33 Mountain Infantry Division Acqui
Encyclopedia
The 33rd Mountain Infantry Division Acqui was a Mountain Infantry
Division
of the Italian Army
during World War II
. The Acqui Division was mobilized for war in October 1939, and took part in the Battle of France
. It was later sent to Albania
to take part in the Greco-Italian War
, and stayed in Greece
as an occupation force on the islands of Corfu
, Lefkada
, Zakynthos
and Cephallonia.
Following the Italian surrender in September 1943, thousands of soldiers from the division were murdered on the islands during Operation Achse
, in what became known as the Cephallonia massacre. One of the largest prisoner of war
massacres of the war, and one of the largest-scale German atrocities
to be committed by Wehrmacht
troops, this event provided the historical background to the novel
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, which later became a Hollywood film
.
, on 20 June, the Italian campaign began, and on 21 June, troops of the Italian Royal Army crossed the French border. In the evening of 22 June 1940, France surrendered to Germany
. and on 25 June, France and Italy signed an armistice. Italy occupied Corsica
and the Alpes-Maritimes
, some areas of French territory along the Franco-Italian border.
The Acqui Division had been the Italian garrison of Cefalonia since May 1943, and consisted of 11,500 soldiers and 525 officers. Since 18 June 1943, it had been commanded by General Antonio Gandin.
The Germans had decided to reinforce their presence throughout the Balkans, following Allied successes
and the possibility that Italy might seek an accommodation with the Allies. On 5–6 July Lt Colonel Johannes Barge arrived with 2,000 men of the 966th Fortress Grenadier Regiment.
After Italy's surrender to the Allies in September 1943, General Gandin found himself in a dilemma: one option was surrendering to the Germans - who were already prepared for the eventuality and had begun Operation Achse. Initially, Gandin requested instructions from his superiors and began negotiations with Barge.
On 8 September 1943, the day of the Italian armistice, General Carlo Vecchiarelli, commander of the 170,000 Italian troops in Greece telegrammed Gandin his order, essentially a copy of General Ambrosio
's promemoria 2 from Headquarters. Vecchiarelli's order instructed that if the Germans did not attack the Italians, the Italians should not attack the Germans. Ambrosio's order stated that the Italians should not "make common cause" with the Greek partisans or even the Allies, should they arrive in Kefalonia.
In the case of a German attack, Vecchiarelli's order was not very specific because it was based on Badoglio's directive which stated that the Italians should respond with "maximum decision" to any threat from any side. The order implied that the Italians should attack back but did not explicitly state so. At 22:30 hours of the same day Gandin received an order directly from General Ambrosio to send most of his naval and merchant vessels to Brindisi immediately as demanded by the terms of the armistice. Gandin complied thus losing a possible means of escape.
To make matters even more complicated Badoglio had agreed, after the overthrow of Mussolini, to the unification of the two armies under German command, in order to appease the Germans. Therefore, technically, both Vecchiarelli and Gandin were under German command, even though Italy had implemented an armistice agreement with the Allies. That gave the Germans the justification to treat any Italians disobeying their orders as mutineers or franc-tireurs.
At 0900 hours on 9 September, Barge met with Gandin and misled him by stating that he had received no orders from the German command. The two men liked each other and they had things in common as Gandin was pro-German and liked Goethe. Indeed, Gandin's pro-German attitude was the reason he had been sent by General Ambrosio to command the Acqui Division: fearing he might side with the Germans against the evolving plot to depose Mussolini, Ambrosio wanted Gandin out of Italy. Both men ended their meeting on good terms, agreeing to wait for orders and also that the situation should be resolved peacefully.
, under the command of Major
Harald von Hirschfeld
. The 98th Gebirgsjäger Regiment, in particular, had been involved in several atrocities against civilians in Epirus in the months preceding the Acqui massacre.
At the same time the Germans started dropping propaganda
leaflets calling upon the Italians to surrender. The leaflets stated:
Gandin repeatedly requested help from the Ministry of War in Brindisi but did not get a reply. He even went so far as sending a Red Cross emissary to the Ministry but the mission broke down off the coast of Puglia and when it arrived three days later at the Italian High Command in Brindisi, it was already too late. In addition 300 planes loyal to Badoglio were located at Lecce
, near the southernmost point of Italy and well within range of Kefalonia, and were ready to intervene. But the Allies would not let them go because they feared they could have defected to the German side. Furthermore two Italian torpedo boat
s, already on their way to Kefalonia, were ordered back to port by the Allies for the same reasons.
Despite help from the local population, including the island's small ELAS partisan detachments, the Germans enjoyed complete air superiority and their troops had extensive combat experience, in contrast with the conscripts of Acqui who were no match for the Germans. In addition, Gandin had withdrawn the Acqui from the elevated position on mount Kardakata and that gave the Germans an additional strategic advantage.
After several days of combat, at 11:00 hours on 22 September, following Gandin's orders, the last Italians surrendered, having run out of ammunition and lost 1,315 dead. According to German sources the losses were 300 Germans and 1,200 Italians. After that about 5000 Italian soldiers were massacred by Germans.
, when the Italian commander and 90 of his officers were shot.
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
Division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
of the Italian Army
Royal Italian Army (1940–1946)
This article is about the Italian Royal Army which participated in World War II.The Italian Royal Army was reformed in 1861 and lasted until 1946. The Royal Army started with the unification of Italy and the formation of the Kingdom of Italy . It ended with the dissolution of the monarchy...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The Acqui Division was mobilized for war in October 1939, and took part in the Battle of France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
. It was later sent to Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
to take part in the Greco-Italian War
Greco-Italian War
The Greco-Italian War was a conflict between Italy and Greece which lasted from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. It marked the beginning of the Balkans Campaign of World War II...
