Throughout the Second World War, there were a number of high ranking military officials
who were executed for their involvement in war crimes.
But there were also a number of politicians who were hated for their involvement in the
governments of those dictators who were responsible for much brutality and evil.
At the end of World War 2, there were many people inside of Nazi Germany who even turned
against Adolf Hitler their Fuhrer.
Even Hitler’s closest friends such as Magda Goebbels, the wife of Joseph Goebbels and
a woman believed to be Hitler’s best friend would complain about the dictator and how
he was leading Germany towards defeat at the hands of the Allies and the Red Army.
Inside of Italy, there was complete capitulation as the former facsist dictator Benito Mussolini
was executed at the side of a road near to Lake Como, and the man who had been in power
for decades with his fascist blackshirts propping him up was ousted brutally from power by his
own government.
Mussolini even had to be saved from captivity by Hitler during the war, but ultimately his
enemies caught up with him.
But one woman who was also a good friend of Mussolini that was brutally executed was Guido
Buffering Guidi.
He was a man who was known to have committed a number of war crimes, but strapped to a
chair in front of a crowd, Guidi was executed shot by a firing squad.
But what is the story of his execution, and what did he do which was considered necessary
to take him to the firing squad.
Join us today as we look at this, and as always to support our channel please make sure to
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Guido Buffarini Guidi was born on the 17th August 1895 in Pisa in Italy.
It’s assumed that he had a normal early life, however the First World War would change
this.
As Italy entered the conflict, Guidi volunteered himself to serve in the armed forces, and
he then became part of an artillery regiment, who would man artillery guns on the battlefield,
firing shells towards the enemy.
But throughout the conflict he excelled in his service, and he was promoted in 1917 to
the rank of captain, and as the Italians were fighting in many different battles he saw
action.
But he must have enjoyed his time inside of the Italian military, as he stayed on active
duty in the army for many years after world war 1 had finished.
He also whilst this was happening attended the University of Pisa, and he obtained a
degree in law which he hoped to one day use in a career change.
He left the army with a significant rank of leftenant colonel, but at the time there began
to be a huge shift in Italy with regards to politics.
The National Fascist Party was created by Benito Mussolini being founded in November
1921.
The party then established a base of power being propped up by the blackshirts, a paramilitary
fascist group which were incredibly strong.
But on the 28th October 1922, Mussolini attempting a coup inside of Italy which became known
as The March on Rome.
Around 30,000 facsists took part, with Mussolini actually staying behind for much of the march
but he was photographed marching with the facsists.
But two days later, Mussolini stated in front of 60,000 people at the Fascist Congress in
Naples that, ‘Our program is simple, we want to rule Italy.’
The Blackshirts were beginning to occupy different parts of Italy also, and it was clear that
Mussolini would brutally want to wrestle power from the regency and government.
The King at the time, Victor Emmnauel III was worried that there would be a civil war
breaking out, and Mussolini was then asked to form a cabinet and he would take power
inside of Italy.
An agreement was struck between he and the King that made Mussolini the had of the Italian
Government, and when they took sole power, the regime began imposing its fascist ideology
onto the country.
Mussolini became known as Il Duce and was seen as the nation’s saviour, in a way that
many in Germany would later view Adolf Hitler, but with his rise there were many other Italian
fascists who would also come to prominence.
Guido Buffarini Guidi was one of those, and he became active in many fascist groups following
leaving the army, and he also then formally joined the PNF or the Nation Fascist Party.
He was seen as a good man who Mussolini could trust, and also a man very experienced in
military matters, something that the dictator would value as he continued to build his power.
Guidi was then established as the Mayor of Pisa his hometown in April 1923 shortly after
the seizure of power and then in 1924 he was at the top of the local party hierarchy, being
responsible for fascist control and activity in his area.
As time went on he then became a Consul or Chief magistrate or official of the Blackshirts,
commanding the different activities they were involved in.
But then he transitioned over time into roles in government within Mussolini’s regime,
and in May 1933 Guidi was appointed to become the undersecretary Minister of Interior, basically
an assistant to the Interior Minister, but he also the struck up a close friendship with
Galeazzo Ciano, the son in law of Mussolini who married the dictators daughter.
Ciano would later become the Foreign minister, but the pair had a close friendship and political
alliance, and they would oppose a number of policies.
The pair also made some secret services who would operate, and they also tried to reduce
the antisemitic policies that were being passed by the fascists.
