Italy Enters the Great War

On this day in 1915 the Kingdom of Italy officially entered World War I by declaring war on Austria-Hungary. It would be a cruel and costly conflict but Italy did emerge victorious.

The Great War in Italian Africa

The struggle for Africa in World War I is a subject not widely known. Among those who are aware of it, most are familiar with the campaigns by the Allies to seize control of the German colonies in Africa; Togoland, Kamerun, German Southwest Africa and most especially German East Africa where a small band of German colonial troops held out until the end of the war, evading or defeating forces vastly superior to their own. Yet, these were not the only areas of Africa touched by the Great War and the focus on Germany diverts attention away from another of the Central Powers that had big plans for African expansion and that was, of course, the Ottoman Empire. If the Great War had gone in favor of the Central Powers the Ottoman Empire was anxious to reclaim control of North Africa and East Africa from Egypt-Sudan to the Horn of Africa. Although the British were successful in stopping the Turkish efforts to invade Egypt, the Turks were energetic in forging alliances with Islamic groups already in rebellion in northern and eastern Africa against the friends and armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy.

Even before war broke out in Europe, Italian colonial forces were engaged in North Africa, fighting against Sanussi rebels. Italy had gained the three north African provinces of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan after defeating the Ottoman Empire in a war in 1911-1912 and ever since there had been periodic rebellions in the form of attacks on Italian settlements and Italian farmers mostly by members of the Sanussi sect, a tribe and religious order of the Sufi branch of Islam. The Sanussi had been fighting the French in Chad but moved to attack the Italians as soon as the three provinces were handed over to Italy by the Turks. Ultimately, of course, these three provinces would be grouped together by Italy and named Libya, restoring the old Roman title for the area. Since most know it as that, for the sake of simplicity this region will be henceforth referred to as Libya here even though it would not become the official name until 1934. In February of 1914 the Italians began an offensive against Sanussi camps and punitive raids continued until late in the year. However, the number of Italian colonial forces was limited and these were stretched over an immense area.

In August, an Italian column was attacked and defeated by Sanussi rebels at Bir al-Fatia. Subsequently, there was a massive uprising in Fezzan, home of the Sanussi holy city of Kufra. The “supreme leader” of the Sanussi was, at this time, Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi and he would lead or direct his forces in attacks on the French, Italians and British throughout this period. The rebellion became so severe that the Italian forces had to withdraw to Tripolitania by early 1915. To make matters worse, the “Dervishes” of Italian Somaliland in East Africa were becoming increasingly aggressive and clashing with Italian or Italian-allied Somali forces in 1915. These so-called “Dervishes” were the followers of the “Mad Mullah” (who was actually not a mullah at all) Muhammad Abd Allah Hassan. Already, in 1914, he had caused considerable problems for the British in British Somaliland, defeating or at least bloodying British colonial forces in a number of clashes before moving across the border into Italian territory. Meanwhile, back in north Africa, a see-saw campaign, similar to what would later be seen in World War II was unfolding.

Early March, 1915 saw Italian troops defeat (or disperse without much actual combat) a large Sanussi force gathering in southern Tripolitania. Eager to follow this up, a large Italian column set out eastward in the hope of crushing the Sanussi rebellion in the area of Surt. However, on April 28-29 they were soundly defeated by a massive rebel attack at Abu Zinaf. The tide of war swung back in favor of the rebels and from May to June they had besieged Italian garrisons at Banu Walid and Tarhunah, preventing all relief efforts by other Italian forces. May also saw the formal entry of the Kingdom of Italy into the First World War on the Allied side. This had positive and negative effects for the war in Africa. While, Italy gained allies who were as equally threatened in the region, it also meant that Italian military strength would have to be concentrated almost entirely on the border with Austria with the result that the already hard-pressed troops in the colonies would be reduced to a bare minimum. In the summer, another attempt to relieve the siege of Banu Walid failed and when the garrison, driven to desperation, tried a breakout they were overwhelmed. Southern Tripolitania was abandoned  and by October all Italian forces in Cyrenaica as well were withdrawn to the coast.

Obviously, a major change had taken place and that was that the Ottoman Empire had begun to arm the rebels in the hope of eventually retaking their former provinces and reestablishing control of northern Africa. In spite of the fact that, at the time, Italy was only at war with Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire was effectively waging a proxy war against the Italians and Germany was also helping them do it, using German U-boats to smuggle weapons to the Libyan insurgents. In retaliation, on August 21 the Kingdom of Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire (Italy would not declare war on Germany until the following year). By the end of 1915, things looked bleak for the Italian position in north Africa. There had never been much of a real presence in Fezzan and Italian forces in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica had been forced to abandon their interior positions and concentrate their modest forces on the coast in the major towns and port cities. 1916, however, would open with another change in fortunes for the Italians in Libya. In the early months, alarmed by the radicalism of the rebels, the coastal population rallied to the side of the Italians in Tripolitania and Jabal Nafusah. Sanussi control was restricted to the area east of Wadi Zamzam. On February 1, 1916 the Italians were able to strike back for a change and wipe out a Sanussi rebel column.

Lij Jasu

As the year war on and the tide seemed to be turning in Libya, events were growing worse in East Africa. The “Mad Mullah” Muhammad Abd Allah Hassan formed an alliance in May with Emperor Lij Jasu of Ethiopia who had reportedly converted to Islam. Both hoped to achieve their goals of expansion across the Horn of Africa by allying with the Ottoman Empire, placing Ethiopia and Somalia under the spiritual authority of the Ottoman Sultan, the Caliph of Islam. The “Mad Mullah”, the Ethiopian Emperor and the Ottoman Turks formed an alliance to wage war against the British, French and Italian presence in the region. The Ottomans had already been smuggling weapons into the area from southern Arabia across the Gulf of Aden. However, neither of their two allies were in total control of any country or colony. Hassan was already a wanted man by both Britain and Italy and the flirtation with Islam by Lij Jasu did not go over well in Ethiopia. Forces opposed to him declared him deposed and Ethiopia descended into another civil war. Italy rushed reinforcements to Eritrea, the oldest Italian colony in the region, to maintain security and plans were drawn up for a more vigorous colonial strategy.

