Death of Benito Mussolini Milan, where he had been based, and tried to escape to the Swiss border. He and his mistress, Claretta Petacci, were captured on 27 April by local partisans near the village of Dongo on Lake Como. Mussolini and Petacci were shot the following afternoon, two days before Adolf Hitler's suicide. The bodies of Mussolini and Petacci were taken to Milan and left in a suburban square, the Piazzale Loreto, for a large angry crowd to insult and physically abuse. They were then hung upside down from a metal girder above a service station on the square. The bodies were beaten,
William the Dictator William the Dictator William — The Dictator is the 20th book of children's short stories in the Just William series by Richmal Crompton. This book contains 10 stories. It was first published in 1938, and the first published versions are now rare collectors items. William's friends are away at the seaside, and in his boredom, he tries to make friends with Lucinda, newly arrived at the village. Lucinda is friendly with him only to 'show' her neighbour Ralph Montague, a red-haired boy, who had rejected her overtures of friendship, and wants him to fight that boy. William makes friends with