Giovanni Macchi

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Monument to Giovanni Macchi at the Little Pal

Giovanni Macchi (born January 8, 1871 in Novara di Sicilia , Sicily ; † June 14, 1915 at the Kleiner Pal , Plöckenpass ) was an Italian officer who died in the mountain war of the First World War .

At the time of the mobilization, Giovanni Macchi was deputy commander of the Caserta Cadet School and, as major, took over the 20th battalion of the Guardia di Finanza, consisting of three companies (61, 62, 63) . Although the soldiers came from the south of Italy and had not received any training in mountain fighting , the battalion arrived in Tolmezzo on May 16, 1915 and was already in position on the Little Pal by June.

There, on June 14, 1915 Major Macchi fell after several hours of fighting numerically superior infantry of the Austrians , who at dawn one by barrage had started preparing the artillery attack. The chronicle in the museum of the town hall Kötschach-Mauthen records over 100 Italian casualties in this battle, including three officers. Due to his hesitant resistance, however, the Italians were able to bring reinforcements in time and thus prevent a loss of this key position on the Plöckenpass. For this achievement Giovanni Macchi was posthumously awarded the silver medal for bravery . At the Kleiner Pal there is a memorial to him, where the heavily frequented Alpiniweg (also Traversata Carnica, path 401) begins.

He has received numerous honors from the Guardia di Finanza. The alpine school in Predazzo, founded in 1920, was named after him and the building of the regional command of Apulia in Bari also bears his name. From 1933 until its decommissioning in 1941, the Finanza also operated the gunboat Maggiore Giovanni Macchi . In 2010 the Guardia di Finanza Museum in Rome published a monograph on Giovanni Macchi.

literature

  • Luciano Luciani, Gerardo Severino: Giovanni Macchi: l'eroe del Pal Piccolo (1871-1915) , Museo storico della Guardia di Finanza, Rome 2010.

swell

  • Studi Interculturali 2/2015, p. 73 by Gianni Ferracuti (Italian)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Memorial plaque in Bari
  2. ^ Museo Storico della Guardia di Finanza
  3. ↑ Nel 1774 nasceva la Guardia di Finanza
  4. ↑ Maggiore Macchi
  5. ^ Giovanni Macchi: l'eroe del Pal Piccolo (1871-1915)
personal data
SURNAME Macchi, Giovanni
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian officer of the Guardia di Finanza
DATE OF BIRTH January 8, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Novara di Sicilia , Sicily
DATE OF DEATH June 14, 1915
Place of death Kleiner Pal , Plöckenpass