In May of 1916 Italian troops launched a counter-offensive in Libya with an amphibious landing at Ras al-Muraysah in Cyrenaica that results in the recapture of al-Bardi after which another Italian column, in a joint operation with the British, destroy a major Sanussi camp near Darnah. The British became involved since, with the outbreak of World War I, the Sanussi leader Ahmed Sharid as-Senussi had invaded Egypt, capturing Sallum and provoking the British to strike back and take the Sanussi threat more seriously. Now, however, the Allies were advancing and later that month Italian forces retook Zuwarah in Tripolitania. They were so successful that, by July, the Sanussi agreed to meet for talks with the British and Italians about making peace. Some decide to lay down their arms but others do not and in early 1917 the Italian forces resumed their offensive, clearing the rebels west of Tripoli and completely retaking southern Tripolitania. At the same time, in East Africa, the “Mad Mullah” attacks the Sultan Uthman of Obbia who is allied with Italy but the forces of the Sultan soundly defeat him.

Back in Libya, the Sanussi finally agree to come to terms with Italy and Great Britain, promising to recognize their authority and cease hostilities. However, some rebel groups simply denounce the Sanussi leadership that made the agreement and carrying on fighting anyway. Because of this, retaliation against these post-peace agreement rebels would often be quite severe. Throughout the rest of the year the restoration of Italian rule over Tripolitania continued at a steady pace while in East Africa the Sultan of Obbia launched his own counter-offensive against the “Mad Mullah”, winning another victory. 1918 saw an unbroken string of Italian victories across Libya with the rebels only managing to launch one major attack which was repelled by the colonial troops while taking heavy losses. In East Africa, the much vaunted threat of a Muslim takeover of the Horn of Africa came to nothing as local forces friendly to Italy proved capable of handling things on their own in Somalia while in Ethiopia, the deposed Emperor Lij Jasu ended up fighting for his own throne rather than waging a war of conquest against the French, British and Italian colonies.

Italian rule was restored and secured across the Italian African colonies. However, peace would not be permanent and it would take another major campaign before Libya was pacified in 1932. Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi left Libya in 1918 for the Ottoman Empire via Austria-Hungary, leaving the peace negotiations with his cousin Mohammad Idris who would, for a short time, become King of Libya after World War II. In Ethiopia, Lij Jasu (or Iyasu V) was deposed in favor of his aunt Empress Zewditu who kept him safe and tried to have him reconciled with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church which had excommunicated him. However, Empress Zewditu was suppressed by Haile Selassie who made himself Emperor and finally had Lij Jasu killed during another war with Italy. The “Mad Mullah” took his fight back to British territory, was soundly defeated and died of influenza in 1920.

Italians on the Western Front

It was on this day in 1918 that the guns on the western front fell silent at the end of World War I. Many nations celebrate this as Armistice Day, Remembrance Day or, as it later became known in America, Veterans Day. Everyone familiar with World War I knows that this most prominent area of operations was the western front, stretching from the Belgian coast, down through France and ending at the Swiss border. However, not too many are aware of the Italian presence on the western front which actually predates official Italian entry in the Great War. Peppino Garibaldi, grandson of the famous Giuseppe Garibaldi, a man driven to fight for Italia Irredenta, led 4,000 Italian volunteers in a mass enlistment of the French Foreign Legion to join the war on the western front. This was in the winter of 1914-1915. When the Kingdom of Italy joined the war later in 1915, they left to join the Regio Esercito, most going into the Alpi and Re Brigades. Even then, many continued to wear their red shirts underneath their uniforms in honor of "The Thousand" nationalist volunteers of Giuseppe Garibaldi from the last century. In late 1917 the Kingdom of Italy sent the Corpo Truppe Ausiliarie in Francia to serve on the western front, which was a collection of labor battalions to aid in preparing trenches, gun emplacements, fortifications and other such jobs. Later, in the summer of 1918 the Kingdom of Italy also dispatched the II Corps, a complete combat unit with full artillery and even air support. These Italian troops saw fierce fighting in the last stages of the war, fighting alongside the French, British and Americans in stopping the last German offensive in the Bois de Reims sector and then going on, with the other Allies, in the final offensive that crushed the German front line and ultimately forced them to seek an armistice. Many Italians displayed great heroism in these brutal engagements, many were killed and many were wounded. They should never be forgotten.

Bosnian Crisis

It was on this day in 1908 that Austria-Hungary annexed the nominally Ottoman Turkish province of Bosnia-Herzegovina, sparking the Bosnian crisis, one of the events which led up to the outbreak of the Great War, particularly because of the humiliation suffered by the Russian Empire over the affair. The lack of trust and ill-will created between Austria-Hungary and Russia is usually all that is taken away from this event, however, it was also a major reason for the ultimate break-up of the Triple Alliance of Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary. This is not often talked about but failing to mention it reveals an anti-Italian prejudice because it disproves the long-held accusation of the Kingdom of Italy "betraying" the other countries of the Triple Alliance by staying out of World War I in 1914 and then joining the war the following year against Austria-Hungary and later Germany.

This is important to understand because it was not Rome that broke its word to Vienna but rather Vienna that first broke its word to Rome. The issue was the annexation of Bosnia. When the Kingdom of Italy joined the Triple Alliance, which was really a defensive alliance of the three monarchies involved rather than a political pact between countries with a shared agenda, it was recognized that there were still outstanding territorial disputes between Italy and Austria-Hungary concerning the Italian-populated lands originally taken from the Republic of Venice that Austria-Hungary still occupied. According to the Triple Alliance agreement, if Austria-Hungary made any territorial gains elsewhere, these Italian-populated territories were supposed to be returned to the Kingdom of Italy in compensation. Obviously, the annexation of Bosnia was a major territorial acquisition and yet when Italy expected Austria-Hungary to live up to the terms of their agreement and reunite the Italian populated lands to Italy, Austria-Hungary refused.

Italy was not about to overlook such a violation of their agreement and so, from that time on, did not feel bound by the Triple Alliance any more since Austria-Hungary had violated their agreement. Of course, there were other reasons for Italy not going to war alongside Austria-Hungary and Germany in 1914 but this was a major point for the Italian government. It should be remembered and should be more well known today. It is still unfortunate what happened to Austria-Hungary in World War I, it did not deserve to be 'carved up' out of existence, but the honor of the Kingdom of Italy has been unfairly criticized because of this incident and for that reason the facts should be made known. The Triple Alliance agreement was broken but it was not broken in 1914 and it was not the Kingdom of Italy that broke it.

