The Committee of National Liberation for Northern Italy (Italian : Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale Alta Italia, CLNAI) was set up in February 1944 by partisans behind German lines in the Italian Social Republic, a German puppet state in Northern Italy. It enjoyed the loyalty of most anti-fascist groups in the region. [1]
In Milan, a September 1944 meeting decided a northern National Liberation Committee, within the Italian Social Republic that was established in 1943, was important. National Liberation Committee (CLN) leaders of Rome led by Bonomi recognized in January 1944 the need for coordination of the partisan struggle in the north and then the delegates were the Committee of Milan all political and military powers for Upper Italy, despite some disagreement with the Committee of Turin. Directed by independent Alfredo Pizzoni ("Longhi"), the committee became CLNAI Milan (National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy) and the rest of the Resistance led effectively to the partisan struggle in the heart of the Republic of the military and against the Germans. [2]
The initial members of Milan's CLN, which would later become CLNAI were:
The composition changed over time. At the time of the general insurrection of 25 April 1945, the members were:
The role of CLNAI grew in importance during the war, after the delegation of powers to the north of Rome CLN obtained by 31 January 1944, last on 26 December 1944 as the government of national unity Bonomi gave the powers of direction in northern Italy to CLNAI, thus effectively assumed the role of "third-party government" or "shadow government" in the occupied territories. [3]
Organized as a "government of the great North", the CLNAI managed to maintain cohesion among the different political positions, and maintained the relationship, sometimes difficult, with the Allies. It dealt with the problem of financing guerrilla warfare (especially tasks undertaken by Pizzoni and Falck) through a network connection with Switzerland. It also concluded cooperation agreements with the French Resistance and Yugoslav Resistance. [4]
The Italian Resistance consisted of all the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social Republic during the Second World War in Italy from 1943 to 1945. As a diverse anti-fascist and anti-nazist movement and organisation, the Resistenza opposed Nazi Germany and its Fascist puppet state regime, the Italian Social Republic, which the Germans created following the Nazi German invasion and military occupation of Italy by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS from 8 September 1943 until 25 April 1945.
Giustizia e Libertà was an Italian anti-fascist resistance movement, active from 1929 to 1945. The movement was cofounded by Carlo Rosselli, Ferruccio Parri, who later became Prime Minister of Italy, Emilio Lussu, Sandro Pertini, who became President of Italy, and other Italian anti-fascist refugees.
The Italian Civil War was a civil war in the Kingdom of Italy fought during the Italian campaign of World War II between Italian fascists and Italian partisans and, to a lesser extent, the Italian Co-belligerent Army.
Alfredo Pizzoni was an Italian banker and politician who was president of the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale Alta Italia during the late stages of World War II.
The National Liberation Committee was a political umbrella organization and the main representative of the Italian resistance movement fighting against the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationist forces of the Italian Social Republic during the German occupation of Italy in the aftermath of the armistice of Cassibile, while simultaneously fighting against Italian fascists during the Italian Civil War. It coordinated and directed the Italian resistance and was subdivided into the Central Committee for National Liberation (CCLN), which was based in Rome, and the later National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy (CLNAI), which was based in Milan. The CNL was a multi-party entity, whose members were united by their anti-fascism.
William Oliver Churchill, (1914–1997) was a Special Operations Executive (SOE) officer during the Second World War.
Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d'Italia is an association founded by partisans and participants of the Italian Resistance against the Italian fascist regime and the subsequent Nazi occupation during World War II. ANPI was founded in Rome in 1944, as the war continued in northern Italy. It was constituted as a charitable foundation on 5 April 1945. It persists due to the activity of its anti-fascist members.
Liberation Day, also known as the Anniversary of Italy's Liberation, Anniversary of the Resistance, or simply 25 April, is a national holiday in Italy that commemorates the victory of the Italian resistance movement against Nazi Germany and the Italian Social Republic, puppet state of the Nazis and rump state of the fascists, culmination of the liberation of Italy from German occupation and of the Italian civil war in the latter phase of World War II. That is distinct from Republic Day, which takes place on 2 June and commemorates the 1946 Italian institutional referendum.
The Italian partisan brigades were armed formations involved in the Italian resistance during the World War II.
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Alessandro Casati was an Italian academic, commentator and politician. He served as a senator between 1923 and 1924 and again between 1948 and 1953. He also held ministerial office, most recently as Minister of War for slightly more than twelve months during 1944/45, serving under "Presidente del Consiglio" Bonomi.
The Tuscan Committee of National Liberation was an underground Italian resistance organisation during World War II based in Tuscany, Central Italy. An offshoot of the National Liberation Committee (CLN), it was charged with organising resistance and partisan activities throughout Tuscany. It was opposed to the forces of Nazi Germany as well as Nazi Germany's puppet state local regime, the Italian Social Republic, in Tuscany following the German invasion and military occupation of Italy between September 1943 and April 1945. The CTLN became an umbrella organisation for the five main anti-fascist partisan groups operating within Tuscany.
Giuseppe Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo was an Italian soldier and Italian Resistance member.
Pompeo Colajanni was an Italian politician and Resistance leader during World War II. After the war he held various political positions, including that of Undersecretary for Defense in the Parri and De Gasperi I cabinets and of member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies in 1975–1976.
Trentino La Barba was an Italian soldier and Resistance fighter during World War II.
Mario Allegretti was an Italian soldier and Resistance leader during World War II.
Alfeo Brandimarte was an Italian naval officer and Resistance member during World War II.
Leopoldo Gasparotto, better known as Poldo Gasparotto was an Italian mountaineer and Resistance leader during World War II.
The Ossola Republic was a partisan republic that was established in northern Italy on September 10, 1944 and recaptured by the fascists on October 23, 1944. Unlike other partisan republics, the Ossola Republic was able, in little more than a month of existence, to cope not only with the contingencies imposed by the state of war, but also to give itself an articulate organization, with the establishment of the Provisional Government Council of Domodossola and the liberated zone (G.P.G.). During the albeit brief Forty Days of Freedom, illustrious figures such as Umberto Terracini, Piero Malvestiti and Gianfranco Contini collaborated on the drafting of democratically oriented reforms, which would later inspire the drafting of the Italian Constitution.
The Ministry of Occupied Italy was the government body of the Kingdom of Italy responsible for affairs in portions of Italy under Axis occupation during World War II. The ministry existed from December 1944 to July 1945.