Giovanni Rossi, 30 years old, was an Italian partisan who was killed during the World War II under mysterious circumstances by another partisan.
At the outbreak of World War II, he was drafted into the army and sent to fight in Yugoslavia, where he learned the guerrilla techniques of Josip Broz Tito's communist partisans. Returning from the front, in November 1943 he went up to the mountains with a group of boys from Sassuolo who did not belong to any specific ideology and with them formed one of the first fighting groups of the Modena resistance, which he himself headed. This formation included, among others, the brothers Norma and Giuseppe Barbolini, the Salerno lieutenant Ugo Stanzione, Virgilio Taglini and Antonio Braglia. Rossi and his companions became the protagonists of various significant episodes, such as the spectacular assault on the barracks of the Italian National Republican Guard of Pavullo nel Frignano, carried out on 7 January 1944 and ended with the death of a soldier of the GNR and the capture of a thirty between carabinieri and German soldiers. Their popularity among the mountain populations began to be badly digested by the leaders of the local Italian Communist Party, who aspired to obtain the hegemony of the Modenese resistance movement. On the other hand, Rossi opposed any ideological infiltration within his training, refusing to hand over the reins to a political commissioner sent by the Communist Party. Soon the situation worsened: Rossi's training suffered a first blow due to the infiltration of a common criminal, such Alberto Fini, author of various criminal episodes against the local population which culminated in the unjustified killing of a civilian, Battista Stefani. Lieutenant Stanzione, in charge of his execution, was anticipated and mortally wounded by Fini. The frictions with the referents of the Modenese communist party increased considerably and the first disagreements also arose within the formation itself.
Finally, on February 28, 1944, Rossi was killed in his sleep in Monterotondo, a locality of Frassinoro, by the Modenese partisan Zuilio Rossi. Subsequently, an attempt was made to justify Rossi's elimination by attributing the blame to his rebellious, contemptuous and violent character, as well as to alleged indiscrimate withdrawals made by him and for which he was disliked by the PCI. In reality he was killed because he refused to hand over his group to the PCI.
At the outbreak of World War II, he was drafted into the army and sent to fight in Yugoslavia, where he learned the guerrilla techniques of Josip Broz Tito's communist partisans. Returning from the front, in November 1943 he went up to the mountains with a group of boys from Sassuolo who did not belong to any specific ideology and with them formed one of the first fighting groups of the Modena resistance, which he himself headed. This formation included, among others, the brothers Norma and Giuseppe Barbolini, the Salerno lieutenant Ugo Stanzione, Virgilio Taglini and Antonio Braglia. Rossi and his companions became the protagonists of various significant episodes, such as the spectacular assault on the barracks of the Italian National Republican Guard of Pavullo nel Frignano, carried out on 7 January 1944 and ended with the death of a soldier of the GNR and the capture of a thirty between carabinieri and German soldiers. Their popularity among the mountain populations began to be badly digested by the leaders of the local Italian Communist Party, who aspired to obtain the hegemony of the Modenese resistance movement. On the other hand, Rossi opposed any ideological infiltration within his training, refusing to hand over the reins to a political commissioner sent by the Communist Party. Soon the situation worsened: Rossi's training suffered a first blow due to the infiltration of a common criminal, such Alberto Fini, author of various criminal episodes against the local population which culminated in the unjustified killing of a civilian, Battista Stefani. Lieutenant Stanzione, in charge of his execution, was anticipated and mortally wounded by Fini. The frictions with the referents of the Modenese communist party increased considerably and the first disagreements also arose within the formation itself.
Finally, on February 28, 1944, Rossi was killed in his sleep in Monterotondo, a locality of Frassinoro, by the Modenese partisan Zuilio Rossi. Subsequently, an attempt was made to justify Rossi's elimination by attributing the blame to his rebellious, contemptuous and violent character, as well as to alleged indiscrimate withdrawals made by him and for which he was disliked by the PCI. In reality he was killed because he refused to hand over his group to the PCI.
