Liberation Day in Italy

We happened to be in San Dona di Piave today (25 April). A pleasant drive through the Veneto countryside, sun beaming, early summer in the air. S Dona is a lovely, elegant small city about 45km from Venice. We went here to collect some medical results of my mother-in-law. Today also happens to be Liberation Day in Italy, a fact which dawned upon us as we were blocked entry into the town square. The town was preparing for Liberation Day festivities (selling homemade jams, plants, balloons, and a parade was on offer).

Now you may ask, Hang on...just who liberated the Italians and from whom or what were they liberated?  You may recall that Mussolini joined the Germans to create the Axis in 1938 and Italy's army fought alongside the German army in expansionist endeavours, especially in North Africa as part of the Panzer division and in Russia. On 3 September 1943, the Allied (US and British) armies, led by US General Mark Clark (photo to right) and General Harold Alexander, landed in Italy at Salerno and Sicily and the Italian campaign began. By this time, the Italian army was useless to anyone. In fact, it surrendered to Allied forces on 8 September 1943, 5 days after the allied invasion of Italy. Italy had ceased to be an ally of anyone. With good reason, Hitler always distrusted the steadfastness of the Italians and especially of the Italian Army. Upon surrender the Italian Army promptly evaporated, disbanded, went home.

Clark's forces continued energetically to fight the Germans as they headed for the Fatherland and the Americans and British encountered large casualties, especially at Monte Cassino which saw 54,000 allied troops killed. Fr Tom Gibson (later part-time vicar of the Anglican Church of Venice) was a foot soldier with Clark and was at Monte Cassino. He tells us lots of terrible stories.

So, anyway, liberation day was the day Italy was liberated from its ally, Hitler. I guess. Not to put too fine a point on it, Liberation Day was the day the Americans and British liberated Italy.

So let's get back to Liberation Day here today. In my 8 years here when it comes to Liberation Day I have only ever heard or read about the "Partisans". You see, according to Italians, it was this tiny band of underground Italians who liberated Italy, not Clark, Montgomery, Alexander. Not hundreds of thousands of US Army bombs. Nope, it was a tiny group of guerrila fighters that saved Italy: forget the 782,000 American and British soldiers killed in WWII. And Monte Cassino and Sicily.

And the Italian army itself? What of it? 150,000 Italian soldiers were killed fighting as allies of the Germans, i.e., they were killed by Americans, Russians, British, and French! They never fought the Germans, although some thousandds of Italian regulars did join the Americans heading north, to their credit, but most in 1943 went back to their farms.

Finally, getting back to San Dona in 2007, I know it was foolish of me but when we watched this parade celebrating Liberation Day, I was thinking of the US and British men who died here and would have liked to see or hear some acknowledgement. I was fantasising about seeing Sgt. Father Tom Gibson with his monocle and with his dozen medals, walking with some of the local goverment suits and with some of the aged so-called partisans.  Twas a consummation devoutly to be wished.

So the answer to the question, "Who liberated them?" Answer: Yanks and Brits.  "From whom or what were they liberated?" The answer is not the Germans, their erstwhile friends who looked at the Italians as irrelevant. The Italians, quite simply, were liberated from having to do the right thing.