Resistance in the Cities and at the Front
Author: Milan Spindler
Alongside the partisan units in the mountains, the Resistenza was also active in the larger cities. The Gruppi di Azione Patriottica (Patriotic Action Groups, GAP), established by the PCI on 20 September 1943, played a central role. Due to their proximity to the party structures, the GAP did not fall directly under the CLN. From November 1943, they operated in northern and central Italy, in the strongholds of the communist movement. Most of their members came from working-class families.
The GAP were divided into two categories: the Gap di zona were active in the outskirts of the cities and carried out sabotage operations. On the other hand, the Gap centrali acted as urban guerrilla units, destroying key infrastructure such as railway lines and attacking enemy military personnel, with a particular focus on assassinating fascist officials.
GAP members lived underground. They adopted code names, avoided contact with their families, changed their location daily, and often slept in abandoned buildings. Due to the lack of healthcare in clandestinity, illness or injury often meant death. The Gappisti operated in small cells of five to six people, always under strict secrecy. Well-known GAP actions included the bombing in Via Rasella in Rome in March 1944, in which 34 German soldiers from the Bozen Police Regiment were killed, and an attack in May 1944 on the Odeon cinema in Genoa, which was frequented exclusively by German soldiers.
Operating in parallel were the Squadre di Azione Patriottica (SAP), whose members were mostly active at night while leading civilian lives during the day. These groups emerged in summer 1944 as reserve units and were less centrally organised than the GAP. The SAP provided logistical support to the partisan units in the mountains, assisted in recruiting new members, and mainly operated in the Po Valley lowlands. Towards the end of the war, they increasingly engaged in military action to support the advance of mountain-based partisan units and to break the unexpectedly stubborn resistance of the Wehrmacht.
Their struggle was fraught with serious danger. In autumn 1944, the occupiers and the RSI intensified repression in the cities while simultaneously conducting intensive combing operations in the mountains. Arrests of commanders and commissars became more frequent as the search for anti-fascist opponents became more effective. Many Gappisti were captured, tortured, and killed within just a few months. The PCI used the high number of losses among its members for a propaganda campaign portraying the fallen as heroic martyrs. At the same time, espionage and betrayal increased within the ranks of the GAP and SAP, especially during the crisis-ridden months of autumn and winter 1944/45. In particular, former fighters attempting to return to civilian life during this period became a security risk for the groups.
Other partisan formations directly supported the Allies on the front against the Wehrmacht, often after retreating to the already liberated south due to combing operations.
Alongside the Allies at the front, partisan units took on support tasks such as enemy reconnaissanc. In April 1945, before the arrival of the Americans, they liberated the area around Porretta Terme, Lizzano in Belvedere, and Gaggio Montano and took part in the liberation of Bologna and Modena.
In addition to the various partisan groups, the military resistance of the Italian Co-Belligerent Army was also of significance. Reporting to the Royal Italian Government in the south, it consisted of former members of the Royal Army as well as volunteers who wished to fight against fascism and the Wehrmacht. These regular troops took part in a national war of liberation, fighting on the Allied side during the Italian campaign. At its peak in spring 1945, the force numbered around 250,000 men. Although it contributed to the liberation of key cities, its military role remained relatively limited and was primarily of symbolic importance for Europe’s postwar order. The volunteers, in particular, can be regarded as part of the Resistenza.