3:40 PM. Fosse Ardeatine, Rome. Hitler, informed of the attack on the SS, enraged, orders the execution of 10 Italians for every German. Thirty-three Germans had been killed the day before. At the same time the next day, 335 Italians were killed, first with machine guns and then with a pistol shot to the temple. Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Kappler, in charge of the operation, at a certain point had to distribute Cognac to his officers who were unwilling to continue. Toward the end of the executions, Kappler himself had to intervene and shoot the last victims. The executions ended at 8:00 PM. Five people were executed too many, a fact that would infuriate Kappler the next day.
