War-flag of the Italian Socialist Republic.
The Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana) was a client state of Nazi Germany created on September the 23rd, 1943 by Mussolini. At this point in the war, Mussolini had already ceded most of Italian territory to the Allied advance, however a portion of Northern Italy was still under the control of German forces; although the exact area was in constant flux due to the conditions of war. This state was sometimes known as the Republic of Sal due to the fact that the Ministry of the Interior was based in the town of Sal. The lifespan of Mussolini's Italian Social Republic was roughly just one year, in the opening months of 1945 Allied troops overwhelmed the North of Italy and Mussolini was shot at the end of April in the same year.
This is a war-flag of the Repubblica Sociale Italiana; the civil or national flag was actually the same as the present day Italian Republic, but it was barely used in comparison with this war-flag which was predominantly flown.
ZFC Significant Flag
Sources:
Italian Social Republic (1943-1945) (Italy), Flags of the World, 17 November, from: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/it-isr.html
Italian Social Republic, Wikipedia, 17 November 2011, from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Social_Republic.
Italian Campaign (World War II), Wikipedia, 17 November 2011, from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Campaign_%28World_War_II%29
Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
