Editing Umberto II of Italy (section)

===Partition of Italy===
On 17 August 1943, Sicily was taken and the last Axis forces crossed over to the Italian mainland. On 3 September 1943, the British [[Eighth Army (United Kingdom)|Eighth Army]] landed on the Italian mainland at [[Reggio Calabria]] while the U.S. 5th Army landed at [[Salerno]] on 9 September 1943, a few hours after it was announced that Italy had signed an armistice.<ref>Gerhard Weinberg, ''A World in Arms'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 599</ref> [[Adolf Hitler]] had other plans for Italy, and in response to the Italian armistice ordered [[Operation Achse]] on 8 September 1943, as the Germans turned against their Italian allies and occupied all of the parts of Italy not taken by the Allies.<ref>Denis Mack Smith, ''Italy and Its Monarchy'', New Haven: Yale University Press pp. 315–316</ref> In response to the German occupation of Italy, neither Victor Emmanuel nor [[Marshal of Italy|Marshal]] [[Pietro Badoglio]] made any effort at organised resistance; they instead issued vague instructions to the Italian military and civil servants to do their best and fled Rome during the night of 8–9 September 1943.<ref>Denis Mack Smith, ''Italy and Its Monarchy'', New Haven: Yale University Press pp. 316–317</ref> Not trusting his son, Victor Emmanuel had told Umberto nothing about his attempts to negotiate an armistice nor about his plans to flee Rome if the Germans should occupy it.<ref name="Denis Mack Smith pp. 318–319">Denis Mack Smith, ''Italy and Its Monarchy'', New Haven: Yale University Press pp. 318–319</ref> For the first time in his life, Umberto openly criticised his father, saying the King of Italy should not be fleeing Rome and only reluctantly obeyed his father's orders to go south with him towards the Allied lines.<ref name="Denis Mack Smith p.318"/> The King and the rest of the Royal Family fled Rome via a car to [[Ortona]] to board a corvette, the [[Italian corvette Baionetta (1942)|''Baionetta'']], that took them south. A small riot occurred at the Ortona dock as about 200 senior-ranking Italian military officers, who had abandoned their commands and unexpectedly showed up, begged the King to take them with him. Almost all of them were refused permission to board, making the struggle to get to the head of the queue pointless.<ref name="Denis Mack Smith p.318">Denis Mack Smith, ''Italy and Its Monarchy'', New Haven: Yale University Press p. 318</ref> With the exceptions of Marshal [[Enrico Caviglia]], General Calvi di Bergolo and General [[Antonio Sorice]], the Italian generals simply abandoned their posts on the night of 8–9 September to try to flee south, which greatly facilitated the German take-over, as the ''Regio Esercito'' was left without senior leadership.<ref name="Denis Mack Smith p.318"/> On the morning of 9 September 1943, Umberto arrived with Victor Emmanuel and Badoglio in [[Brindisi]].

In September 1943, Italy was partitioned between the south of Italy, administered by the Italian government with an Allied Control Commission (ACC) having supervisory powers, while Germany occupied northern and central Italy with a puppet [[Italian Social Republic]] (popularly called the Salò Republic), headed by Mussolini holding nominal power.<ref>Gerhard Weinberg, ''A World in Arms'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 485–486</ref> By 16 September 1943, a line had formed across Italy with everything to the north held by the Germans and to the south by the Allies.<ref>Gerhard Weinberg, ''A World in Arms'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 601</ref> Because of what Weinberg called the "extraordinary incompetence" of Badoglio, who, like Victor Emmanuel, had not anticipated Operation Achse until it was far too late, thousands of Italian soldiers with no leadership were taken prisoner by the Germans without resisting in the Balkans, France and Italy itself, to be taken off to work as slave labour in factories in Germany, an experience that many did not survive.<ref name="Gerhard Weinberg p.485"/> How Victor Emmanuel mishandled the armistice was to become almost as controversial in Italy as his support for Fascism.<ref>Kogan, Norman ''A Political History of Postwar Italy'', London: Pall Mall Press, 1966 p. 5</ref> Under the terms of the armistice, the ACC had the ultimate power with the Royal Italian Government in the south, being in many ways a similar position to the Italian Social Republic under the Germans. However, as the British historian [[James Holland (author)|James Holland]] noted, the crucial difference was that: "In the south, Italy was now moving closer towards democracy".<ref name="Holland, James p.250">Holland, James ''Italy's Year of Sorrow, 1944–1945'', New York: St. Martin's Press, 2008 p. 250</ref> In the part of Italy under the control of the ACC, which issued orders to the Italian civil servants, freedom of the press, association and expression were restored along with other civil rights and liberties.<ref name="Holland, James p.250"/>

