Aldo
Aldo was a young boy who lived in Reanoto, Italy during World War II. In 1944, the Waffen-SS under the command of Major Taussig arrived while Aldo and his friends were away playing in a nearby field. As the boys watched from afar, the SS rounded up everyone they could find in Reanoto, and then lined them up and executed them by firing squad. Aldo was never quite the same after this. He and the other children - all boys save for Dino's younger sister Maria - took to hiding in the wilderness to escape Taussig's men.
Aldo became the ragtag group's leader by sheer force of personality for the most part. Fierce and determined and brave, he exhibited daring traits that made the younger children look up to him. However, he tended to act without thinking, was short-tempered and abusive, using threats and violence to keep the other children in line, and ever since the massacre at Reanoto he was not quite right in the head, on the verge of a mental and emotional breakdown, his rage barely kept in check.
Posing as a shoeshine boy, he often gained access to Captain von Hecht's headquarters nearby and thus eavesdropped on the Germans' plans and also stole supplies. He stole medical supplies to give to Dr. Frassi, a local doctor loyal to the partisans, von Hecht's prize shotgun he used for hunting, and he also stole a large cache of German-made MP40 machine guns with the intent of equipping himself and his friends for a raid on SS headquarters.
More than anything, he wanted vengeance against Taussig and his butchers. Unfortunately, none of them knew how to operate weapons more complicated than the shotgun. One night, von Hecht and his men ambushed an American air drop and killed all save for one. The surviving paratrooper ended up dangling in a tree. Deciding this American could teach them how to use the MP40's, Aldo and the boys absconded with him back to their hideout, even kidnapping a German doctor named Bianca Freedling when it seems as though the man, who the boys simply called "Soldier," would need medical attention.
When Bianca refused to treat the Soldier on the grounds that he was an enemy combatant, Aldo attacked her and attempted to rape her, his barely suppressed rage over the deaths of his family boiling to the surface. Suddenly he was seized from behind and flung aside. The Soldier was awake and didn't take kindly to what Aldo had planned for the German doctor.
After this, a battle of wills began between the Soldier and Aldo. The Soldier's easygoing, charismatic manner made the other boys begin idolizing him instead of Aldo, and a jealous Aldo began seeing the American as a threat to his leadership. He started challenging the Soldier's authority, behaving rashly and without regard for his own safety or that of others, and the more and more he isolated himself from the group, the more and more he surrendered to his building insanity.
Aldo hid the detonators for the Soldier's plastic explosives, forcing him to help the children get their revenge against the SS. With his help, the boys singlehandedly wiped out the entire force which had killed their families and occupied Reanoto. After this, the boys agreed to help the Soldier with his own mission to blow up the Della Norte Dam. Aldo didn't take part in the planting of the explosives. Instead, he, Dino, Carlo and Tonio snuck onto the top of the dam and began recklessly shooting at the Germans, Aldo's bloodlust hadn't been quenched by killing the Nazis responsible for the massacre of Reanoto. He now wanted to kill every German he saw.
Commandeering a large machine gun, he blasted away at the guards, without regard for his three friends, killing Carlo in the process. Dino and Tonio were horrified, but Aldo exhibited no remorse, abandoning his killing spree only when the dam began to blow. When a column of American trucks began approaching, Aldo, thinking the Americans would give him a medal for killing so many Nazis, ran recklessly towards the approaching troops, whilst Dino and Toni told the Soldier about what befell Carlo. Aldo ran right into Captain von Hecht, shooting the German officer in the arm. Von Hecht surrendered, but Aldo meant to execute him; he was stopped by the timely arrival of the others. When Dino and Tonio revealed what Aldo had done to Carlo, the other boys angrily piled onto Aldo and beat him up.
The Soldier, the surviving children, Bianca and the wounded von Hecht went down to meet the arriving Americans. Suddenly the other boys noticed Aldo wasn't with them. He refused to come, declaring the Soldier a traitor for not letting him kill von Hecht and for usurping leadership of the group from him. He threw rocks at him, but eventually broke down as the enormity of what he'd done to Carlo hit him, and the Soldier, taking pity of the emotionally shattered boy, scooped him up and carried him to join the others.
