List of Italian generals who died during the First World War

This is a list of Italian generals who died during the First World War. Italy joined the war on the Allied side in 1915 and fought until the end of hostilities in 1918. The Albo dei Caduti Italiani della Grande Guerra (Italian: "Honour Roll of Great War Dead") lists the details of the 540,401 Italian soldiers who died as late as when peace treaties formally ending the war were being concluded. The list includes those killed in action, died of wounds, or from illness.

Context

General ranks in the Italian Army In 1914, when the First World War began and Italy chose not to join the rest of the Central Powers in war against the Allies, the Italian Army had four ranks of general (in ascending order of seniority): Major general Lieutenant general Army corps general General of the army

In 1915, the year Italy joined the Allies, grades were introduced to the rank structure to make the command levels clearer. Further ranks were added in 1918: Brigadier general (introduced in 1918 by conversion from the rank of colonel in command of a brigade) Major general in command of a brigade (introduced in 1915) in command of a division (introduced in 1918) Lieutenant general in command of a division (introduced in 1915) in command of an army corps (introduced in 1915) in command of an army (introduced in 1918) chief of staff of the army (introduced in 1918) General of the army

Army size and casualties In early 1915 the Italian army had a theoretical strength of 1,058,000 men in seventeen army corps (beneath the corps were 44 division-sized formations). Only 2 of the army corps were near full strength and only 15,858 of the army's 45,099 officers were professional career soldiers. By late 1917 the army had grown to 2.9 million men in 70 divisions and by 1918 had 186,000 officers (though still only 22,000 professionals).

The Italian army chief of staff Luigi Cadorna had a reputation for ruthlessness; by the time he was sacked in late 1917 he had dismissed 217 generals and hundreds more junior officers. Losses also came from other causes, of the 14 major generals who left the army in June 1916, six were dismissed, one was wounded and seven left due to illness. Casualties among officers were high in general, 16,867 died during the war, a ratio of 8.2%.

Disease took a higher toll on the Italian army than many of its contemporaries; an estimated 30-35% of deaths were caused by disease. This figure ran at around 13% in the French Army while only one German soldier succumbed to illness for every ten combat deaths. Malaria was a constant problem and affected up to 25% of Italian soldiers in 1917. Pulmonary tuberculosis was also a major killer, causing 20% of all Italian Army deaths by illness. Periodic epidemics of cholera and typhus swept through the Italian lines, causing thousands of deaths at a time, and from 1918 Spanish flu outbreaks occurred.

Wartime deaths The Albo dei Caduti Italiani della Grande Guerra (Italian: "Honour Roll of Great War Dead") published by the Ministry of War lists the details of the 540,401 Italian soldiers who died between 1915 and 1920. The work to draw up the roll was complex and was interrupted by the Second World War, it was compiled in 28 volumes between 1926 and 1964. The list includes those considered to have "died for their country" in a war-related context and includes those killed or missing in action as well as those that died from disease, accident or suicide. It excludes those executed by the Italian army (around 1,000 men), those who died in Italian prisons (around 7,000 men), those who died from self harm in an attempt to avoid service by maiming (around 1,000 men) and those who deserted and were not later killed in battle or awarded a bravery medal (around 5,000 men). It also excludes soldiers who fought in the Italian army but were not resident in Italy (though did include around 3,000 of these men by mistake). Demographer Alessio Fornasin estimates that around 18,000 soldiers were excluded from the roll by mistake or lack of documentation and estimates a total loss of around 558,000 men. Other estimates such as by the War Reparations Commission run as high as 650,000, though Fornasin considers these to overstate deaths in prisoner of war camps and in the post-armistice era.

Although the Italian military effort reached a peak in men deployed in 1917 with the 10th, 11th and 12th battles of the Isonzo and the Battle of the Piave River. War between the Allied Powers and Bulgaria ended with the 29 September 1918 Armistice of Salonica and with the Ottoman Empire ended with the 30 October Armistice of Mudros. Italy signed the Armistice of Villa Giusti ending hostilities with Austria-Hungary on 3 November 1918 and the Armistice of Compiègne which ended the war with Germany on 11 November 1918. Although the conflict ended part way through 1918 it still accounted for the most deaths of any of the war years, because of the arrival of Spanish flu. This list of 27 generals takes the armistice with Germany as the end of the war. By comparison with other armies Laurent Guillemot lists 41 French generals killed in the war (by a wider definition including non-combat related deaths and deaths as late as 1923 Gérard Gehin lists 81). Guillemot, using his more limited definition considers 76 British generals, 2 Belgian and 2 Romanian generals were killed in the war and, on the opposing side, 70 German, 40 Austro-Hungarian and one Ottoman general killed.

