Today in 1944:
Milan, August 10, 1944....
The massacre at Piazzale Loreto
On August 10, 1944, a platoon of the Muti Legion, commanded by Captain Pasquale Cardella, executed fifteen partisans selected from the prisoners in the German section of the Milanese prison of San Vittore. They are: Antonio Bravin, Giulio Casiraghi, Renzo Del Riccio, Andrea Esposito, Domenico Fiorani, Umberto Fogagnolo, Giovanni Galimberti, Vittorio Gasparini, Emidio Mastrodomenico, Angelo Poletti, Salvatore Principato, Andrea Ragni, Eraldo Soncini, Libero Temolo, Vitale Vertemati. The order was given by the commander of German security, Gestapo Captain Theodor Saevecke, and relayed, for the operational part, to Colonel Pollini of the Republican National Guard.
At the moment of taking the fifteen to the execution site at 4:30 in the morning, they were given work overalls to make it seem as if they were being transferred to work for Todt. In the prison's register, there is indeed the note “Departed for Bergamo”.
At that time, Piazzale Loreto was the convergence point for commuters from Milan heading to the factories in Brianza and for those from the provinces towards Milan; thus, the Nazis chose it because they wanted to send a harsh warning to the population and the Resistance: as many people as possible had to see and know. The massacre at Piazzale Loreto was carried out with cynically calculated choices: for the location: during peak hours on working days, the flow of commuters reached several tens of thousands of workers; for the timing: the beginning of the workday; and finally, for the victims who were not chosen randomly. Among the fifteen, the entire spectrum of forces involved in the Resistance is represented: actionists, socialists, communists, and Catholics.
Libero Temolo from Pirelli, Umberto Fogagnolo and Giulio Casiraghi from Ercole Marelli, Angelo Poletti from Isotta Fraschini are the organizers of the strikes in March 1943 and 1944. Vittorio Gasparini, a Catholic activist first in youth organizations and then in Fuci, collaborates with the secret services of the American Fifth Army command, managing a clandestine radio center in Piazza Fiume (now Piazza della Repubblica). Domenico Fiorani collects funding directly from Enrico Falck that he brings to the partisan groups located in the mountains. Eraldo Soncini collaborates with Colonel Carlo Croce in October 1943 on San Martino above Varese, to organize the first act of armed resistance against Nazifascism. Salvatore Principato has been opposing fascism since its origins, first working with Turati and Anna Kuliscioff, then with the Rosselli brothers.
The fifteen martyrs of Piazzale Loreto are the soul of a Milan that, in opposing fascism, hopes for freedom and democracy.
This massacre occurs a few days after a mysterious attack on a German truck parked at Viale Abruzzi 77. The attack, in which no soldier is killed...
