans awarded with the Italian Gold Medal of Military Valour
The Gold Medal of Military Valour ( it, Medaglia d'oro al valor militare) is an Italian medal established on 21 May 1793 by King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia for deeds of outstanding gallantry in war by junior officers and soldiers.
The fac ...
.
* Giovanni Battista Berghinz
* Cecilia Deganutti
* Renato Del Din
* Paola Del Din
* Francesco De Gregori
Francesco De Gregori OMRI (born 4 April 1951) is an Italian singer-songwriter. In Italy, he is popularly known as "Il Principe dei cantautori" ("The Prince of the singer-songwriters"), a nickname referring to the elegance of his lyrics.
He is of ...
* Don Aldo Moretti
* Pierino Celetto
* Pietro Maset
* Giuseppe De Monte
* Aldo Zamorani
* Luigi Antonio Tami
* Giuseppe Gozzer
* Terzo Drusin
* Franco Martelli
See also
* Porzûs massacre
* Porzûs (film)
* Italian resistance movement
* Christian Democracy
* Italian partisan brigades The Italian partisan brigades were armed formations involved in the Italian resistance during the World War II.
They were formed on voluntary base by irregular soldiers and sometimes were organized by former army members who served in the Italian o ...
* Brigate del popolo
* Brigate Fiamme Verdi
* Friuli
Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giuli ...
* Foibe massacres
* Organizzazione O
References
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External links
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{{Authority control
Italian resistance movement
Anti-fascist organisations in Italy