Together they did manage to undermine Mussolini and his government a number of times, and
they would continue in their roles inside of his regime for a number of years.
Even as the Second World War broke out Guidi was seen as a key part of Mussolini’s government,
but he and Ciano would disagree on something very significant in July 1943.
Mussolini’s power inside the country as the war was going terrible was waning, and
by 1943 the position of the Italian military was untenable.
The axis forced in North Africa were defeated, and the Italians had a number of huge problems
on the Eastern Front.
But then the Allies would invade Sicily, bringing the war to the doorsteps of the Italians,
and the home front was in a mess as the Allies were bombing heavily.
Mussolini knew that the Allies would attack Italy, and the Allies would bomb Rome, the
first time that the historic city had ever been under such a severe bombing attack.
With this situation many members of Mussolini’s government then turned against him, and he
was forced to summon the Grand Council and with this there was vote in protest against
him.
A no confidence vote in Mussolini was tabled, and the result was 19 members saying they
had no confidence, and 8 still backed him.
Ciano turned against his father in law, but Guido Guidi continued to remain behind Mussolini.
He voted in favour of him, and because of this loyalty Mussolini was grateful.
But Mussolini now had little power, and he was then held in captivity and was arrested.
He was sacked by the King, and once he left the palace he was arrested by the Carabineiri.
The police took him in a Red Cross ambulance car, and said they were doing this for his
safety, and people across Italy were happy with Mussolini’s downfall, and they believed
it meant the end of the war.
Mussolini would be moved around different places as the government knew that there would
be an attempt by the Germans to rescue him from captivity, as his loyalty and friendship
with Hitler would see the Nazi dictator try and free him.
He was held inside Hotel Campo Imperatore but then on the 12th September 1943, the rescue
raid would take place with the Gran Tasso Raid, in which German Paratroopers managed
to free Mussolini.
It stopped him being turned over to the allies, And Hitler even drew up plans to arrest the
King and Crown Prince but Mussolini was the smuggled to Nazi Germany where he met with
Hitler and was given control of the Italian Social Republic, a Nazi puppet state in the
north of the country.
Because of his loyalty to Mussolini, Guido Buffarini Guidi was rewarded with a position
as the 1st Minister of the Interior of the Italian Social Republic.
He was a man who in most of his time in government had spent time in the shadows, but he was
now one of the most senior members of the new Italian Social Republic, but inside of
the disjointed new government many could not trust him.
His colleagues viewed him as power mad and greedy, and with this they could not trust
him at all.
But the Italian Social Republic was short lived, and in February 1945 with the war now
heavily against the Axis, and the German Forces, Guidi was sacked by Mussolini from his job,
and he then sought to save his skin.
He must have been concerned that his links to the fascist regime which was linked to
Hitler and the Nazis was going to be punished at the end of the war, and for this he began
to consider fleeing and tried to escape to Switzerland, but on the 26th April 1945, he
was arrested by a group of partisans who hated the facists.
He was then imprisoned for a number of weeks before Guidi was then brought to trial for
his crimes.
He was taken to an Extraordinary Court of Justice hearing in Milan, and he was then
accused of war crimes and for this was found guilty.
He was then sentenced to death for being in collaboration with Mussolini and with to be
executed by a firing squad.
He tried to take his own life whilst he was being held in captivity, and he also tried
to barter with the authorities, saying he had letters exchanged between Mussolini and
Churchill which were compromising, but he would not be released and on the 10th July
1945 at the age of 50, Guido Guidi was executed in Milan.
Guido Buffarini Guidi was taken out in front of a crowd, and he looked a mess.
His shirt had been ripped as he went to his death, and he was led out by two men who gripped
him arm in arm.
He was then secured to a chair, and was tied by a number of ropes that bound him to the
wooden piece of furniture, before the firing squad were told to ready.
These men had been assembled to take his life, and Guidi was to be shot in the back facing
away from his executioners which for a military man was considered very shameful.
The firing squad were then ordered to shoot and immediately guido buffarini guidi was
executed, and he was left slumped over the chair.
Guido Buffarini Guidi was a man who rose from the military into politics and he then became
a loyal ally and friend of Benito Mussolini.
But his loyalty would stand the test of time and he was ultimately executed for this, and
the fact he was seen as an important fascist politician.
But strapped to a chair whilst there were a number of partisan soldiers opposite him
armed with their rifles, he was executed, and he would be just one of a number of prominent
fascists who were executed in the days after the war, and following the downfall of Mussolini
himself.
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