Following the Second World War, there were many military generals and commanders who
were sentenced to death for a number of war crimes.
It would be at the end of the conflict when Benito Mussolini the Fascist Dictator of Italy
was executed at the side of a rode by Italian Partisans.
Following this his body was then strung up in a market square, and displayed in public.
There were many former fascists who were executed at the end of the war, and one of these who
was executed and was shot in the back was Emilio De Bono.
His execution was considered incredibly humiliating, and it was considered a stain to the honour
of a soldier to be executed in this way.
But what was the story of Mussolini’s General who was shot in the back?
Join us today as we find out, and remember to support our channel, please make sure to
subscribe.
Emilio De Bono was the descendant of a wealthy count, and it was said his family suffered
under the Austrian Yoke.
He entered the Royal Italian army in 1884 as a second leftenant, and fought in the Italo-Ehtiopian
war, and he worked his way up to the General Staff.
He was awarded the Knight’s Cross, and then as the First World War broke out he fought
and became a distinguished soldier against Austria Hungary.
He rose to positions of leadership, and during the war was awarded three silver medals of
military valour, and in 1920 he was a Major General.
However in the early 1920s he was part of the National Fascist Party, and he helped
to organise the group.
He was part of the organisation of the March on Rome, and this started the Facist regime
in Italy.
Following the march and Mussolini’s accession to power, De Bono served as the Chief of Police,
and also the Commander of the Fascist Militia.
He was later tried for being involved in the death of a leftist politician, but he was
acquitted and he was later appointed Minister of Colonial Affairs, and he mixed with the
Italian royalty.
In November 1932, Mussolini asked De Bono to write a plan for the invasion of Ethiopia,
and the plan said a small force would move south and establish strong bases against weak
enemies.
De Bono thought it would be easy, cheap and safe to do this, and Mussolini then involved
the Army in planning, and the Army developed a massive campaign which involved around 6
times more troops than De Bono invisioned.
De Bono then became in 1935 the Supreme Commander of the Italian Operation against Ethiopia,
and Mussolini wanted not just an Italian victory but a Fascist one.
His forces crossed into Ethiopia, and he entered the city of Axum riding a white horse, but
De Bono then became the Marshal of Italy but Mussolini got fed up with the slow invasion
and progress.
In 1940, De Bono as the Second World War began was pressed into military service again.
He was commanding a southern defensive group in Sicily, and shockingly he was against the
Italian involvement in the Second World War.
He wrote a report on the condition of his soldiers and he said they were poor, but then
he was appointed the Minister of State in 1942.
The following year, he was part of one of the Fascist Grand Council that voted to oust
Mussolini, and a motion of no confidence was signed off, which led to the fall of Mussolini
and his arrest and imprisonment.
However Mussolini would be then freed from captivity by the Nazis during the Gran Tasso
Raid, and he was installed in Northern Italy as the head of a new Nazi puppet state, the
Italian Social Republic.
Mussolinii would see those who voted against him as treasonous and back stabbers, and he
ordered De Bono to be arrested, and tried for treason at Verona in the Verona Trial.
This was a show trial held in the Italian Social Republic in January 1944, and it was
said by one witness that ‘"For me it is certain that the trial was a farce, that the
execution was the work of the Germans, that Mussolini had almost nothing to do any longer
with the whole affair – he is now almost invisible, the shadow of a puppet -, above
all: that with this whole affair one wants to deter primarily internal opponents.’
But during the trial, Emilio de bono was found guilty of treason and he was sentenced to
death for it.
Mussolini saw him as a disgraceful traitor, and along with Galeazzo Ciano, Luciano Gottardi,
Giovanni Marinella and Carlo Pareschi he was to be executed.
Piano was the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Mussolini’s son in law, Gottardi
was the former president of the Fascist Confederation of Industrial Workers, Marinelli was the former
chief of Fascist militia and Pareschi was the former Agriculture Minister.
The only one at trial to escape execution was Tullio Cianetti, who was the Minister
of Corporations, he was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.
By ordering these executions Mussolini was stamping down on those who ousted him from
power, and he was effectively executing a large part of his former government.
Emilio De Bono was taken out of Verona and just outside of the town he was taken to a
clearing and was dropped off outside an embankment.
Alongside him were a number of other men sentenced to death, and it was a freezing cold January
morning.
The execution and firing squad had been summoned, and opposite them were a number of wooden
chairs and stools for the condemned individuals to be sat on.
Emilio de Bono was led onto one of the chairs, and he was then tied to it to make sure he
could not escape or run away.
He was turned around, after being tied tightly and the firing squad was readied.
De Bono was awaiting his death, and was sat facing away from the firing squad which was
seen as an act of humiliation, and he was not allowed to bravely face his executioners.
De Bono would state after the death sentence was read out, ‘You barely got me, I am 78,’
and he then complained about the fact he was going to be shot in the back.
He believed he was a proud man, and a proud soldier who had served Italy for most of his
life and had laid his life down for Italy on a number of occasions.
The firing squad was readied, and the order to fire was given and despite the firing squad
not being the most skilled, De Bono was instantly killed.
One of the other defendants, Galeazzo Ciano’s execution did not go well as he jumped forward
in an act of defiance and turned his chair around and screamed Long Live Italy as the
men fired their bullets into his chest.
He was the only one shot in the chest, as De Bono and the rest were killed by the bullets
to the back.
A number of the condemned it was said were not killed instantly, and some were left to
bleed out from their wounds, or suffer a coup de grace to the head.
But Emilio de Bono was a man who rose to prominence alongside Benito Mussolini, and he was a soldier
who had a long history inside of the Italian military.
Ultimately he would turn on Mussolini and vote to oust him from power, and he did not
want Italy to become involved in the Second World War, despite at times throughout his
life being seen as a war monger.
The held a number of important positions in the Italian military and in the government,
but he was shot at the side of an embankment by a firing squad.
By being shot in the back, this was seen as a humiliating end for the once proud military
commander Emilio De Bono.
Thanks for watching
To support our channel, please make sure to subscribe
Thanks again for watching