Weldon Reynolds Remembers the Death of Mussolini

75 years ago on April 28, 1945, Italian partisans killed dictator Benito Mussolini and his entourage near Lake Como.  By this time in the war, Mussolini was far from the powerful, charismatic leader he had once been.  He was last seen the following day, mutilated, hanging by his feet in Milan before a crowd of Italians and US servicemen, including a young North Carolinian, Sergeant Weldon Reynolds.  56 years later, Reynolds described the scene in this two and a half minute recording describing what he saw (see below for a brief historical account for context, I have included Weldon’s photos and others of this event, WARNING: some of these images feature dead bodies):

 

I have also posted a two minute recording of Weldon’s first experience in coming under fire, a German air raid in Bizerte, North Africa accessible in this link:

Another Veteran’s Day Remembrance from my Uncle Weldon Reynolds

 

I am writing a little more background on Mussolini and the events that led to what Weldon described below.

In 1943, the Allies invaded Italy at Salerno. Dictator Benito Mussolini delivered a two hour harangue to the ruling Fascist Grand Council calling for continued resistance but to no avail.  The Italian Government voted to surrender. The next day, King Victor Emmanuel III dismissed Mussolini remarking “At this moment you are the most hated man in Italy.”   The Italian government arrested and imprisoned Mussolini shortly thereafter.

The people of Italy had never been enthusiastic about fighting against the United States and Britain and began rejoicing.  The celebrations were short lived.  The Germans invaded Italy and put up a determined resistance in the mountains of central Italy.  They also organized a daring raid commanded by Otto Skorzeny who kidnapped Mussolini on September 12, 1943 and whisked him to Germany by plane.  Though shaken, and a shell of his formerly bombastic self, Mussolini returned to northern Italy heading a dissident Fascist government.

By spring of 1945, German resistance was finally collapsing.  The Allies captured Rome and moved into Northern Italy.  Mussolini, his mistress Clara Petacci and an entourage of lackeys began driving towards the Brenner Pass to enter Switzerland.  On April 28, 1945, near Lake Como, Italian partisans stopped the car and roughly removed the passengers lining them up against a wall.  Petacci flung her arms around Mussolini screaming “No, he mustn’t die.”  The partisans were unmoved and shot Petacci.  Mussolini tore open his coat exclaiming ‘Shoot me in the chest!’  Partisan Walter Audisio complied.  Still breathing and prostrate on the ground, Audisio finished Mussolini with another bullet.

The partisans shot the other Fascists and loaded the bodies in trucks for transport to Milan.  Upon arrival, the partisans displayed the bodies at the Piazzale Loreto, the site of a mass execution of Italians a year earlier.  A crowd gathered to see the bodies and some resorted to beating and kicking the corpses.  Finally they began hanging the bodies by their feet on the steel beams of a still incomplete gas station.

About this time, Sergeant Weldon Reynolds and other US army men arrived.  Reynolds joined the National Guard in 1940, before the war began and by 1945 had participated in four amphibious operations: North Africa, Sicily, and twice in Italy at Salerno and Anzio.  He commanded a unit of radio/telephone linesmen and frequently found himself in the front of the Allied advance.  In Italy, he helped liberate Florence and Rome and was now part of US forces pursuing the retreating Germans as they tried to escape Italy through the Brenner Pass.

Reynolds happened upon the scene in Milan as Mussolini and his party laid in the street and witnessed Italian partisans hanging them the steel scaffold if an unfinished building.  He took pictures with a Zeiss camera he had previously taken off a dead German soldier.  Sadly, over the years, someone removed the photos Weldon took of Mussolini on the ground and hanging upside down.  I am posting what was left.

Weldon Reynolds is my great uncle. Growing up I heard several stories of his war experiences that inspired this interview.  With the exception of the years in the Army, Weldon lived his entire life in or near Eden, North Carolina.  To me, he was a larger than life figure, literally.  Weldon was a big man, 6’4 with broad shoulders and I recall his huge, powerful hands and deep, gravely voice.  Early on someone nicknamed him “Rock” a fitting moniker.  He had a twin named Robert who passed away in infancy and two brothers who lived full lives, Arnold and Harry.  Weldon also had three sisters, Edna, Margie and my grandmother Mary.  Harry was also a large man, though very different.  He was one of the gentlest and kindest men I have ever met.  He served in World War II as well though his experiences traumatized him to the point that he rarely discussed his service.  Weldon and his siblings have all passed away but these recordings ensure they are not forgotten.