Andrea Graziani

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Bust of Andrea Graziani in Valgatara

Andrea Graziani (* 15. July 1865 in Bardolino , Italy ; † February 1931 at Prato ) was an Italian general , who in the First World War, many soldiers and civilians arbitrarily partly summarily shoot left. During fascism he covered the rank of general in the fascist militia .

Life

Early years

Andrea Graziani came from a conservative middle-class family. His father, Giobatta, was a notary and his mother, Teresa Ovio, came from an old Veronese aristocratic family. The couple had a total of eight children and, as the von Bardolino family grew, they moved to their estate in Valgatara in Valpolicella north of Verona . The Villa Graziani later also served as Andrea Graziani's residence.

Andrea, the only one in the family to pursue a military career, attended the military academy in Modena , which he graduated in 1882 as a lieutenant in the infantry. He was then transferred to the Bersaglieri . In 1885 he embarked with the Italian expeditionary force to Massawa in Eritrea and then took on Eritreakrieg part. After his return to Italy in 1887, he attended the war school in Turin for two years . In 1894, meanwhile promoted to captain, Graziani was transferred to the Alpini (6th and 2nd Alpini regiments). Then he changed units and areas of responsibility several times. He was a staff officer in the divisional headquarters of Ancona , briefly in the war ministry and from 1899 to 1906 in the divisional command in Verona. From 1906 to 1098 Graziani, who was promoted to major in 1904, took on a teaching post at the war school in Turin.

In September 1908 he moved to the Messina division command . After the severe earthquake of December 28, 1908 , he excelled in providing relief to the civilian population. In 1909 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. From 1912 to 1914 he headed the division command in Brescia and in April 1914 he took command of the 11th Bersaglieri Regiment as a colonel.

After the earthquake in Avezzano on January 13, 1915, he was sent to the disaster area in central Italy, where he was again successful in earthquake relief at the head of his Bersaglieri.

First World War

After the Italian entry into the war on May 23, 1915, Colonel Graziani was tasked with setting up the 15th Bersaglieri regiment. At the end of June 1915 he was appointed Chief of Staff of the V Corps and was posted to the front on the plateau of Folgaria and Lavarone . A short time later he was promoted to brigadier general. In July he took over the post of Chief of Staff of the 1st Italian Army led by General Roberto Brusati . For his active participation in the Italian attack attempts on the plateau of Folgaria in October 1915, in which he was also slightly injured by shrapnel , he was awarded a silver medal for bravery . At the end of March 1916 he was replaced by Cadorna as Chief of Staff of the 1st Italian Army by General Albricci and entrusted with the command of the Ionio Infantry Brigade, which took up position in the Valsugana . During the Austro-Hungarian South Tyrol offensive , he and his brigade were involved in successful defensive battles in the Valsugana, for which Graziani , who had meanwhile risen to major general , was awarded another silver medal for bravery and the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Savoy .

After his resignation as commander of the Ionio Brigade in mid-June 1916, he was assigned command of the 44th Infantry Division in the Pasubio - Vallarsa section , which he led until March 1917. With the 44th Infantry Division he initially defended the Italian positions before partially recapturing lost positions, such as the Cosmagnon Mulde, in the autumn before the onset of winter.

In March 1917 he took over the 33rd Infantry Division, which was part of the 3rd Italian Army in the Karst, and led it in the Tenth Battle of the Isonzo (May 12th to June 5th, 1917). For his services to the 33rd Infantry Division he was awarded the third silver medal for bravery. After the breakthrough of the German-Austrian troops in the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo , he received an order from Cadorna on November 2, 1917 to direct the withdrawal of the Italian troops in a regulated manner. As inspector general of the trigger, he cracked down on indiscipline. In November he was entrusted with the command of the I. Alpini Group on the plateau of the seven municipalities and led the Alpini in the battles for Monte Sisemol, Valbella, Col del Rosso and Col d'Ecchele on the eastern edge of the plateau at the end of December .

In April 1918 Graziani was entrusted with the command of the Czechoslovakian legions formed from the Czechoslovak deserters of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces . He commanded these until the end of the war in the section of the front around Monte Altissimo di Nago between the Adige Valley and Lake Garda .

Post-war period and the Avanti case!

In January 1919 Graziani was released from active service early. In the post-war debate he became the stumbling block for the misconduct of the Italian officer corps during the war. Triggered by the fall of the Orlando government in June 1919, the political discussion between supporters and opponents of the war heated up again, also in view of the peace negotiations in Paris, which were disappointing for Italy. The lifting of censorship by the successor government, Nitti , made a significant contribution to the increased public interest in war . The press that was critical or negative about the war, such as La Stampa and the newspaper of the socialist party Avanti! , soon shot themselves at what they thought were primarily responsible for the war. The parliamentary commission of inquiry set up after the devastating defeat of Karfreit in January 1918 provided additional material for the opponents of the war, which was to be concluded in June 1919 after 18 months.