General Count Pier Ruggero Piccio

One of the founding fathers of the Regia Aeronautica was Count Pier Ruggero Piccio who was also one of the most accomplished Italian fighter pilots of the First World War. He was born in Rome on September 27, 1880 and graduated from the Military Academy of Modena in 1900, assigned as a second lieutenant in the 43rd Infantry Regiment. He saw service in central Africa as part of an officer exchange program with the Kingdom of Belgium and he saw extensive service in the Italo-Turkish War as an artillery officer and the commander of a machinegun section attached to the infantry in which role he earned the Bronze Medal for Military Valor in 1912. This war saw the Kingdom of Italy become the first to use aircraft in combat, though air operations ended before Piccio arrived in Libya. Nonetheless, he had a great interest in this new branch of military service and tried repeatedly to gain the chance to train as a pilot. After being promoted to captain in 1913 he finally got the opportunity and attended Malpensa flying school. Passing with flying colors he qualified first to fly the Nieuport monoplane and later the Caproni bomber before being assigned to the fifth squadron. In 1914, after World War I had broken out but before the Italian intervention, he was awarded the Order of the Crown of Italy.

In January of 1915 the Military Air Corps was established and later that year the Kingdom of Italy entered the conflict with a declaration of war against Austria. Piccio had his first chance at aerial service in wartime, flying reconnaissance missions. He showed great skill and courage, carrying out his missions despite heavy enemy fire and having his aircraft hit numerous times. Awarded another Bronze Medal he was posted to Malpensa for more bomber training. After finishing he took command of third squadron flying the Caproni bombers in missions against Austria from August 1916 to February 1916. After that he was given more training in air-to-air combat in France and returned home to command a fighter squadron, scoring his first success in bringing down a German observation balloon. He was supposed to wait for French pilots to join him with special anti-balloon rockets but went out on his own, doing the job and earning a Silver Medal. In the spring of 1917 Piccio shot down an Albatros, rapidly gaining more ‘kills’ and earning the status of an ace. At one point, he even managed to shoot down the great Lt. Frank Linke-Crawford, the fourth highest scoring ace of Austria-Hungary (thankfully, Linke-Crawford survived though he was later killed in combat).

After shooting down seventeen enemy aircraft he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and made Inspector of Fighter Squadrons. However, by the spring of 1918 he was back in action again, gaining more victories but also providing invaluable service by producing the first manual on air tactics for the Italian forces, devising new flying formations and generally solid regulations, based on his experience, on how to achieve victory in the air. Earning the Gold Medal for Military Valor, by the summer of 1918 the Italian air forces had gained complete dominance over Austria-Hungary in the skies, inflicting horrendous losses on the enemy and effectively breaking the air power of the Dual Monarchy for good. Italian fighters and bombers could attack Austrian ground forces at will, however, ground fire was still dangerous and in the autumn of 1918 luck ran out for Colonel Piccio. He was shot down over enemy territory and captured by the Austrians. Still, he emerged as one of the top Italian flying aces of the Great War with at least 24 victories to his name. He was never formally released by the Austrians but simply walked out in disguise as Austria-Hungary collapsed at the end of the war.

In 1921 Piccio was sent to France but came back to Italy where air power for the establishment of the Regia Aeronautica in 1923. Air power was being given a new emphasis by the new leader of Italy, Benito Mussolini. At the time, only Great Britain and Italy had chosen to develop a fully independent military aviation branch of the armed forces (and France was the only other continental power then building up forces for air combat). Piccio had the right balance of a record of success in the air as well as a reputation for organizing air forces, codifying techniques and instilling discipline that made him the ideal choice to be the military deputy to the Undersecretary of the Air Force. Piccio and his civilian counterpart streamlined the force, gained greater funding, started looking for new and better aircraft design and established a formal air force academy in Livorno. From 1923 to 1925 Piccio served as Commandant General of the Regia Aeronautica, his title later changed to Chief of Air Staff. Also in 1923 he received the prestigious appointment of an honorary aide de camp to King Vittorio Emanuele III.

As Chief of Air Staff from 1926 to 1927 Piccio did begin to have problems with his civilian counterpart and then with Air Marshal Italo Balbo. Much of this stemmed from Piccio’s lavish lifestyle in Paris. Ever since his earliest time there after joining the army, Piccio had a great attachment to the high life of Paris and he had also spent a great deal on the Paris stock market. It was still quite controversial when Marshal Balbo dismissed him but Piccio remained a national hero for his extensive service and illustrious war record. In 1932 he was promoted to lieutenant general and in 1933 the King appointed him a Senator of Italy. His government posts still did not manage to keep him away from France for long and he continued to spend much of his time in Paris, sometimes acting as a go-between for the French Premier and Mussolini. Despite being appointed to the Senate as a member of the Fascist Party, General Piccio was not fond of the direction Mussolini was taking the country. He moved to Switzerland and remarked to an old Belgian comrade from World War I that Italy had spent years trying to defeat the Germans only to have Mussolini helping to bring them back again. He stayed in Switzerland during World War II, giving up the wealth he had gained through his associations with the Fascists (having become thoroughly disgusted with them) and while there he helped Italian soldiers to safety after the armistice and aided the resistance movements in both France and Italy. General Pier Piccio died in Rome on July 31, 1965 still remembered as one of the great aces of World War I and one of the founders of the Regia Aeronautica.

Italy Goes to War

It was on this day in 1915 that the Kingdom of Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, officially entering the First World War.

Remembering the Unknown Soldier

It was on this day in 1921 that the unknown Italian soldier of the First World War was buried, with an eternal flame, at the King Vittorio Emanuele II Monument in Rome. Alberto Sparapani designed the tomb after a campaign to honor the 'unknown soldier' was made by Italian veterans of the Great War and by other Allied veterans, after Great Britain and France had done the same. The United States of America awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor of the Italian unknown soldier shortly before they took the step of honoring the unknown American soldier. The Kingdom of Italy lost over a million people, soldiers and civilians, in the First World War, more than the British Empire, less than France or Russia and less than any of the Central Powers other than Bulgaria. About 650,000 Italian soldiers died in the conflict. Some Italian soldiers had voluntarily joined the war prior to the declaration of war by serving with the French Foreign Legion, later Italian forces served on almost every major front of the war. Some served on the western front, others in Albania and Macedonia, in Libya and Somalia, in the Middle East and, of course, the primary front against the Germans and Austrians on the northeast border.

