Messe, Giovanni

Marshal of Italy Giovanni Messe

(1883-1968)
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Giovanni Messe


Born 10 December 1883 near Brindisi. He joined the Italian army in 1901. He participated in the Italian-Turkish and World War I (one of the organizers of the Arditi units), in 1923-27 he was an adjutant of King Victor Emmanuel III. Afterwards, at the rank of colonel, he served in sniper units.
In September 1935, at the rank of Brigadier-General, he commanded a motorised division in Verona. He takes part in the campaign against Ethiopia and as a major general becomes commander of a tank division. He is a member of the 50,000-strong corps that annexed Albania on 7 April 1939. In the Greco-Italian War, he serves as corps commander and achieves some tactical successes during the Greek counter-offensive.
In June 1941, he is appointed commander of the CSIR (Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia). Despite poor equipment and a critical shortage of trucks, the CSIR takes part in the fighting in the Ukraine and has the lion's share in the capture of the city of Stalino (12,000 Red Army soldiers fell into Italian captivity) in August 1941.
After the defeat of the Axis at El Alamein, Messe was given command of the 1st Italian Army in Tunisia in January 1943. Here he succeeded in repelling the Allied attack on Mareth, but it was not enough to reverse the adverse developments for the Axis in North Africa. As commander of the African Panzer Army under Rommel's command, he tactically delayed the Allied advance until the surrender of the German forces on 12 May 1943. On the same day, Mussolini promoted him to the rank of marshal and challenged him to resist to the last man. However, Marshal Messe capitulated the following day with the remnants of the 1st Italian Army at Enfidaville as the last Axis commander in North Africa.
As Messe was known as a convinced monarchist, it is not surprising that the King appointed him Chief of Staff of the Italian Royal Army, which fought alongside Anglo-American forces in Italy. After the war, he became president of the Italian Veterans' Association and, thanks to his popularity, was elected senator in 1953-55. He died on 19 December 1968.


Sources: Wikipedia, Leonardo di Nardio-Equal Allies, Edwin P. Hoyt-Boats in North Africa.
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Messe-Giovanni-t24747#232961 Version : 0
General Giovanni Messe, commander of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia (Corpo di Spedizione Italiani in Russia - CSIR), offers cigarettes to his soldiers moving from the town of Grishino to the town of Stalino (now Donetsk), October-December 1941, Ukraine, Soviet Union.


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