"War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it."--Erasmus
 |
| Liberation Day, April 25, 2023. Three men wearing the uniforms of the Resistance fighters of the North. |
The bodies of Mussolini and Petacci were taken to Milan and left in a suburban square, the Piazzale Loreto, where a large angry crowd insulted and physically abuse. They were then hung upside down from a metal girder above a service station on the square.
These were epic times, the culmination of the war in Europe. My father-in-law, Wilmer "Bud" Wagner, as a front line company agent in the Red Bull Division, had the opportunity to go see the bodies of Mussolini and his mistress, but he declined. He'd seen enough gore, having been on the first convoy to cross the Atlantic for the European Theater, fighting the Germans across North Africa to the toe of Italy and all the way up the boot.
All throughout he'd kept a diary, which later became a book, And There Shall Be Wars. Here are diary entries from those fateful days, along with additional commentary for context.
* * * * *
Friday, April 27, 1945
Moved again, raining most of the day. Several more trips to Division Artillery.
Both 5th and 8th Army units have been pouring across the Po and into the valley for 3 days; there's little or nothing now the Germans can do. I'm thinking now when I see hay being made, that with luck, I'll be home even this summer helping make some more of it.
On April 25, the U.S. 1st Army met up with the Soviet forces at Torgau on the Elbe. The U.S. 3rd Army crossed the Danube near Regensburg, and was attacked there. Berlin had been entered in the south and the east.
Saturday, April 28, 1945
We moved on to #9 again today, in kind of an assembly area. Nice place alongside the road.
Several trips to Division Artillery. A pretty girl came up to talk -- she could speak German. Always nice to talk a little to them.
As far as I can tell, we came through Modena and Parma, maybe farther.
It was nice to go through Modena, a city of over 150,000. There were no old, narrow streets here, and there was a really tall 290 foot Cathedral. Parma was another city worth forfeiting a furlough in order to see. It looked modern, with straight streets. The people were wild for the Americans. Both Modena and Parma were Roman colonies before Christ.
Seeing these cities had to have been a part of the glory of war -- there wasn't much glory in the shooting, killing, seeing the wounded, the mud, or slowly advancing toward the front. That's where the fear, and the sickly feeling, and the wondering of "Why are we doing this?" comes in instead of glory. As Desiderius Erasmus said a few hundred years ago, "War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it."
I was also happy to be out of the mountains. I'd seen enough of mountains to last me a lifetime, and I still prefer the valleys. The hills in Duluth are all I want to climb nowadays.
An ersatz surrender ceremony affecting all troops fighting in Italy took place at 2:00 p.m. on April 28. The ceremony was kept somewhat secret; the German officers were dressed in civilian clothes, and were acting on their own. A German Major and Lieutenant Colonel appeared at the peace table grim-faced before General Morgan and many other high-ranking American and British officers. Their muscles were taut, their hands were clenched fiercely together behind their backs, and they had an "I hate you" expression on their face, just opposite of most of the low- ranking prisoners I had hauled to the rear.
The German Lieutenant Colonel said for the record that he had received only limited powers from his Commander in Chief, and that he was being forced to overstep those limits. He assumed his Commander would approve his action, but said he could not be sure if this was the case.
General Morgan just told him casually, "We accept those conditions."
The Germans sat and signed 5 copies of the surrender documents, and General Morgan signed them last. The Germans left swiftly, and the ceremony was over at 2:17.
Sunday, April 29, 1945
Pulled out at 8:30. Made 172 miles. Cold and windy. Really enjoyed it, though. Thick groves of people lined the road all the way. Many beautiful girls, and well-dressed adults and younger people, all waving and cheering. Some close enough to you hold out their hands to touch yours.
Saw thousands of German prisoners. I counted 35 heavily loaded vehicles with Jerry prisoners, some high ranking officers, also nurses, all standing in their trucks, with Kraut drivers heading north.
We just crossed the Po again today, as wide as the Missouri River. We're at the foot of the Alps; they tower high in the distance, capped with snow, sure glad we don't have to chase Jerry through the Brenner Pass. We'd heard about that place.
We parked in a court yard for the night. Was a hard day, but nice driving on a good road, and made good time. Tom McGee rode with me.
Monday, April 30, 1945
Layed around most of the day, but went to Division Artillery several times. They are in a large town. It seems we were supposed to get to Bergamo, but I'm not sure. I don't think the Krauts who we heard were waiting there to ambush us are going to -- after all, the Germans are heading homewards.
We are close to, or in the outskirts of Milan. All the Italians are chanting "Finito, Benito!" and he is pretty well finished, all right. He and his mistress Clare Petacci are hanging by their heels in the main square of Milan for all to see. Dick and I were going to go, but we changed our minds. Some of our fellows went to see Benito and his girl friend, and said it was a pretty gory sight. It seems this couple was almost in Switzerland on vacation when they were intercepted.
Related Links
Bud Wagner's And There Shall Be Wars
Liberation Day: Italy Celebrates Victory Over Fascism, With Expressions of Gratitude to the U.S.
