Aspects of the Resistance: City, Front, Daily Life
Author: Milan Spindler
The Resistenza was far more than the often-described armed struggle in the mountains. The movement’s complexity takes in attacks in the cities, deployment of regular Italian troops on the Allied side, and unarmed forms of resistance such as strikes, sabotage, and refusal of recruitment. A special feature of the movement was the role of women, who in a wide range of ways contributed indispensably to the fight against the Wehrmacht and SS, and who have seldom stood in the forefront of the liberation’s memory.
The Divisione Modena - Partisans on Both Sides of the Front
One example is the Divisione Modena, which was formed in the spring of 1944 in the Modena Apennines, under the command of Mario Ricci (“Armando”) and Osvaldo Poppi (“Davide”).
In the summer of 1944, the Divisione was one of the protagonists in the founding of the Partisan Republic of Montefiorino. After German and Fascist troops recaptured the area, the division withdrew to the Bolognese Apennines, where it continued to fight on the front line with the Allied troops.
Numbering around 1,500 men, the division operated under the command of a captain from the OSS Partisan Detachment of the U.S. II Corps, with its main role being reconnaissance and infiltration behind German lines.
Between late September and mid-October 1944, the partisans of the Modena Division liberated Porretta Terme, Lizzano in Belvedere and Gaggio Montano, later taking part in the breakthrough of the German front in April 1945.
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5 October 1944. Four women partisans of the “Modena” Division near Castelluccio in the Apennines near Bologna, shortly before going out on patrol. On the left: Aurora Varignana (“Leila”), 20 years old, inspector on the staff of the 7th Brigade Modena. In the centre a nurse. © US NARA, Signal Corps 195618-S / Fot. Baker -
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back © US NARA, Signal Corps 195618-S / Fot. Baker -
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5 October 1944. Leaders of the partisan brigade near Castelluccio in the Apennines near Bologna planning the next patrols. On the right, with a Sten sub-machine gun slung over her shoulder: Aurora Varignana (“Leila”), 20 years old, inspector on the staff of the 7th Brigade Modena. © US NARA, Signal Corps 196079 / Fot. Baker -
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13 April 1945, in the area around Vidiciatico in the province of Bologna, partisans listen to a speech by their commander, Mario Ricci (known as Armando). They are equipped with a wide variety of weapons and are predominantly young men © US NARA, Signal Corps 235709 / Fot. Kosseff -
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13 April 1945, partisan commander Mario Ricci (known as Armando) speaks together with American officer Elton L. Kennedy to the partisans of the Modena Division in the area around Vidiciatico in the province of Bologna © US NARA, Signal Corps 235710 / Fot. Kosseff -
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13 April 1945, near the front line at Vidiciatico in the province of Bologna, a partisan from the Modena Division inspects a German submachine gun. American ammunition lies scattered around him © US NARA, Signal Corps 235711 / Fot. Kosseff -
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13 April 1945, a group of partisans on a mountain road near Vidiciatico in the province of Bologna. The Modena Division mainly moves on foot during its missions © US NARA, Signal Corps 235712 / Fot. Kosseff -
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13 February 1945, partisans are transferred from Lizzano in the province of Bologna to another area in an Allied transporter © US NARA, Signal Corps 246334 / Fot. Levine -
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13 February 1945, the partisan group sets off from Lizzano in the province of Bologna in their van © US NARA, Signal Corps 246335 / Fot. Levine -
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