Four days after the publication of the investigation report on Karfreit, in which serious allegations were made against the military leadership, the newspaper Avanti! of July 28, 1919 on the front page an article about Graziani. In this, Graziani was denounced for having arbitrarily ordered the shooting of a soldier near Padua on November 3, 1917. One day after his appointment as Inspector General of the Trigger, he first chastised the artilleryman Alessandro Ruffini in Noventa Padovana and then had him shot without hearing him because, in his opinion, he had kicked him provocatively with a cigar in his mouth. The case, which was also taken up by other newspapers, caused quite a stir and resulted in two parliamentary questions on which Prime Minister Nitti and Minister of War Albricci had to comment. As a result, they distanced themselves from Graziani's actions and filed charges against him. In a number of other subsequent articles, Avanti! on further cases in which Graziani ordered the shooting of soldiers and civilians, sometimes for dubious reasons. On his orders, a total of 36 soldiers and civilians were shot between 10 November and 16 November 1917 for alleged looting after a short show trial without defense between Treviso and Padua . Graziani defended his harsh actions by saying that in extraordinary circumstances, such as those that prevailed after Good Freit, he would have acted in the interests and for the protection of the fatherland.

Cadorna, but also his successor Diaz , as well as the General Staff knew about Graziani's approach, but still gave him a free hand. He also openly boasted of putting up deterrent posters in the streets of Padua with his standing judgments signed by him. Graziani was notorious for his methods even before Karfreit and was consciously chosen by the military leadership to ensure discipline and order during the chaotic retreat after the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo. His first execution order came from November 1916, when he had two soldiers shot near Schio, despite protests from the civilian population, because they had not greeted him properly. He passed another death sentence during the Tenth Battle of Isonzo in May 1917 after an insignificant dispute between a soldier and his superior, which allegedly led to physical violence.

As the commander of the Czechoslovak legions, he was initially cautious about the mostly poorly motivated Czechoslovaks for political reasons. But even here later with a hard hand. On June 12, 1918, a few days before the start of the Austro-Hungarian Piave offensive, he had eight deserted legionnaires shot dead despite protests from the Czechoslovak General Štefánik .

It is believed that Graziani was responsible for further shootings, but these are not documented. On the other hand, from eyewitness accounts and memoirs, other brutal practices are known that he displayed in the course of the First World War. In the autumn of 1915, for example, he shot himself at retreating soldiers on the Folgaria plateau after they had run into an opposing position in vain. According to his own statements, he also hunted retreating soldiers during the Tenth Battle of the Isonzo.

Public interest in Graziani ebbed as quickly as it had flared. However, he did not have a good reputation among the population, so he was insulted on the street in the immediate vicinity of his home in Valgatara. In the post-war period he dealt with agricultural problems, in particular with the construction of irrigation canals for the agricultural areas between the Adige Valley and Verona . He also drove the completion of the Strada Graziani on Monte Baldo, which had already begun during the war and named after him .

In 1923 he joined the fascist party and in the same year was appointed lieutenant general of the fascist militia ( Italian Milizia Volontaria per La Sicurezza Nazionale, abbreviated to MVSN ) for the area Alto Adige and Verona. In 1927 he was promoted to Army Corporal General in the Reserve. In the 1920s he was also Mayor of San Martino, a district of Verona since 1927.

Mysterious death

Andrea Graziani died unexplained in February 1931. On February 26th he boarded the night train from Rome to Verona. His body was discovered on the morning of February 27 on the railway line between Florence and Prato . The judicial investigation, which was initiated on the same day, was soon abandoned without it having been clarified whether he had accidentally fallen off the train, it was suspected that he had mistaken the train door for the toilet door, or had been pushed out of the train by force .

He found his final resting place in his home town of Valgatara.

