The Poles and the 34th American Division take Bologna. The liberation of northern Italian cities and the entry of Allied soldiers were usually preceded by popular uprisings coordinated by the Allies with the partisan commanders, but this did not happen in Bologna. Ena Frazoni, a member of the Unified Military Command for Emilia Romagna, writes that the Allied order for the Bologna Division to rise was delivered to liaison officer Sante Vincenzi (Mario), who, however, fell into the hands of the Black Brigades, along with Giuseppe Bentivogli. The two were tortured, tied up, and dragged through the streets in trucks. The order to rise therefore never arrived. And the first to enter Bologna at 6:00 a.m. were the Poles. They were all former Gulag prisoners, who had traveled thousands of kilometers on foot, the Caspian Sea in freight ships, Iran, Palestine, Egypt, Monte Cassino, and had taken the port of Ancona. And now Bologna. They raised the Polish flag on the Town Hall and then on the Asinelli Tower. Then the Giustizia e Libertà partisan brigade (which also included Enzo Biagi) entered. At first, the Poles were very well received by the population. But as soon as the communist-inspired partisans entered, misunderstandings began, and there were even deaths. At the sight of the red flags and the hammer and sickle, the Poles who had lived through the Gulag did not take it well (and they still did not know that Stalin would not keep his democratic promise for Poland).
