Predappio where Mussolini was born celebrates General Anders who freed it in ’44

Eighty years later, and on a highly symbolic date, the Municipality of Predappio attributes honorary citizenship to General Władysław Anders (1892-1970) who freed it from German occupation. The day set for the ceremony is October 28th, which went down in history for the March on Rome of Benito Mussolini’s black shirts which came to light in Dovia di Predappio on July 29th 1883. The daughter of the general and former ambassador to Italy, Anna Maria Anders, closes the circle of Poland’s experience in the war of liberation of Italy on the Adriatic front with the civic recognition in memory of the commander of the II Army Corps, awaiting the celebrations of the liberation of Bologna on April 21st.

The English want to be the first to enter Forlì for prestige reasons

In October 1944 the Allied attack maneuver along the eastern sector had arrived near Forlì, considered the cradle of fascism. The English had reserved the honor of entering the city first, but the propaganda move had failed to consider the most significant Predappio. On 28 September the commander of the 8th British Army, General Richard McCreery, had in fact ordered General Anders to regroup his army in the Rimini area and on 14 October he had started operations with the 5th Kresowa infantry division of General Nikodem Sulik, reinforced with the 4th Armored Regiment and the 7th British Mountain Artillery Regiment. The first unit engaged in battle was the 5th Vilnius Infantry Brigade, followed by the 6th Lviv. The impetus of the Poles had pushed the Germans back about twenty kilometers to the north, putting Forlì in their sights, but at that point the English had stopped Anders’ soldiers in that sector. A separate unit had been created in Kresowa, the “Rud” Group, led by Colonel Klemens Rudnicki, whose units reached Predappio which they liberated on 27 October: the day before the twenty-second anniversary of the March on Rome which had changed and influenced the history of Italy.

In 1939 the Duce had said: “Poland no longer exists”

The Poles had not forgotten the words that Mussolini had used for their homeland in 1939. The Duce had first said that Poland was “an empty nut” and then, destroyed by the Wehrmacht, had concluded “it no longer exists”. The next day, the 23rd, a German military bulletin was equally drastic: “The Polish army of a million men has been defeated, taken prisoner, routed. Not even a division in line or in reserve has escaped its fate.” But Poland had not surrendered at all and its soldiers would instead continue to fight in France, England, Africa and again in Italy, where in May 1944 they had conquered Monte Cassino, where all the other allies had failed. Anders’ men come from Soviet prisons and the suffering of the gulags, they traveled on a terrifying journey from Siberia to Persia to Palestine and they reconstituted themselves as an army corps on the Sangro line, in Abruzzo, from where they resumed their ascent of the Italy. On 27 October they were the ones who marched in Predappio, once again denying Mussolini who on 27 September 1939 had pronounced that the liquidation of Poland, all things considered, represented “an opportunity for a pacified Europe”. Five years and a month after those words, the Poles left a written testimony that disproved him for the truth and for history: “Poland is still there. We are here”.

The commander’s reply: “Poland still exists. We are here”

The event was reported on 14 November by the then artillery officer Stanisław Zaremba, in “Memories of my military service, September 1941 – May 1945” (edited by his daughter Cristina Zaremba): “In the visitor register of Predappio, where they find the tombs of the Mussolini family, there are the signatures of Marshal Kesselring, Marshal Rommel, President Antonescu. Closing the register is a text in Italian written by the Poles which goes more or less like this: “On the day of the Independence Day. of Poland [11 novembre]in Predappio, Mussolini’s hometown, we affirm that Poland has not been ‘liquidated’, as he said, on the contrary, we Polish soldiers have conquered Predappio and are bringing freedom to the Italian people.””. The signatures of General Anders follow and the officers of his general staff. Zaremba will also allow himself a visit to Mussolini’s birthplace in Dovia and to the residence of the Rocca delle Caminate which had been donated by his family by the people of Forlì. He notes that “The room in which Mussolini was born, it is empty and the bed has been destroyed. Where the bed was, some soldiers did their business. Then we went to Mussolini’s summer residence. It is an ancient style castle built on the top of a mountain in Rocca delle Caminate. The castle is surrounded by a beautiful park adorned with statues slightly damaged by artillery fire. On the tower there is a sort of lighthouse that emits a beam of tricolor light. The interior of the castle is in ruins. On the floor of the library and other rooms there are piles of albums and photographs that portray particular moments in the life of Mussolini and his family”. Honorary citizenship in memory of General Anders now brings to the foreground a small historical event but of great importance morale for the soldiers who fought in Italy “for our freedom and yours”.