literature

  • Fabio Dal Din: L'ingiustizia militare: esecuzioni sommarie, fucilazioni e punizioni nelle fila del Regio Esercito durante la Grande Guerra , Gino Rossato, Valdagno 2017 ISBN 978-88-8130-132-4 .
  • Nicola Fontana: Il fondo fotografico del Generale Andrea Graziani in: Museo storico italiano della guerra : Annali N. 23 - 2015, Rovereto 2016.
  • Alessandro Gionfrida: Inventario del fondo H – 4: Commissione d'inchiesta - Caporetto , 2015. ( PDF)
  • Dario Graziani: Il Fucilatore: Vita del Generale Andrea Graziani . Francesco Graziani, 2015 (ebook)
  • Cesare Alberto Loverre: Al muro! Le fucilazioni del generale Andrea Graziani nel novembre 1917. Cronache di una giustizia esemplare a Padova e Noventa Padovana , in Materiali di Storia , no. 19, April 2001, pp. 3-24. ( PDF )
  • Ministero della Guerra - Comando del Corpo di Stato Maggiore - Ufficio Storico (ed.): La Brigata Ionio nella guerra 1915-18 Tipografia Regionale, Rome 1935.
  • Ministero della Guerra - Comando del Corpo di Stato Maggiore - Ufficio Storico (ed.): Riassunti storici dei corpi e comandi nella guerra 1915-1918. Bersaglieri - Volume Nono Tipografia Regionale, Rome 1929.
  • Ministero della Guerra - Comando del Corpo di Stato Maggiore - Ufficio Storico (ed.): Riassunti storici dei corpi e comandi nella guerra 1915-1918. Alpini. Divisioni - Raggruppamenti - Gruppi - Volume Decimo - Parte Prima . Rome, 1930.
  • Ministero della Guerra - Stato Maggiore R. Esercito - Ufficio Storico (ed.): Le grandi unità nella guerra italo-austriaca 1915–1918. Volume secondo: Divisione di Fanteria - Divisioni Speciali - Divisioni di Cavalleria - Truppe alleate in Italia , Tipografia Regionale, Rome 1926.
  • Franco Luigi Minoia: Grande guerra: l'assalto al Col Basson . Lampi di stampa, Vignale 2015 ISBN 978-88-488-1740-0
  • Marco Pluviano, Irene Guerrini: Le fucilazioni sommarie nella Prima guerra mondiale . Gaspari, Udine 2004 ISBN 978-88-7541-010-0
  • Giorgo Rochat: L'inchiesta su Caporetto e la lotta politica nel 1919 in: Istituto nazionale per la storia del movimento di liberazione (ed.): Il Movimento di liberazione in Italia: rassegna bimestrale di studi e documenti N. 65 1966 .Istituto nazionale per la storia del movimento di liberazione, Milan 1966. ( PDF )

Web links

Commons : Andrea Graziani  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Villa Graziani (Italian), accessed July 31, 2018
  2. ^ A b Nicola Fontana: Il fondo fotografico del Generale Andrea Graziani , p. 174
  3. ↑ 15º Reggimento Bersaglieri (Italian), accessed on August 1, 2018
  4. ^ Ministero della Guerra - Comando del Corpo di Stato Maggiore - Ufficio Storico (ed.): La Brigata Ionio nella guerra 1915-18 , pp. 3-4, 15-16
  5. ↑ a b c Andrea Graziani (Italian), accessed on August 1, 2018
  6. ^ Nicola Fontana: Il fondo fotografico del Generale Andrea Graziani , p. 174
  7. ↑ I ° Raggruppamento (Italian), accessed on August 1, 2018
  8. ↑ Cesare Alberto Loverre: Al muro! Le fucilazioni del generale Andrea Graziani nel novembre 1917. Cronache di una giustizia esemplare a Padova e Noventa Padovana , p. 11
  9. ^ Giorgo Rochat: L'inchiesta su Caporetto e la lotta politica nel 1919 , pp. 4–7
  10. ↑ Alessandro Gionfrida: Inventario del fondo H-4: Commissione d'inchiesta - Caporetto , pp. 12-13
  11. ↑ Fabio Dal Din: L'ingiustizia militare: esecuzioni sommarie, fucilazioni e punizioni nelle fila del Regio Esercito durante la Grande Guerra , pp. 117–118
  12. ↑ Cesare Alberto Loverre: Al muro! Le fucilazioni del generale Andrea Graziani in November 1917. Cronache di una giustizia esemplare a Padova e Noventa Padovana , pp. 12-13
  13. ↑ Fabio Dal Din: L'ingiustizia militare: esecuzioni sommarie, fucilazioni e punizioni nelle fila del Regio Esercito durante la Grande Guerra , pp. 119-135
  14. ↑ Fabio Dal Din: L'ingiustizia militare: esecuzioni sommarie, fucilazioni e punizioni nelle fila del Regio Esercito durante la Grande Guerra , pp. 136-137
  15. ↑ Franco Luigi Minola: Grande guerra: l'assalto al Col Basson , p 210
  16. ↑ Cesare Alberto Loverre: Al muro! Le fucilazioni del generale Andrea Graziani nel novembre 1917. Cronache di una giustizia esemplare a Padova e Noventa Padovana , p. 10
  17. ↑ Fabio Dal Din: L'ingiustizia militare: esecuzioni sommarie, fucilazioni e punizioni nelle fila del Regio Esercito durante la Grande Guerra , p. 142
  18. ↑ Cesare Alberto Loverre: Al muro! Le fucilazioni del generale Andrea Graziani in November 1917. Cronache di una giustizia esemplare a Padova e Noventa Padovana , pp. 6-8
personal data
SURNAME Graziani, Andrea
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian general
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH Bardolino , Italy
DATE OF DEATH February 1931
Place of death at Prato