Today in History: April 28.
In 1945, fascist Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini is executed while attempting to flee Italy.
Historically, it is thought that “Il Duce” was shot by communist partisan, Walter Audisio, however the perpetrators identity, has been long disputed in Italy.
In 1940, Mussolini backed Nazi Germany in World War II, which resulted in a military disaster, further outraging the partisans.
In April of 1945, the Allies broke through the German defenses in northern Italy, making Mussolini's situation terribly untenable. Because of this, he and his mistress, Clara Petacci, fled to Milan with a small German convoy, when they were captured on April 27, by local partisans near the village of Dongo on Lake Como.
Both were executed the following afternoon, and their corpses were flung onto the streets like trash, heinously mutilated, and hung upside down in the public square of Milan, for all to see.
Witnessing this, before Hitler committed suicide two days later, he requested that his body be burned, so that his corpse would not be made a spectacle.
