Italian Army....

Alright, so I had stated in a different thread that I was going to try and write up some brief biographies of various men in the Italian Army, but resources here are so few/limitted that I'm having a hard time finding out anything...everything focuses on Mussolini (which is understandable)...

Any names would be a huge help. Once I have the names I'll for sure be able to get some info of them from either the internet or other resources.

Thanks,

IL DUCE

 

this might be a start for Marshal Graziani:
http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/graziani.htm
this link has some info on naval commanders:
http://navalhistory.flixco.info/H/140042/8330/a0.htm
hope this is a start. i'll keep having a look.

 

also found this on badoglio:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWbadoglio.htm

 

I found some heroes of italian navy

Luigi DURAND DE LA PENNE


"An extraordinary example of courage and geniality" with these words Winston Churchill described an action of an enemy. This man and his comrades, Bianchi, Martellotta, Marino, Marceglia, Schergat, accomplished one of the most effective naval victories of the WW2 without killing anyone. During November 1941 the British Mediterranean Fleet was in a critical situation: only battleships Valiant and Queen Elizabeth, based at Alexandria, were available. The Italian Navy studied carefully how to take advantage of that: if these two battleships would have been destroyed all the convoys to Lybia could sail safely with an extremely positive effect on the African war. The mission to destroy the British battleship was relied on X Flottiglia Mas. On December 18, submarine Scirč, commanded by Junio Valerio Borghese, approached stealthily Alexandria harbour after having overtaken a thousand of difficulties and obstacles. Then were released 3 "Maiali" (hogs) or Slc (Slow Run Torpedo) driven by Durand de La Penne and his men. Durand and Bianchi's target was the Valiant, Marceglia and Schergat's target was the Queen Elizabeth, Martellotta and Marino's was a 16.000 tons tanker. After having accomplished the mission, the crew would have met again the Scirč to come back home. But the British were not so unwise not to protect adequately their ports: there were everywhere protective metallic nets with explosive charges and sentries. So penetrating the harbour was even harder than expected for the Italian commando. Finally Durand de La Penne and Bianchi overcame the barriers and reached the Valiant, but at that moment their Maiale sunk to the depth of the port just under the battleship and Bianchi disappeared. Durand de La Penne managed to recuperate alone his maiale with a huge muscular effort and finally hooked it under the battleship's keel. Almost exhausted Durand de La Penne emerged from the depth, found his comrade (fainted for a failure of his scuba equipment), and tried to reach the pier but it was spotted by the sentries and captured. The commando was interrogated by the Valiant's officers but they answered only stating their rank and their number. Admiral Cunningham was woken up and informed about the facts: he immediately realized what could happen anytime. He ordered to jail Durand de La Penne and Bianchi into the Valiant, well below the floating line, hoping to scare the Italians and thus discovering if the battleships were in danger. Durand de La Penne told Bianchi (of course in Italian) that there was no hope for them but they could die happy because soon the mission would be accomplished (the charge would explode in 3 hours). Some time after a huge explosion was heard: Marceglia and Schergat destroyed tanker Sagona and damaged destroyer Jervis. After thrilling and long hours Durand de La Penne looked at his watch: 10 minutes to the explosion! He asked to talk to Valiant Captain Charles Morgan.
"Captain, I suggest you to evacuate your ship saving your crew's lives: Valiant is about to explode in few minutes." said Durand de La Penne.
Morgan asked where the charge was, Durand de La Penne did not answer and was taken again in his cell while the British crew was abandoning the ship. A terrific burst of might shook the Valiant but Durand de La Penne could get out (it must be said that the British once again were loyal and did not lock him). All the British crew stood up at his passage. Some minutes after a third huge bang: the Queen Elizabeth exploded as well! All the Italians were captured later. On one day of 1945 Bianchi and Durand de La Penne received the Gold Medal for Military Valour and it was appointed to their chests by Vice-admiral Charles Morgan, chief of Mediterranean Fleet and former Valiant's captain. Durand de La Penne died in 1992 and his name is now the one of the new Italian super-destroyer class.

Carlo FECIA DI COSSATO

Junio Valerio BORGHESE

Francesco MIMBELLI

Teseo TESEI
Source:
Heroes of the Italian Navy

 

Thanks!

Here's a list of who I"m going to start off with. There's more info out there on the Navy, so that'll be the easiest for now.