To honor the sacrifices of these men, Colonel Giulio Douhet, writing in "Dovere" recommended entombing the body of an unknown Italian soldier to symbolize all of those whose names are not recorded, who died for their King and homeland. The Commissione Nazionale per le Onoranze ai Militari d'Italia was established which would eventually see this goal carried out with the unknown Italian soldier entombed in the Altar of the Fatherland in Rome. The government proposed and King Vittorio Emanuele III approved a bill on August 11, 1921 to find the Italian warrior who would represent all at the monument. Eleven bodies were found and taken to the Basilica of Aquileia on October 27, 1921 and one of these was chosen by a simple woman, Maria Bergamas of Trieste, who was the mother of an army lieutenant killed on Mount Gimone, to have the honor of representing his comrades. With all due ceremony the coffin of the unknown soldier was taken to a special train and journeyed through Udine, Venice, Bologna, Florence and finally Rome where the coffin was carried from the train station by veterans who had earned the Gold Medal for Military Valor in the late war. A special memorial service was held at the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli and on November 4, 1921 the remains were transferred to the Piazza Venezia and then finally entombed.

The date was chosen to coincide with the Day of National Unity and the Armed Forces, a day first set aside to mark the end of the First World War and which is the only national holiday from the era of the Kingdom of Italy to survive the destruction of the monarchy by the republic. On the day that the unknown soldier was laid to rest, King Vittorio Emanuele III was noticed to have tears in his eyes and suppressed his emotions only with difficulty as he stepped forward to bestow the Gold Medal on the deceased warrior, representing all of those who had fought with courage and heroism, anonymously enduring hardship and privation for their King and fatherland.

Marshal of Italy Armando Diaz, 1st Duca della Vittoria

General Armando Diaz will always be remembered as the man who turned around the Italian war effort in 1917, picking up the pieces after the disastrous battle of Caporetto and leading Italy to the final victory in 1918 at Vittorio Veneto. His announcement of the total defeat of the Austrians and the victorious advance of the Italian army was one of the greatest moments of celebration in the entire history of the Kingdom of Italy. His time as the top military commander in the First World War did not last long, and he certainly had his detractors, but it proved extremely pivotal. He was born on December 5, 1861 in Naples and decided at an early age to pursue a military career. That, in itself, was a bold move considering that in the youth of the Kingdom of Italy the Royal Army leadership tended to be dominated by the Piedmontese and few would have placed much money on a young Neapolitan of Spanish ancestry rising very far in the ranks of the officer corps. Still, Diaz pressed on and earned a place as an officer in the artillery. He undertook further military training, graduating first in his class and in 1895 married Sarah De Rosa-Mirabellli. Later he worked as secretary to General Alberto Pollio (who would later be commander of the army).

Promoted to major, Diaz served as a battalion commander in the 26^th Infantry Regiment for a short time before being promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1905. Afterwards, Diaz spent a few years in Florence as Chief of Staff of the local military division before he was called to serve at the front in 1910. This was the start of the Italo-Turkish War in which Colonel Diaz commanding the 93^rd Infantry Regiment in Libya. He was wounded in 1912 in the fighting around Zanzur, distinguishing himself and further advancing his career. In 1914, when World War I broke out, General Count Luigi Cadorna promoted Diaz to major general and made chief of operations. In June of 1916, after the Kingdom of Italy joined the conflict, General Diaz requested a frontline assignment and was given command of the 49^th Division with the rank of lieutenant general and later command of the entire 23^rd Army Corps. As a general, he was frequently at the front and under fire and was awarded the Silver Medal for bravery after being wounded in the shoulder. This was only shortly before the disastrous battle of Caporetto in which the Royal Italian Army was smashed and to a large extent disintegrated with only a few elements standing firm and covering the retreat to the Piave River.

After such a catastrophe there was no longer any doubt that General Cadorna had to go and on November 8, 1917 Diaz received a royal decree from King Vittorio Emanuele III appointed him Chief of Staff of the army. It was General Diaz who would have to pick up the pieces of Caporetto, reorganize, reform and reinvigorate the army to lead it to final victory over the Austro-German forces. General Diaz was determined not to use the army as a “blunt instrument” but to make more surgical strikes when necessary. Overall, however, to strengthen and rebuild the army and improve morale, General Diaz abandoned the offensive strategy of General Cadorna in favor of a defensive strategy that would save lives and test the strength of the enemy. As expected, the Austrians soon launched another offensive and the Italian forces repelled them, inflicting heavy losses on the Austrians of 60,000 dead, 90,000 wounded and 25,000 taken prisoner. Diaz had learned of the impending Austrian offensive and opened a massive artillery barrage on the enemy trenches just as they were packed with soldiers about to launch the attack. Because of this, some units of the Austro-Hungarian army retreated while others charged forward. It was a disaster for Austria-Hungary and a morale-boosting victory for Italy.

The Allies wished General Diaz to launch an immediate counter-offensive while the Austrians were in defeat and disarray, however, Diaz refused to do so, recognizing that the same elements which had helped him secure victory would be working in favor of the Austrians if the roles were reversed. General Diaz remained on the defensive, consolidating and preparing his forces for the most opportune moment while Austrian morale plummeted and the internal divisions of Austria-Hungary began to pull their armed forces apart. In fact, he waited so long that the authorities in Rome became anxious that the war might end before there was a major Italian offensive that would help ensure that Italy was given the territorial concessions Britain and France had promised. As it happened, Diaz waited until just the right moment to launch his offensive and the result was the crushing Italian victory at Vittorio Veneto. The Austro-Hungarian forces were badly demoralized, many of the ethnic minorities were rising up to declare independence and many of the soldiers at the front saw no reason to give their all fighting the Italians while their own people were struggling at home.

As bad as Caporetto had been for Italy, Vittorio Veneto was worse for the Austrians. Diaz sent troops forward to divert attention away from the main area of attack and to sever the communications between the main enemy forces. When the main offensive was launched the Austro-Hungarian forces were split and their army basically came apart. As Italian troops surged forward Austrian commanders tried to organize counter-attacks but their troops simply refused to obey orders, dropped their weapons and gave up. During the offensive Hungary broke away from Austria and ordered the Hungarian troops on the Italian front to stop fighting. Czechoslovakia declared independence as did the Yugoslavs a day later. As many as 500,000 Austro-Hungarian troops were taken prisoner in what was probably the most complete victory ever won by the Kingdom of Italy with much of the credit naturally going to General Armando Diaz. In the following years General Diaz was made a Senator by the King and given the title of Duke of Victory. That same year, 1921, he became the first Italian general to be honored with a tickertape parade in New York City when he visited the United States along with the other Allied commanders. The visit was to attend the groundbreaking of the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City.

