The ''Gruppo Brigata Osoppo dell'Est'' (Group of East Osoppo Brigade), a unified command with the
Divisione Garibaldi Natisone, did not accept to pass east of the
Isonzo river and to be subordinated to the Slovenian
9th Corps of the
National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia led by
Josip Broz Tito. On 22 November 1944, the Italian Communist Party (and not the
CLNAI, the only command allowed to give orders legitimately regarding the operative deployment of partisan forces) ordered to the Italian partisans located in the zone to pass under the dependence of the Yugoslav 9th Corps in order to create (according to
Palmiro Togliatti in a letter to Vincenzo Bianco, PCI representative in the 9th Corps): The disposition provided that "all the Italian units of the zone [the Friulian Adriatic Littoral] must operate only under the command of the 9th Army Corps of Tito", adding that whoever refused this order would be considered as fascist and imperialist; the command of Osoppo Brigades repealed the requested saying
pai nostris fogolârs in
Friulan ("For our homes"). Over 3,500 communist partisans of
Garibaldi-Natisone division accepted but not the autonomous of Ossopo, including Elda Turchetti, a militant killed and reputed by communists as an X MAS spy. The mission was organized accordingly to a wider agreement between OSS and PCI, providing the enrolment of "experienced men" appointed by the party, in exchange for the use of the radio of the secret service by the party in order to communicate with their leaders in the territories occupied by nazi-fascists. However, Gozzer, although he headed a mission of the Allies, began soon the chief of staff of the
Brigata Garibaldi-Friuli, generating uncertainties among the members of
Special Operations Executive (SOE, one of the British secret services for the operation behind the enemy lines) already active in the zone, who did not know when consider the initiatives of Gozzer as adopted in his qualify as representative of Americans or in that of communist partisan commander. putting in involuntary competition the missions started independently on the same territory, and provoking inefficiency and undue dangers for the Allies agents themselves. Moreover, the different approach of the Allied missions did not provide to partisans a coherent figure of the Anglo-American alliance and made their military action less efficient. The scarcity of material sent by air by the Allies (always subordinated to the needs of war on other fronts and starting from a limited availability) and the notable gap between the promises of missions and the material actually sent (beside the different promises of OSS and SOE agents), induced the local Resistance to a cynical attitude following the development of a lack of trust in the Allies, thus encouraging revolutionary propaganda and adherence to pro-Soviet tendencies. In general, as
Claudio Pavone explains, if the supplies did not reach the brigades, or few came, partisans often tended to believe that this was due to the fact that "the British and American armies were still instruments of two capitalist and imperialist powers and imperialist". Agent Nicholson of the British service, who also supported the Garibaldi groups in negotiations with the Osoppo Brigades, assessed the work of Gozzer with extreme harshness, stigmatizing how, in his opinion, the OSS was relying on a "mercenary puppet" completely under the control of "the most violent communist" in northern Italy. At the same time, Michelagnoli sent reports to the OSS in which he praised the Garibaldi Brigades for their "fighting spirit" and "sure anti-fascism", while he accused the Osoppo of having numerous ex-fascists and politically compromised personalities among their members, while remarking that there were no noteworthy incidents between the two formations. Despite these complaints, the position of the SOE was not changed in an anti-communist sense and, indeed, it was concerned to keep clear that the positions expressed by its agents were to be attributed exclusively to themselves, and not to the service. Therefore, at the beginning of February 1945, SOE informed its agents that it was not possible to intervene in any way on the Slovenes, and that the agents were required to stay out of any clash between Slovenes and non-communist partisans.
Porzûs massacre The Osoppo Brigades were involved in a massacre occurred on 7 February 1945 near the
malghe of Porzûs (comune of
Faedis, Eastern
Friuli). The event, connected to the specific situation on the eastern border with the strong ideological motivations of communist Garibaldi partisans and the nationalist rancours between Slavs and Italians, was the most severe bloodshed between partisan formations during the Resistance. In Porzûs there was the command of the
Gruppo delle Brigate Est della Divisione Osoppo ("Group of the Eastern Brigades of the Osoppo Divisio") led by Alpini commander
Francesco De Gregori, known as "Bolla". His autonomous formation operated in region dominated by Garibaldi formations of Slovenian 9th Corps. The Osoppo partisans, with their continuous protests against the Yugoslav nationalist aims and the collaborationist policy of the Garibaldi, reported also by Bolla at the Udine NLC, provoked the reaction of the communist members of the Committee who ordered the GAP members of the zone to attack the Osoppo headquarter. Later, all the other Osoppo partisan, including Guido Pasolini (elder brother of
Pier Paolo), were killed except two who accepted to join the GAP. The massacre had judiciary consequences with a long trial which ended with severe penalties.
March and April 1945 In March, the Osoppo brigades operated with five divisions and included: •
1ª Brigata Osoppo Prealpi with a Prealps battalion •
2ª brigata Osoppo with "Val But" and "Tolmezzo" battalions •
3ª brigata Osoppo with
battaglione Giustizia •
5ª brigata Osoppo with
battaglione Piave; •
1ª divisione Osoppo Carnia with
battaglione Carnia •
2ª divisione Osoppo territoriale with "Pontebba" and "Ledra" battalions •
2ª divisione Gruppo sud with
brigata Osoppo Martelli and
2º battaglione Partidor •
Brigata Autonoma Rosselli •
Battaglione Divisionale Guastatori •
Battaglione Divisionale Monte Canin == Notable members ==