Image Name Rank Command Date of death Place of death Cause of deathMajor generalForli Brigade9 November 1915Battles of the Isonzo, Austro-Italian frontierDied of woundsMajor generalLivorno Brigade28 November 1915Battles of the Isonzo, Austro-Italian frontierDied of woundsMajor generalSassari Brigade15 December 1915Monte San Michele, ItalyDied of woundsMajor generalEngineers, XVIII Army Corps25 April 1916Field Hospital No. 75Died of woundsMajor generalEtna Brigade10 June 191664th Medical SectionDied of woundsMajor generalMilan Brigade8 July 1916Field Hospital No. 53Died of woundsLieutenant general25 August 1916Udine, ItalyIllnessLieutenant generalItalian troops in the occupation of Albania11 December 1916Valona, (Vlorë, modern day Albania)Killed in action (sinking of the Regina Margherita)Major generalItalian mission to British forces in France7 February 1917FranceIllnessMajor generalMurge Brigade28 May 1917Field Hospital No. 46Died of woundsMajor general15th Infantry Brigade5 July 1917Fontevivo, ItalyEffects of poison gasBrigadier generalForli Bigade29 August 1917Monte San Gabriele (Škabrijel, modern day Slovenia)Died of woundsMajor general8th Division29 September 1917City of Milan Mobile Surgical HospitalDied of woundsMajor general44th Infantry Division5 October 1917Banjšice Plateau, Austrian EmpireDied of woundsMajor generalPorto Maurizio Brigade15 November 1917Florence, ItalyIllnessLieutenant generalGenoa Army Corps14 January 1918Genoa, ItalyIllnessLieutenant general23rd Division29 May 1918Zero Branco, ItalyIllnessMajor generalArtillery, XXIII Army Corps8 July 1918Piave river, ItalyDied of woundsBrigadier generalVerona Brigade22 July 1918AlbaniaIllnessBrigadier generalReggio Brigade8 August 1918Rome, ItalyIllnessLieutenant generalGuardia di Finanza10 August 1918Rome, ItalyIllnessBrigadier generalArtillery, 69th Division20 August 191827th Medical SectionDied of woundsBrigadier generalPiacenza Brigade9 September 1918Turin, ItalyIllnessBrigadier generalVerona Brigade27 September 1918AlbaniaIllnessMajor general12 October 1918Cosenza, ItalyIllnessBrigadier general10th Division17 October 1918Turin, ItalyIllnessLieutenant generalXXVI Army Corps8 November 1918Musestre, ItalyIllness

Post-armistice deaths The Albo dei Caduti Italiani della Grande Guerra lists Italian soldiers who died up to 1920. This includes those that died after the armistices but before all of the peace treaties were concluded. Italy was a participant in the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920) which sought to establish terms for the peace treaties that ended the war. The 28 June 1919 Treaty of Versailles established peace with Germany; the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 10 September formally ended the war with Austria; the 4 June 1920 Treaty of Trianon ended the war with Hungary and the 27 November 1919 Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine accomplished the same with Bulgaria. A ratified peace treaty with Turkey, the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, was not achieved until the 24 July 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.

Image Name Rank Command Date of death Place of death Cause of deathRef.Brigadier generalGeneral Staff2 December 1918Bologna, ItalyEffects of poison gas Major generalArtillery, XXIX Army Corps26 December 1918Naples, ItalyIllnessMajor generalGeneral Staff31 January 1919Florence, ItalyWar injuryBrigadier generalToscana Brigade23 August 1919Bari, ItalyIllnessLieutenant generalFlorence Army Corps8 October 1919Florence, ItalyIllnessBrigadier generalArezzo Brigade13 March 1920Bologna, ItalyIllnessBrigadier generalPuglia Brigade6 June 1920AlbaniaDied of woundsMajor generalGeneral Staff16 October 1920Genoa, ItalyIllness

See also List of French generals who died during the First World War List of German generals who died during the First World War List of generals of the British Empire who died during the First World War

References