During 1943–45, the Italian economy collapsed with much of the infrastructure destroyed, inflation rampant, the black market becoming the dominant form of economic activity, and food shortages reducing much of the population to the brink of starvation in both northern and southern Italy.<ref>Holland, James ''Italy's Year of Sorrow, 1944–1945'', New York: St. Martin's Press, 2008 pp. 192–193, 242–243, 396–396</ref> In 1943–44, the cost of living in southern Italy skyrocketed by 321%, while it was estimated that people in Naples needed 2,000 calories per day to survive while the average Neapolitan was doing well if they consumed 500 calories a day in 1943–44.<ref>Holland, James ''Italy's Year of Sorrow, 1944–1945'', New York: St. Martin's Press, 2008 p. 242</ref> Naples in 1944 was described as a city without cats or dogs which had all been eaten by the Neapolitans, while much of the female population of Naples turned to prostitution to survive.<ref>Holland, James ''Italy's Year of Sorrow, 1944–1945'', New York: St. Martin's Press, 2008 p. 243</ref> As dire as the economic situation was in southern Italy, food shortages and inflation were even worse in northern Italy as the Germans carried out a policy of ruthless economic exploitation.<ref>Holland, James ''Italy's Year of Sorrow, 1944–1945'', New York: St. Martin's Press, 2008 pp. 192–193</ref> Since the war in which Mussolini had involved Italy in 1940 had become such an utter catastrophe for the Italian people by 1943, it had the effect of discrediting all those associated with the Fascist system, including Victor Emmanuel.<ref>Kogan, Norman ''A Political History of Postwar Italy'', London: Pall Mall Press, 1966 p. 7</ref>  In late 1943, Victor Emmanuel stated that he felt he bore no responsibility for Italy's plight, for appointing Mussolini as prime minister in 1922 and for entering the war in 1940. This further increased his unpopularity and led to demands that he abdicate at once.<ref>Giuseppe Mammarealla ''Italy After Fascism A Political History 1943–1965'', Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1966 pp. 62–63</ref>

In northern Italy, a guerrilla war began against the fascists, both Italian and German, with most of the guerrilla units fighting under the banner of the [[National Liberation Committee]] (''Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale''-CLN), who were very strongly left-wing and republican.<ref name="Denis Mack Smith p.336">Denis Mack Smith, ''Italy and Its Monarchy'', New Haven: Yale University Press p. 336</ref> Of the six parties that made up the CLN, the Communists, the Socialists and the Action Party were republican; the Christian Democrats and the Labour Party were ambiguous on the "institutional question", and only the Liberal Party was committed to preserving the monarchy, though many individual Liberals were republicans.<ref>M.L.K "Republic versus Monarchy in Italy" pp. 305–313 from ''The World Today'', Vol 2, Issue 7, July 1946 p. 307</ref> Only a minority of the partisan bands fighting for the CLN were monarchists, and a prince of the House of Savoy led none.<ref name="Denis Mack Smith p.336"/> After the war, Umberto claimed that he wanted to join the partisans, and only his wartime duties prevented him from doing so.<ref name="Denis Mack Smith p.336"/> The Italian Royal Court relocated itself to [[Brindisi]] in the south of Italy after fleeing Rome.<ref name="Denis Mack Smith pp. 318–319"/> In the fall of 1943, many Italian monarchists, like [[Benedetto Croce]] and [[Count]] [[Carlo Sforza]], pressed for Victor Emmanuel III to abdicate and for Umberto to renounce his right to the succession in favour of his 6-year-old son, with a regency council to govern Italy as the best hope of saving the monarchy.<ref>Denis Mack Smith, ''Italy and Its Monarchy'', New Haven: Yale University Press pp. 322–323</ref> Count Sforza tried to interest the British members of the ACC in this plan, calling Victor Emmanuel a "despicable weakling" and Umberto "a pathological case", saying neither was qualified to rule Italy. However, given the unwillingness of the King to abdicate, nothing came of it.<ref>Denis Mack Smith, ''Italy and Its Monarchy'', New Haven: Yale University Press p. 323</ref>

At a meeting of the leading politicians from the six revived political parties on 13 January 1944 in [[Bari]], the demand was made that the ACC should force Victor Emmanuel to abdicate to "wash away the shame of the past".<ref name="Denis Mack Smith p.324">Denis Mack Smith, ''Italy and Its Monarchy'', New Haven: Yale University Press p. 324</ref> Beyond removing Victor Emmanuel, which everyone at the Congress of Bari wanted, the Italian politicians differed, with some calling for a republic to be proclaimed at once, some willing to see Umberto succeed to the throne, others wanting Umberto to renounce his claim to the throne in favour of his son, and finally those who were willing to accept Umberto as ''[[Luogotenente#Kingdom of Sardinia and Kingdom of Italy|Luogotenente Generale del Regno]]'' ({{langx|en|Lieutenant General of the Realm}}) to govern in place of his father.<ref name="Denis Mack Smith p.324"/> Since northern and central Italy were still occupied by Germany, it was finally decided at the Bari conference that the "institutional question" should be settled only once all of Italy was liberated, so all of the Italian people could have their say.<ref name="Denis Mack Smith p.324"/>