On April 28, 1945, “Il Duce,” Benito Mussolini, and his mistress, Clara Petacci,
(shown above) were shot by Italian partisans who had captured the couple as
they attempted to flee to Switzerland.

The 61-year-old deposed former dictator of Italy was established by his
German allies as the figurehead of a puppet government in northern Italy
during the German occupation toward the close of the war. As the Allies
fought their way up the Italian peninsula, defeat of the Axis powers all
but certain, Mussolini considered his options. Not wanting to fall into
the hands of either the British or the Americans, and knowing that the
communist partisans, who had been fighting the remnants of roving
Italian fascist soldiers and thugs in the north, would try him as a war
criminal, he settled on escape to a neutral country.

Benito Mussolini (left) with Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler.