Spanish Civil War and Resistance
Longo took part in the Spanish Civil War as an inspector of the Republican troops in the International Brigades under the leadership of Randolfo Pacciardi, and took the nom de guerre Gallo. After the defeat of the Second Spanish Republic by General Franco, he returned to France.
Following the 1940 invasion of France, the Vichy-based collaborationist government was established under Philippe Pétain. Longo was arrested and detained in an internment camp at Vernet from 1939 to 1941. There he made the acquaintance of Leo Valiani, among other left-wing radicals. In 1941 he was handed over to the Italian fascist authorities and interned at Ventotene. When Mussolini fell from power on 25 July 1943, Longo was released. After Mussolini regained control of Northern Italy (which he led as the Italian Social Republic), Longo took command of the Garibaldi Brigades, the communist forces in the Italian partisan resistance. Longo became deputy commander of the Gruppo volontari per la liberta' ("Group of Volunteers for Freedom"), and a close collaborator of Ferruccio Parri; in April 1945 Longo was one of the leading figures of the uprising in northern Italy. It was at Dongo on Lake Como on 28th April 1945 and whilst being escorted by the Garibaldi Brigade Partisans that Mussolini and his mistress Claretta Petacci were executed; the extent (if any) to which Longo took part in the killings has been the subject of dispute by historians.
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