NAVY
Nazario Sauro
Luigi Rizzo
Luigi Durand de la Penne

ARMY
Pietro Badoglio
Rodolfo Graziani

I've got a few others that I want to look into first before I list their names....but thanks for the help again!!!

IL DUCE

 

but are you interested in leaders or in "heroes"?

 

Anyone really, what I'm trying to do is write some breif biographies on the Italians, similar to what Carl is doing for the Germans.

IL DUCE

 

Duce:

I have some information about many Italian stuff over there. I'll make some research and see if I can help you!

Also, a very interesting Italian man:

Italo Balbo, marshal of the air, one of the greatest aviators in History. I am sure I have his biography somewhere.

 

to give some help

italian military leaders between 10/6/40 and 8/9/43

general chief of staff
Pietro BADOGLIO 10/6/40 - 4/12/40
Ugo CAVALLERO 6/12/40 - 1/2/43
Vittorio AMBROSIO 1/2/43 - 8/9/43

army chief of staff
Rodolfo GRAZIANI 10/6/40 - 24/3/41
Mario ROATTA 24/3/41 - 20/1/42
Vittorio AMBROSIO 20/1/42 - 1/2/43
Ezio ROSI 1/2/43 - 18/5/43
Giuseppe DE STEFANIS 19/5/43 - 31/5/43
Mario ROATTA 1/6/43 - 8/9/43

navy chief of staff
Domenico CAVAGNARI 10/6/40 - 8/12/40
Arturo RICCARDI 9/12/40 - 27/7/43
Raffaele DE COURTEN 28/7/43 - 8/9/43

air force chief of staff
Francesco PRICOLO 10/6/40 - 15/11/41
Rino CORSO FOUGIER 15/11/41 - 26/7/43
Renato SANDALLI 27/7/43 - 8/9/43

it's possible finding the list of italians awarded of the gold medal for military bravery from 1860 to day at:
http://www.quirinale.it/onorificenze/ElencoDecorati.asp?qIdOnorificenza=20&qReset=1
(sorry it's in italian)

 

Grazie Lupo! Parla Italiano?

IL DUCE

 

I'm italian...

 

Bravo, Duce, Bravo!

 

Thank you PzJgr!

I've started to collect some of the information, so I should be able to post some within the month.

IL DUCE

 

Italy seems to have fallen in with the forgotten combatant crowd. I look forward to your findings.

 

Quite a bit delayed....

Freidrich, I will be sure to include Italo Balbo for many reasons, one, he was one of the best pilots to every fly and two, he was one of Mussolini's closest "advisors" if you will...seeing how he never really had true "friends".

Look for the first post coming soon....(within the week!)

DUCE

 

HEY,DON"T FORGET THE AIRFORCE !

Capitano Franco Bordoni-Bisleri. Shot down 19 aircraft and survived the war

Capitano Adriano Visconti. Shot down 19 planes in the service of the Regia Aeronautica and then shot down 7 more planes in the service of the Republica Sociale Italiana. He then got himself killed by left wing partisans in Milan on April 29,1945.

One of Mussolini's sons was killed flying the advanced Piaggio P. 108B bomber but I have never been able to get much information about him or the mission he was killed on.

 

Let´s see Ta 152,

http://www.tgplanes.com/planfile.asp?idplane=96

August 7th 1941

Thursday 7th : Mussolini’s second son Bruno dies in air crash.

One of these, the Piaggio 108, an experimental four engine bomber, crashed on its first test flight on August 7th 1941 in the countryside outside Pisa, while the city was as yet almost untouched by the severe bombing it was later to suffer from the Allies.
Everyone on board died except for the second pilot who now works as a chemist at Fiumicino. The flight commander was Bruno Mussolini, to whom his father dedicated the book "Parlo con Bruno", now only be found in paperback form at market stalls or at small antiques fairs.

http://www.florence-concierge.it/earticoli/eindustriale.html



The Mussolini Family graves (?):

http://www.piralli.it/predappio.htm

 

Hey guys...good news! I'll be able to post my first mini-biography on Italo Balbo tonight when I get home from work (around 10:00 my time)...

DUCE

 

Duce,

you mean this guy here??



Balbo has a street named after him in Chicago..??

Nice beard!

 

One in the same Kai!

Indeed!
DUCE