Benito Mussolini January 1945 by Madeleine Mollier, a few months before he was captured and executed by Italian anti-fascist partisans, he stated flatly: "Seven years ago, I was an interesting person. Now, I am little more than a corpse." He continued: On 25 April 1945, allied troops were advancing into northern Italy, and the collapse of the Salò Republic was imminent. Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci set out for Switzerland, intending to board a plane and escape to Spain. Two days later on 27 April, they were stopped near the village of Dongo (Lake Como) by communist partisans Valerio and Bellini
1945 WANFL season as of December 31, 1945, but this move proved ill-received and on March 29 the League decided to abolish age restrictions altogether, returning the WANFL to open-age competition. There was concern that the erratic availability of players who were still in the services would cause difficulties, which meant that the seconds competition, which was disbanded after 1940, was not resumed. Numerous famous players of the era – amongst them Merv McIntosh and Bernie Naylor – remained entirely unavailable due to war service, and all clubs had to make constant changes to their lineups. It was generally thought that the 1945