The tin-pot dictator had worn out his welcome with the Italian people; on April 27th, 1945, partisans caught him and his mistress as they were fleeing approaching Allied forces. The following day, they were shot and their bodies hung upside down on meat hooks in Milan’s town square. A strongman who had seized power in Italy in 1922, then in the midst of its post-World War I troubles, he had restored order, ended partisan squabbling, and built Italy up into a respected military power. He called himself the Duce, from the old Latin word dux (“chief” or “boss”).
