After attending high school in
Cremona, where his family lived, in 1939 he was admitted to the
Military Academy of Modena, from which he graduated in 1941 with the rank of
second lieutenant, being assigned to the 1st Tank Regiment in
Vercelli as an instructor; he was later promoted to
lieutenant. On 8 September 1943, following the proclamation of the
Armistice of Cassibile, he presented himself to his commander and asked to organize resistance against the Germans, but was refused. As
German forces disarmed the Royal Italian Army and occupied most of Italy, Di Dio headed for the
Ossola Valley together with a group of soldiers; in
Cavaglio d'Agogna, he was joined here by his younger brother Antonio, a cadet officer in the Royal Italian Army. The group reached
Valstrona, where they formed a partisan group, of which Di Dio became the leader. In December 1943, this group was merged with another one, led by
Filippo Beltrami, forming the "Valstrona Patriots Brigade". Beltrami was the overall commander, with Di Dio (
nom de guerre "Marco") as his deputy. In late December 1943, Di Dio went to
Novara, where he arranged an exchange of prisoners with the local
RSI authorities; the exchange took place in
Armeno on January 8, 1944. Subsequently, Di Dio decided, in agreement with Beltrami, to go to
Milan to obtain funding for training from the
National Liberation Committee. On 23 January, Alfredo left with his escort for Milan, but there he was captured by the Fascists and imprisoned in Novara; while he was in prison, his partisan group suffered a severe blow as his brother Antonio and Beltrami were killed in combat in
Megolo on 13 February. Di Dio managed to escape after a month and gathered more partisans to build the "Beltrami" Alpine Brigade, of which he became commander. The unit, of
Catholic orientation, was later enlarged and renamed "Valtoce" Division, and would grow to a force of 20,000 men in 1945; its members wore a blue handkerchief around their necks. In August-September 1944, Di Dio and the "Valtoce" Division played a large role in the liberation of
Domodossola from the Germans and Fascists and in the establishment of the
Republic of Ossola. On 10 October, the Axis launched a counteroffensive aimed at retaking the
Ossola Valley, and two days later, Di Dio, while inspecting partisan positions near
Malesco, was ambushed and killed by German troops along with Colonel Attilio Moneta, commander of the short-lived National Guard of the Ossola Republic. He was posthumously awarded the
Gold Medal of Military Valor; the
7th Tank Battalion "M.O. Di Dio" of the postwar
Italian Army was named after him. ==References==