During his later years, the most controversial aspect of the life of General Diaz was a phrase he spoke in the build-up to the “March on Rome” by the Fascist Black shirts. The First World War had ended the era when the Royal Italian Army was a small corps of purely professional soldiers with Piedmontese officers. It had become a truly national army and represented a wide array of backgrounds and opinions. The rank and file included many people sympathetic to the nationalistic slogans of Mussolini and his party. When King Vittorio Emanuele III asked if the army would stand against the Black shirts, General Diaz replied that they would always follow the orders of the King but, fatefully added, that it would be better not to put them to the test in such circumstances. The army would not be called upon to shoot down the Black shirts and in the aftermath Mussolini became prime minister and quickly began consolidating his power. General Diaz was appointed Minister of War by Mussolini in his new government and later promoted to the rank of Marshal of Italy when he retired in 1924. Marshal Diaz died in Rome on February 28, 1928 at the age of 66, remembered always as the man who had led Italian forces to victory in the Great War.

Italy in the Great War

It was on May 23, 1915 that the Kingdom of Italy officially entered World War I, on the side of the Allied powers by declaring war on the Dual Empire of Austria-Hungary. In nominal command of all armed forces was HM King Vittorio Emanuele III, however, he was content to leave operational control in the hands of the chief of the general staff, Count Luigi Cadorna, while he stayed at the front, always on the move, inspecting the troops, seeing to their welfare and settling disagreements within the supreme command. The primary front was the 650 kilometer frontier with Austria but Italian forces were also engaged in North Africa, East Africa and the Middle East where an Italian contingent served alongside the other Allied powers, primarily from the British Empire. Another larger contingent of labor and combat forces also served on the Western Front and forces were dispatched to Albania for cooperation with Allied forces in the Balkans. Because the Austrians were already engaged against the Serbians and the Russians, Italy held an advantage in manpower over Austria, however, Italian forces were not as well armed and the mountainous terrain gave the Austrians an extremely strong series of natural fortifications that gave them a key advantage.

General Cadorna

General Cadorna adopted an offensive strategy that was to be based on a series of “offensive bounds” from one objective to another. This resulted in a series of attacks known as the battles of the Isonzo. All available strength was concentrated along the Austrian front, to the detriment of the Italian position elsewhere. In North Africa, for example, most troops were pulled out with only a minimal colonial force remaining and, as a result, Italian control over the region was soon reduced to several key coastal cities as Islamic rebels of the Senussi sect launched a guerilla war against the Italians encouraged and armed by the Ottoman Turks (who were anxious to reclaim the region from Britain and Italy) and the Germans who used their submarines to smuggle guns to the Bedouins fighting against the French, British and Italians in North Africa. Likewise, in Somalia, a rebel army rose up under the command of the “Mad Mullah” Mohammed Abdullah Hassan. He was supported, again, by the Ottoman Turks and also formed an alliance with the Emperor of Ethiopia who had converted to Islam. These forces cooperated to try to drive out the Allied powers and all agreed to recognize the spiritual authority of the Turkish Sultan, the Caliph of Islam, and so were supported by the Ottoman Empire.

When the “First Offensive Bound” was launched in 1915, General Cadorna had high hopes of a rapid advance against the Austrians, seizing key positions that would allow Italian troops to threaten vital cities and, perhaps, even Vienna itself. Allied observers were greatly impressed by the bravery of the Italian troops but also noted that their commanders often presented them with vague orders and impossible goals. As the Italian forces charged the Austrian lines, dug in on commanding heights with many machine guns and excellent artillery, their ranks were blasted to pieces. Still, they fought on and captured several key mountain passes and advanced the Italian lines considerably. The first battle of the Isonzo was an Italian victory. The cost, however, was extremely high; nearly 15,000 men compared to less than 10,000 for the Austrians and the advance had not reached nearly as far as had been hoped. Nonetheless, General Cadorna stuck to his original strategy and conducted the entire front like a massive siege operation. Many more battles were to follow, often with similar results.

From July 18-August 3 the second battle of the Isonzo was fought, again with minor gains being achieved but taking heavy casualties. In North Africa, Italian forces completed a withdrawal to the coast of Cyrenaica and declared war on the Ottoman Empire for supporting the Libyan rebels. Through the fall and early winter, the third and fourth battles of the Isonzo were fought. Limited territories were taken, the Italian armies continued to advance but at a cost in lives out of proportion to the actual gains. On other fronts, Italy declared war on Bulgaria and the first Italian troops landed in Albania which was being overrun by competing factions from neighboring nations. Italy could also count on more help in North Africa in the future as the Senussi rebels, emboldened by the Italian retraction, began attacking French and British possessions as well. Overall, 1915 had seen some important gains for Italy, the taking of some vital mountain passes but also very heavy casualty rates and a number of setbacks in Libya.

As 1916 opened Italy won some important victories over the Senussi rebels as Libyans in the coastal areas rallied to the Italian side. In March, the fifth battle of the Isonzo was fought, Italian troops advancing a short distance at the cost of many lives. Questions became more common about the conduct of the war, but any who voice disagreement found themselves promptly dismissed or even imprisoned by General Cadorna. One of those to suffer the wrath of the chief of staff was General Giulio Douhet, the prophet of air warfare, who was sent to prison for opposing the costly strategy of Cadorna. Still, the overall strategy was not changed. In May, the war clouds began to gather in East Africa as the “Mad Mullah” of Somalia allied with the Ethiopian Emperor Lij Jasu in support of the Ottoman Turks. Lij Jasu was soon overthrown but had enough support to continue the war. Italy sent reinforcements to Eritrea as French, British and Italian positions in the region all come under attack. That same month, disaster struck the primary front as the Austrians launched a major counter-offensive that saw Austria take Arsiero and Asiago. Austrian forces also recaptured the northern end of Lake Garda. However, there was better news from the south. At the same time, Italian reinforcements landed in Libya, retaking al-Bardi and Zuwarah while a combined British-Italian force destroyed a Senussi encampment near Darnah. Soon, the Senussi agreed to negotiations.

