Milano, 28 April 1945

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After a series of Italian military disasters in Greece and North Africa, the leaders of his party abandoned the Duce Benito Mussolini. The king dismissed him on July 25, 1943, and had him arrested. But on September 12 the Germans rescued him, making him puppet head of a government in northern Italy. In April 1945, Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, tried to flee advancing Allied forces. Captured by Italian partisans at Lake Como, they were shot on April 28 and their bodies were hung in a public square in Milan. Mussolini was later buried at Predappio, his birthplace. Although popular with most Italians until the late 1930s, Il Duce ("the leader") lost their support when he dragged his country into a war it was unprepared to fight. Few expressed regret over either the overthrow of fascism or his death. [From Charles F. Delzell, Benito Mussolini, in The Academic American Encyclopedia, Danbury, CT, 1995]

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The public display

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