ABSTRACT
The armistice announced on 8 September 1943 prompted major changes in the Allied war against Italy. The country was no longer an enemy, but instead became a “co-belligerent” against Hitler and the Wehrmacht forces occupying the country. The Allies continued bombing Italy in an effort to hinder the German war effort and eventually liberate the Italians from Nazi domination. In the meantime, the Italians began liberating themselves, especially in the northern parts of the country where they formed partisan bands to conduct sabotage and directly engage the German forces and their fascist Italian allies. Chapter Four describes the ambivalent attitude of Italian partisans toward the Allied air operations through the eyes of Aldo Quaranta, a partisan leader in the northwestern mountains of Piedmont. The region witnessed the earliest and most numerous bands of resistance fighters. Their relationship with the Allies included efforts to coordinate air raids with their own ground combat, but also to forestall attacks on urban areas by destroying important targets so that the Allies would not need to bomb them.