Italy had been rattled but not defeated and during the summer, Cadorna launched more attacks that saw Italian troops retake Arsiero and Asiago. The next month, he launched the sixth battle of the Isonzo in which Italian forces made substantial gains, including the capture of the long sought after city of Gorizia. Also in August, the 35^th Italian Division arrived in Thessaloniki in Greece to support their fellow allies on the Macedonian front. The Bulgarian forces were halted and began to be pushed back, prompting them to call for German and Austrian assistance. It was also on August 29, 1916 that Italy finally joined the fight against all the Central Powers by declaring war on Germany. Meanwhile, successes continued in the Balkans as Italian forces pushed the pro-German Greeks out of southern Albania and launched diversionary attacks while the other Allies broke the Bulgarian right flank and captured Florina. Back on the Austrian front, however, the same old routine returned with the seventh battle of the Isonzo in which Italian forces suffered heavy losses in exchange for a minor advancement of their lines. The eighth and ninth battles of the Isonzo in the fall produced the same results. The most noticeable successes remained in the Balkans where a major Bulgarian counter-offensive was defeated after which the Bulgarians suffered a major setback with a successful Allied offensive. Italian troops in Albania pushed eastward and were able to link up with the French, establishing a continuous front from the Adriatic to the Aegean Sea.

As 1917 opened Italian forces won a string of victories in North Africa, restoring Crown control over western Tripolitania and forcing the Senussi rebels to come to terms. A peace was agreed to though not all Muslim rebels abide by the terms. In East Africa, the “Mad Mullah” attacked the Somali forces of Sultan Uthman of Obbia, a supporter of Italy, but was defeated. Later in the summer the Sultan launched his own offensive against the “Mad Mullah”. In Europe, Cadorna stuck to his usual methods in the tenth battle of the Isonzo, gaining ground but losing many lives. Morale was dropping dangerously in the Italian army, due to their heavy losses and among the officer corps cohesion was on the decline as well due to the numerous sackings and court martials. Yet, Austria was in a perilous state as well and appealed to Germany for help, as they had been forced to do on other fronts, warning that the next Italian offensive might prove decisive if German divisions were not transferred to strengthen their front. German support did arrive and soon the combined Austro-German forces launched a major counter-attack on the Italian lines in what became known as the battle of Caporetto. The result was a crushing defeat for Italy as the worn and weary Italian army almost completely came apart. Hundreds of thousands are captured or simply abandon the field, General Cadorna himself abandons the second army and rushes to Padua. Only the Duke of Aosta and his Third Army hold their positions as the rest of the front simply collapses. Venice and Milan come under threat but the Austro-German forces run out of energy to pursue and the Italian army reformed itself behind the Piave River.

General Diaz

The defeat of Caporetto had major repercussions on the Italian war effort. The public was finally shocked to its senses with the old image of Austrian troops marching across northern Italy bringing back memories that served to unite all Italians in support of the war effort as never before. General Cadorna was dismissed and General Armando Diaz took his place, bringing a new style of command and a new overall defensive strategy that would be far less wasteful of human life. The Italian army immediately began to effect a nearly miraculous turnaround. New assault units are developed for raids against enemy lines, proving themselves in early 1918 when, in conjuction with the navy, these “bold ones” infiltrated the Austrian lines and destroyed a number of electrical sub-stations. As summer opened, more Austrian offensives are defeated and General Diaz considered his forces sufficiently recovered to dispatch the Italian II Corps to France to aid the Allies on the western front. Throughout the fall Italian troops participated in the Allied advance in the Balkans as Bulgaria was pushed out of the war. General Diaz, cautious by nature, held back until Austria-Hungary was at her weakest point as the subject nationalities of the Hapsburg empire began to split apart and turn on each other. Finally, on October 24, General Diaz launched the battle of Vittorio Veneto.

Vittorio Veneto was for Austria what Caporetto had been for Italy. The Austrians were demoralized and war-weary and when they were hit by the Italian troops, supported by elements from the British army, the Austrian lines were split and the army was shattered. 300,000 Austrian troops surrendered and the Austro-Hungarian army basically dissolved. In quick order, the Empire of Austria-Hungary would as well. On October 27 Austria asked Italy for an armistice and on November 2 the Hungarian government ordered all Hungarian troops to lay down their arms. The next day, as Italian troops landed in Trieste, Austria signed the armistice with Italy which took effect on November 4 at 1500. The peace would be difficult, and post-war feelings would harden public opinion in Italy against her former allies, but, at least, the war was finally over and in a conflict which saw the downfall of many monarchies (on both sides) the Kingdom of Italy had survived. Her troops had served in East and North Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans, the Western Front and the primary front against Austria. The Italian navy had been instrumental in saving the hard-fighting Serbian army from total destruction and yet, what was gained seemed insufficient considering the terrible losses Italy had suffered. The fact that so much of what was promised was not delivered would have terrible consequences for everyone in the future.

Marshal of Italy Luigi Cadorna

General Count Luigi Cadorna was the field commander of the Italian army during the first half of Italian involvement in World War I and, sadly, an example of the weakness of the Supreme Command of the time. Born on September 4, 1850 at Verbania he was the son of the famous General Raffaele Cadorna who had fought in the Wars for Independence and who led the royal army in the seizure of Rome. Luigi Cadorna joined the Royal Italian Army in 1868 and progressed steadily through the ranks of the officer corps until he was offered the post of chief of staff in 1908, a position which he refused. However, when hostilities seemed eminent with the outbreak of World War I in 1914 he accepted the post and when the Kingdom of Italy entered the conflict against Austria in May of 1915 Count Cadorna held the top command of the army and was confident of success being able to field 875,000 men in 36 infantry divisions. However, Italy faced many threats, not only on the northern front against Austria but in Libya and eastern Africa where the Ottoman Turks incited local Muslim sects to rebel. The Italian army was also industrially ill-equipped with only 120 modern artillery pieces.