Giovanni Rossi, 30 years old, was an Italian partisan who was killed during the World War II under mysterious circumstances by another partisan.
At the outbreak of World War II, he was drafted into the army and sent to fight in Yugoslavia, where he learned the guerrilla techniques of Josip Broz Tito's communist partisans. Returning from the front, in November 1943 he went up to the mountains with a group of boys from Sassuolo who did not belong to any specific ideology and with them formed one of the first fighting groups of the Modena resistance, which he himself headed. This formation included, among others, the brothers Norma and Giuseppe Barbolini, the Salerno lieutenant Ugo Stanzione, Virgilio Taglini and Antonio Braglia. Rossi and his companions became the protagonists of various significant episodes, such as the spectacular assault on the barracks of the Italian National Republican Guard of Pavullo nel Frignano, carried out on 7 January 1944 and ended with the death of a soldier of the GNR and the capture of a thirty between carabinieri and German soldiers. Their popularity among the mountain populations began to be badly digested by the leaders of the local Italian Communist Party, who aspired to obtain the hegemony of the Modenese resistance movement. On the other hand, Rossi opposed any ideological infiltration within his training, refusing to hand over the reins to a political commissioner sent by the Communist Party. Soon the situation worsened: Rossi's training suffered a first blow due to the infiltration of a common criminal, such Alberto Fini, author of various criminal episodes against the local population which culminated in the unjustified killing of a civilian, Battista Stefani. Lieutenant Stanzione, in charge of his execution, was anticipated and mortally wounded by Fini. The frictions with the referents of the Modenese communist party increased considerably and the first disagreements also arose within the formation itself.
Finally, on February 28, 1944, Rossi was killed in his sleep in Monterotondo, a locality of Frassinoro, by the Modenese partisan Zuilio Rossi. Subsequently, an attempt was made to justify Rossi's elimination by attributing the blame to his rebellious, contemptuous and violent character, as well as to alleged indiscrimate withdrawals made by him and for which he was disliked by the PCI. In reality he was killed because he refused to hand over his group to the PCI.
At the outbreak of World War II, he was drafted into the army and sent to fight in Yugoslavia, where he learned the guerrilla techniques of Josip Broz Tito's communist partisans. Returning from the front, in November 1943 he went up to the mountains with a group of boys from Sassuolo who did not belong to any specific ideology and with them formed one of the first fighting groups of the Modena resistance, which he himself headed. This formation included, among others, the brothers Norma and Giuseppe Barbolini, the Salerno lieutenant Ugo Stanzione, Virgilio Taglini and Antonio Braglia. Rossi and his companions became the protagonists of various significant episodes, such as the spectacular assault on the barracks of the Italian National Republican Guard of Pavullo nel Frignano, carried out on 7 January 1944 and ended with the death of a soldier of the GNR and the capture of a thirty between carabinieri and German soldiers. Their popularity among the mountain populations began to be badly digested by the leaders of the local Italian Communist Party, who aspired to obtain the hegemony of the Modenese resistance movement. On the other hand, Rossi opposed any ideological infiltration within his training, refusing to hand over the reins to a political commissioner sent by the Communist Party. Soon the situation worsened: Rossi's training suffered a first blow due to the infiltration of a common criminal, such Alberto Fini, author of various criminal episodes against the local population which culminated in the unjustified killing of a civilian, Battista Stefani. Lieutenant Stanzione, in charge of his execution, was anticipated and mortally wounded by Fini. The frictions with the referents of the Modenese communist party increased considerably and the first disagreements also arose within the formation itself.
Finally, on February 28, 1944, Rossi was killed in his sleep in Monterotondo, a locality of Frassinoro, by the Modenese partisan Zuilio Rossi. Subsequently, an attempt was made to justify Rossi's elimination by attributing the blame to his rebellious, contemptuous and violent character, as well as to alleged indiscrimate withdrawals made by him and for which he was disliked by the PCI. In reality he was killed because he refused to hand over his group to the PCI.
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The death date "3 March" on his gravestone is wrong
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