Posted on 04/04/2015 4:29:00 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
The trial for war crimes and the failure to defend Rome
On 16 November 1944 he was arrested during the investigation of the Commission of Inquiry for non-defense of Rome, then in 1945 he was sued by ‘High Commissioner for the punishment of crimes fascists for the murder of the Rosselli brothers.
On March 4, 1945, on the eve of the day of the filing of the findings of the inquiry committee, executed by ‘military hospital at the Liceo Virgilio, probably thanks to the complicity of the British Secret Service and General Thaddeus Orlando, commanding general of’ weapon and former subordinate of Roat in Croatia, reached before the Vatican and then, with his wife, Spain, where he was protected by the government of Francisco Franco. Was the immediate reaction of the Left and the demonstrations, during which he died, in circumstances not specified, the upholsterer Peter Gualdani. Events powered by controversy positions socialists and shareholders (Saragat wrote that “his silence was golden for many people”) who accused environments army to protect the fascists. The next day Orlando was dismissed.
The week after the escape, he was sentenced to ‘life imprisonment for the findings about the lack of defense of Rome, but the committee also attributed to him responsibility regarding the defeat of September 8 as a whole. He was able to take advantage of the ‘amnesty of 1946 and the final report in 1953. At the end of the judicial process was acquitted and the judgment set aside in 1948.
He returned from Spain in 1966 and died in Rome in 1968. He wrote a famous memorial defensive: Jackals him to the SIM (Rome 1955).
http://www.desertwar.net/mario-roatta.html
"After Seventh Army crossed the Rhine, the 100th Infantry Division and the 781st Tank Battalion advanced rapidly until reaching the west bank of the Neckar River in the vicinity of Heilbronn on April 3. The doughs crossed the river in assault boats the next day to find themselves battling a remarkably effective defense made up of Wehrmacht, Volksturm, Hitler Youth, and SS—so effective that the Germans counterattacked and almost threw the doughs back into the Neckar. Accurate artillery fire disrupted every American attempt to erect a bridge and get the tanks across. Higher headquarters frantically arranged for the delivery of 10 DD Shermans to the 781st Tank Battalion, and crews were given a day of training. The tanks entered the water but were unable to climb the other side, and three sank. Finally, on April 8, two platoons made the trip across a temporary bridge that was immediately knocked out by enemy artillery. On April 12, American doughs and tanks pushed the German artillery out of range of the bridging sites, and on the next day Heilbronn fell."
*Battalion history, 781st Tank Battalion. Up From Marseille, 22; Whiting, 193 ff.
April 4, 1945
Attacks by the Western Allies continue to gain ground as the British 2nd Army takes Osnabruk and enter Minden, the US 9th Army closes with the Weser River near Hameln, the US 3rd Army captured Suhl, Kassel and Gotha, while the French 1st Army takes Karlsruhe.
The Soviet 7th Guard Army completed the capture of Bratislava.
Seven hundred US bombers from the 8th Air Force hit Kiel targeting German naval forces.
US ground elements on Okinawa begin to make contact with the entrenched Japanese units as the US 24th Corps is stopped at Kuba. Elements of the 3rd Amphibious Corps reached the Ishikawa Isthmus.
http://www.bartcop.com/p60current.htm
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