Nonetheless, General Cadorna adopted an offensive strategy. The primary focus would be concentrated against the Austrians and Cadorna planned for a succession of “lunges” along the Isonzo River. In the first year of Italian participation in the war, General Cadorna launched four of these “lunge” offensives on the Isonzo line with the goal of capturing Gorizia from which the Italian armies could threaten Trieste or the Austrian heart of the Austrian homeland. Cadorna based this strategy on the understanding that the bulk of Austrian strength would be occupied by the hard-fighting Serbians, leaving the Italian frontier lightly defended. However, the Austrians enjoyed a strong defensive position along the mountainous border and were better equipped than the Italian army which had only 300 machine guns of quality design when the first troops charged into the Austrian lines. The result was a horrific casualty rate in exchange for only minor territorial gains. Attack after attack yielded similar, meager results. The character of General Cadorna also made it very difficult to adjust tactics to say nothing of considering an overall change in strategy.

As soon as the war began, Count Cadorna became known as an intolerant authoritarian. He disliked the almost constant presence of His Majesty King Vittorio Emanuele III at the front, he tore up messages from the Prime Minister in Rome and was notorious for dismissing any subordinates who disagreed with his strategy or voiced opposition to his plans. During his time in command, General Cadorna dismissed no less than 216 generals, 255 colonels and 355 battalion commanders who disagreed with or otherwise displeased him. His disciplinary measures on the enlisted men were no less harsh with one out of every 17 men being brought up on charges during his tenure, about 750 of whom were executed. Naturally, this greatly damaged the cohesion of the army and dangerously lowered the morale of the soldiers. However, Cadorna refused to ever consider that he might be in the wrong and anyone who suggested that the great losses and lack of a major victory were his fault would soon find themselves in a prison cell. That was for the officers. The other ranks were less fortunate. When offensives fell short of their goals, Cadorna blamed the soldiers and even reintroduced the old Roman punishment of decimation in an effort to “motivate” them.

Cadorna with his staff officers

Given such circumstances, it is amazing that the Italian forces were able to achieve what they did. It is often forgotten that the Italian armies did make consistent progress against the Austrians from the start of hostilities. In the “First Offensive Bound” Italian forces captured Sté lvio, Tonale, Guidriari, Giau and Plö cken passes along with several salients beyond. In June they took Monte Nero in a nighttime attack and in the second, third, fourth and fifth battles of the Isonzo minor gains were made. Austrian counter-attacks then set back the situation but the lost ground was later regained and in the sixth battle of the Isonzo there were major advances with Gorizia finally falling to Italian forces. The problem was that all of this was supposed to have been done quickly after war was declared and Italy had suffered huge casualties in gaining these often minor accomplishments. Yet, General Cadorna refused to change his strategy. The seventh, eighth and ninth battles of the Isonzo finished out 1916 and, again, each saw minor Italian gains but at tremendous cost in loss of life while the morale situation became severe.

The breaking point came in October 1917 when the Austrians, reinforced by a number of crack German divisions, launch a major offensive against Caporetto (today Kobarid in Slovenia). The Italian forces were shattered, with a few exceptions and the army almost completely came apart. Hundreds of thousands were taken prisoner, tens of thousands were killed and hundreds of thousands simply panicked. They had been taken by surprise due to a heavy mist on the opening day of the attack and the German had made heavy use of poison gas which the Italians lacked an effective defense against. A massive retreat followed to the Piave River where the Italian army began to put itself back together and where the Allies, belatedly, rushed in assistance. General Cadorna had retreated as well but, as usual, refused to accept responsibility for the disaster and placed the blame on his soldiers. The Allied leaders came together to discuss the situation and King Vittorio Emanuele III proved a zealous and passionate defender of the ordinary Italian fighting man against those who would demean his courage and integrity. Since the King dispelled that myth, there could be no question that General Cadorna had to be replaced.

The former commander was replaced by General Armando Diaz and General Cadorna was “kicked upstairs” to be the Italian representative at the Allied Supreme War Council in Versailles. A new strategy was adopted and the Italian army effected an almost miraculous recovery. Cadorna, however, remained bitter about his dismissal and after the war spent his time writing his version of events in which he, typically, blamed everyone but himself for the misfortunes Italian arms had suffered. He had an exaggerated sense of his own importance and at the start of the war liked to envision himself as another Napoleone. When he was dismissed he believed that the public would rise up on his behalf and not allow it to happen but, after Caporetto, no one was sorry to see him go and he bitterly blamed the House of Savoy for forcing him into retirement in a last act of shameless indiscipline and bad grace. A post-war enquiry showed the extent of his mistakes as well as his flight to Padua, abandoning the second army, at the height of the disaster. Although retired, Mussolini gave him the honorary rank of Marshal of Italy in 1924 and he died in Bordighera in 1928, still a bitter man.

General Giulio Douhet, the Italian Prophet of Aerial Warfare

General Giulio Douhet, aerial warfare visionary and the prophet of strategic bombing was a military innovator and the first great airpower theorist in history. His thinking was decades ahead of his time as he foresaw the day, even at the turn of the last century, when air power would become the dominant offensive weapon of the future, capable of winning wars all on its own long before anyone else saw control of the skies as vital or, indeed, saw hardly any military value in aircraft at all. He was born in Caserta on May 30, 1869 into a family with a long tradition of military service and, in keeping with that tradition, attended the Italian military academy and graduated at the top of his class, earning a commission in the artillery in 1892. He was an innovator from the very start of his career who immediately saw the potential in making the Italian army a mechanized army. He commanded a battalion of the elite bersaglieri light infantry when these were mounted on motorcycles for the first time, giving them added speed and mobility. When Wilbur Wright visited the Kingdom of Italy in 1909 he met the American inventor-aviator and at once saw the potential for the military use of aircraft and became an early and tireless advocate for it.

His foresight was first proven in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-12 when he was given command of the first ever aviation battalion in Italian military history. Under Douhet, Italy broke new ground by becoming the first power to successfully carry off air-to-ground attacks with the bombing of Turkish outposts in Libya. This was all the proof Douhet required and he immediately saw a brilliant future for military aircraft. Drawing on his wartime experiences, after the conflict he wrote and published the first manual on the doctrines of air combat entitled “Rules of the Use of Airplanes in War” in 1913. Thanks to Douhet, the Kingdom of Italy had taken an early lead as the first world power to take aerial warfare seriously. However, being a ground-breaking thinker is rarely easy. When Italy entered World War I, Douhet was first posted as chief of staff of an infantry division but given his talent and experience was soon transferred to command the army aviation division. He called for Italy to devote huge resources to the air arm and to launch a campaign of saturation bombing against Austria. However, very little was done before his criticisms of the supreme command earned him the wrath of General Luigi Cadorna who had him arrested and court-martialed.

