Silvano Abbà

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Silvano Abbà medal table
Award ceremony at the Olympic Games in Berlin. On the podium (from right to left): Silvano Abbà, Gotthard Handrick and Charles Leonard
Award ceremony at the Olympic Games in Berlin . On the podium (from right to left): Silvano Abbà, Gotthard Handrick and Charles Leonard

Modern pentathlon

ItalyItaly Italy
Olympic rings Olympic games
bronze Berlin 1936 singles

Silvano Abbà (born July 3, 1911 in Rovigno ; † August 24, 1942 in Isbuschenski ) was an Italian soldier and athlete who was active in the modern pentathlon .

Silvano Abbà was orphaned at a young age through the death of his father. His mother worked as a teacher with a modest salary. However, she made it possible for her son to attend the Accademia Militare di Modena , where Abbà proved to be an excellent athlete, especially in fencing , swimming and horse riding . In 1936 he started the modern pentathlon at the Olympic Games in Berlin and won the bronze medal behind the German Gotthard Handrick and the American Charles Leonard . In 1940 he became the first Italian champion in modern pentathlon.

After combat missions in the Spanish Civil War in the Corpo Truppe Volontarie on the side of the putschist Franco , Abbà received two awards. On August 24, 1942, on the eve of the Battle of Stalingrad , he was in command of the 4th Squadron in a successful attack by the Savoia Cavalleria on the Soviet 812th Siberian Infantry Regiment near the village of Isbuschensky, near the mouth of the Chopjor in the Don (called Carica della cavalleria Savoia a Isbuscenski ). Around 600 Italians faced around 2000 Soviet soldiers. Captain Abbà fell in battle, allegedly with a smile on his face and, as an enthusiastic photographer, still with his camera around his neck. This operation is considered to be the last active use of a cavalry in military history. Abbà was awarded the gold medal for bravery post mortem .

Silvano Abbà is revered as a war hero in Italy to this day. Various locations are named after him, such as the Piazza Silvano Abbà in Civitanova Marche and a barracks in Rome , which houses the Olympic sports center of the Italian army, Centro sportivo olimpico dell'Esercito . His hat and sword are kept in the Tempio Sacrario dell'Arma di Cavalleria in Voghera . In 1993 a memorial stone was unveiled for him near the cemetery of his birthplace Rovigno, which today belongs to Croatia . Next to it is another memorial stone for the sailor Luigi De Manincor , who was also born in Rovinj and who won a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936. In 1999 Abba's grave was located in a military cemetery near Donetsk , Ukraine , and his remains were transferred to the Tempio di Cargnacco cemetery in September 2000 .

literature

  • Giancarlo Cioffi: Silvano Abba. Il mio grande capitano . ABEditore, 2011.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Gianclaudio de Angelini: Silvano Abbà. xoom.it, accessed on August 24, 2014 (Italian).
  2. ^ Gli Sport - Pentathlon moderno. (PDF) gazzetta.it, accessed on August 25, 2014 (Italian).
  3. ↑ Luciano Mela / Pietro Crespi: Dosvidania. Savoia Cavelleria dal fronte russo alla Resistenza. Due diare inedite . Milan 1995. p. 315, limited preview in Google Book search
  4. ↑ Today the village belongs to Ust-Chopjorsk , Serafimowitschski rajon, Volgograd Oblast
  5. ↑ a b Peter M. Kaiser (ed.): Courage to confess. The secret diaries of Captain Hermann Kaiser 1941/1943 . Lukas Publishing House. Berlin 2010. p. 366, limited preview in the Google book search
  6. ↑ Centro Sportivo Olimpico dell'Esercito. (No longer available online.) Esercito.difesa.it, archived from the original on February 23, 2014 ; Retrieved August 25, 2014 (Italian).
  7. ↑ Silvano Abbà. digilander.libero.it, accessed August 25, 2014 (Italian).
personal data
SURNAME Abbà, Silvano
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian soldier and modern pentathlete
DATE OF BIRTH July 3, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Rovigno
DATE OF DEATH August 24, 1942
Place of death Isbuschensky