1944, Part 2 Summary and Analysis

The activities of partisans, both genuine and impostors, continued. The self-serving activities of the corrupt Larig were discovered, with the result that he was put on trial by his fellow partisans and executed. Meanwhile, a small band of partisans fought off a larger, but dispirited, band of Fascists, while an over-excited band of partisans attempted to hold a Fascist deserter and his family hostage, but were talked out of doing so by Antonio. Antonio also confronted a German officer who attempted to gain control of the Castelluccio in spite of repeated assertions that another German officer has already done so. For her part, the Marchesa is particularly troubled by the ruthless execution of what she describes as a harmless workman, which took place as his wife and child watched and by the impending death of a lonely, frightened young man away...