Sadly, this was not out of the ordinary and should not at all reflect poorly on Colonel Douhet as an officer. By 1917 General Cadorna had sacked a total of 216 generals, 255 colonels and 355 battalion commanders who he blamed for one thing or another or who simply disagreed with his handling of the army, over a time when Italian losses had been heavy and territorial gains extremely modest. However, Colonel Douhet used his time well. As he sat in confinement he continued to write about his ideas for the future of war in the air and to further refine his theories on military aviation. Today many remember the bombing raids of the German and Allied armies on the western front but few realize they had only recently discovered the strategy that Douhet had been advocating for years. In 1917, after the disastrous battle of Caporetto, Douhet and the other critics of General Cadorna were proven correct and the top general was replaced and Douhet was released, restored to his rank and put back in command of the new Central Aeronautic Bureau. In 1921 he published his most famous work, “The Command of the Air”. He held a post in the government of Mussolini for a very short time before retiring from the army with the rank of major general in 1923. He died in Rome on February 15, 1930 at 60 years old.

Why, at the end of it all, was General Douhet such a visionary who we should still remember today? What were his great ideas and theories? He was the first to call for an independent air force, separate from the army and the navy (eventually realized in the Regia Aeronautica) and the first to call for versatile fighter planes, what he termed a “battle plane”, that would be capable of air-to-air combat and ground attack missions. Douhet believed that massive fleets of bombers could be used as the ultimate strategic military weapon. He envisioned ground forces being used solely in a defensive role, guarding Italian territory, while the air force was the primary offensive arm of the military and would devastate enemy countries and armies, destroying their infrastructure and forcing them to capitulate. This, he argued, he would be more cost effective, save lives that would otherwise be wasted in human-wave attacks and would make warfare more swift and decisive.

Not everyone in Italy appreciated the ideas of General Douhet or saw his work as applying to them since other countries (such as Germany, France and Britain) had such larger air forces. However, the use of air power was central to Italian victories in Libya against the rebel Islamic forces, in Abyssinia and was absolutely vital in defeating the communist forces in Spain. However, despite a greater emphasis being put on air power in Italy after his time, the country was never in a position, industrially, to fully implement his ideas. Nonetheless, all of the great aerial warfare leaders from Germany, France, Britain and America read his books and were well studied in his theories. These were, to varying degrees, adopted during World War II particularly by the U.S. Army Air Corps and the British Royal Air Force which carried out large-scale strategic bombing, which were key factors in the ultimate Allied victory. Some more recent military historians have at times downplayed the foresight of General Douhet, arguing that no country has ever won a war through the sole use of air power. However, none have fully adopted the strategies he envisioned to carry this out and even in more recent years there are examples in places such as Kosovo and most recently in Libya which prove just how far-sighted Douhet was. In any event, his influence is enormous simply by being the first to imagine a great and central role for air power in warfare. The development of air forces all over the world owe a debt of gratitude to General Giulio Douhet.

Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta

One of the all too often unsung heroes of the Kingdom of Italy in the First World War was HRH Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta. He was born in Genoa on January 13, 1869 to the soon-to-be King Amadeus I of Spain and Princess Maria Vittoria. From 1870 to 1873 he had the honor of being Prince of the Asturias, however his father soon declared Spain “ungovernable” and returned to Italy. In 1890 Prince Emanuele Filiberto succeeded his father as Duke of Aosta, the second Savoy to hold the title, and in 1895 married Princess Helene of Orleans who had earlier hoped to marry the future King Vittorio Emanuele III. In fact, her parents were rather displeased that their daughter was marrying someone as comparatively low in the royal ranks as the Duke of Aosta but they comforted themselves with the possibility that some terrible disaster might befall the senior line. The Duke and Duchess of Aosta had a successful enough marriage, ensuring the continuity of the Aosta line with the birth of a son in 1898 and another in 1900, both of whom would succeed to the title one day.

In 1905 joined the Royal Italian Army in Naples and made his reputation after Italy entered World War I in 1915. Given command of the Italian Third Army by his cousin the King. The Italian front in World War I was considered one of the harshest in the world, even by veterans of the infamous western front, due to the rugged, frozen, mountainous terrain. Almost as soon as Italy entered the war another deadlock ensued. The Italians launched attack after attack on the Austrian lines across the Isonzo River, taking very heavy casualties and gaining very little. The Austrians would then counter-attack and likewise suffer heavy losses with little to show for it. In all, the Italians fought twelve battles on the Isonzo to little avail but the only offensive, the sixth, which produced real results was led by the Duke of Aosta and his Third Army. In August of 1916 the Italians, led by the Duke of Aosta, captured Gorizia and gave Italy a foothold on the opposite side of the river. The five previous fruitless assaults had left the nation greatly demoralized and this victory was key in restoring Italian morale.

At the time, however, the Duke of Aosta got little credit for the success, at least in some quarters, due to the way General Luigi Capello ingratiated himself to the civilian press. As a result, many credited him with the victory and none seemed to believe it more than he did which helped set the Italian forces up for a great disaster. In October of 1918 the Italians suffered a horrible disaster when the overconfidence of Capello and a lack of foresight by Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna led to an utter shattering of the line at Caporetto by a German-reinforced offensive. However, the Duke of Aosta was there to pick up the pieces and his Third Army set a good example by their orderly withdrawal behind the Tagliamento. The Duke also played an important role in the recovery of the Italian army which rebounded and was able to come back to win a final victory with the collapse of Austria-Hungary. Because of all this, under the Duke of Aosta, the Italian Third Army was nicknamed the “Undefeated Army”.

The Duke of Aosta became an Italian hero by his exploits at the front and in the chaotic period after the war and the collapse of the Orlando government in 1919 some nationalist and veterans organizations favored the Duke of Aosta launching a military coup and taking over the government but, of course, nothing ever came of such talk. In 1926 Benito Mussolini had the Duke promoted to the rank of Marshal of Italy in recognition of his long and meritorious service to his country. Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta died in Turin on July 4, 1931 and was succeeded by his son Prince Amedeo. As per his wishes he was buried at the military cemetery at Redipuglia alongside the fallen soldiers of his Third Army.