, and stayed in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
as an occupation force on the islands of Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
, Lefkada
Lefkada
Lefkada, or Leucas or Leucadia , is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea on the west coast of Greece, connected to the mainland by a long causeway and floating bridge. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Lefkada . It is situated on the northern part of the island,...
, Zakynthos
Zakynthos
Zakynthos , also Zante, the other form often used in English and in Italian , is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands. It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and the only municipality of the regional unit. It covers an area of ...
and Cephallonia.
Following the Italian surrender in September 1943, thousands of soldiers from the division were murdered on the islands during Operation Achse
Operation Achse
Operation Achse , also called Operation Alaric, were the codenames of the German plans to forcibly disarm the Italian armed forces after their expected armistice with the Allied forces...
, in what became known as the Cephallonia massacre. One of the largest prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
massacres of the war, and one of the largest-scale German atrocities
War crimes of the Wehrmacht
War crimes of the Wehrmacht were those carried out by the German armed forces during World War II. While the principal perpetrators of the Holocaust amongst German armed forces were the Nazi German 'political' armies , the regular armed forces represented by the Wehrmacht committed war crimes of...
to be committed by Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
troops, this event provided the historical background to the novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, which later became a Hollywood film
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (film)
Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a 2001 film directed by John Madden and based on the novel of the same name by Louis de Bernières. It stars Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz.-Plot:...
.
Invasion of France
The Acqui was part of the Italian II Corps during the Italian invasion of FranceItalian invasion of France
The Italian invasion of France in June 1940 was a small-scale invasion that started near the end of the Battle of France during World War II. The goal of the Italian offensive was to take control of the Alps mountain range and the region around Nice, and to win the colonies in North Africa...
, on 20 June, the Italian campaign began, and on 21 June, troops of the Italian Royal Army crossed the French border. In the evening of 22 June 1940, France surrendered to Germany
Armistice with France (Second Compiègne)
The Second Armistice at Compiègne was signed at 18:50 on 22 June 1940 near Compiègne, in the department of Oise, between Nazi Germany and France...
. and on 25 June, France and Italy signed an armistice. Italy occupied Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
and the Alpes-Maritimes
Alpes-Maritimes
Alpes-Maritimes is a department in the extreme southeast corner of France.- History : was created by Octavian as a Roman military district in 14 BC, and became a full Roman province in the middle of the 1st century with its capital first at Cemenelum and subsequently at Embrun...
, some areas of French territory along the Franco-Italian border.
Background
The Germans had decided to reinforce their presence throughout the Balkans, following Allied successes
Tunisia Campaign
The Tunisia Campaign was a series of battles that took place in Tunisia during the North African Campaign of the Second World War, between Axis and Allied forces. The Allies consisted of British Imperial Forces, including Polish and Greek contingents, with American and French corps...
and the possibility that Italy might seek an accommodation with the Allies. On 5–6 July Lt Colonel Johannes Barge arrived with 2,000 men of the 966th Fortress Grenadier Regiment.
After Italy's surrender to the Allies in September 1943, General Gandin found himself in a dilemma: one option was surrendering to the Germans - who were already prepared for the eventuality and had begun Operation Achse. Initially, Gandin requested instructions from his superiors and began negotiations with Barge.
On 8 September 1943, the day of the Italian armistice, General Carlo Vecchiarelli, commander of the 170,000 Italian troops in Greece telegrammed Gandin his order, essentially a copy of General Ambrosio
Vittorio Ambrosio
Vittorio Ambrosio was an Italian general who served in the Italo-Turkish War, World War I, and World War II...
's promemoria 2 from Headquarters. Vecchiarelli's order instructed that if the Germans did not attack the Italians, the Italians should not attack the Germans. Ambrosio's order stated that the Italians should not "make common cause" with the Greek partisans or even the Allies, should they arrive in Kefalonia.
In the case of a German attack, Vecchiarelli's order was not very specific because it was based on Badoglio's directive which stated that the Italians should respond with "maximum decision" to any threat from any side. The order implied that the Italians should attack back but did not explicitly state so. At 22:30 hours of the same day Gandin received an order directly from General Ambrosio to send most of his naval and merchant vessels to Brindisi immediately as demanded by the terms of the armistice. Gandin complied thus losing a possible means of escape.
To make matters even more complicated Badoglio had agreed, after the overthrow of Mussolini, to the unification of the two armies under German command, in order to appease the Germans. Therefore, technically, both Vecchiarelli and Gandin were under German command, even though Italy had implemented an armistice agreement with the Allies. That gave the Germans the justification to treat any Italians disobeying their orders as mutineers or franc-tireurs.
At 0900 hours on 9 September, Barge met with Gandin and misled him by stating that he had received no orders from the German command. The two men liked each other and they had things in common as Gandin was pro-German and liked Goethe. Indeed, Gandin's pro-German attitude was the reason he had been sent by General Ambrosio to command the Acqui Division: fearing he might side with the Germans against the evolving plot to depose Mussolini, Ambrosio wanted Gandin out of Italy. Both men ended their meeting on good terms, agreeing to wait for orders and also that the situation should be resolved peacefully.
Battle with the Germans
As the negotiations stalled, the Germans prepared to resolve the issue by force, and presented the Italians with an ultimatum which expired at 14:00 hours on 15 September. On the morning of 15 September, the German Luftwaffe began bombarding the Italian positions with Stukas dive-bombers. On the ground, the Italians initially enjoyed superiority, and took about 400 Germans prisoner. On 17 September however, the Germans landed the "Battle Group Hirschfeld", composed of the III./98 and the 54th Gebirgsjäger Battalions of the German Army's elite 1st Gebirgs (Mountain) Division, together with I./724 Battalion of the 104th Jäger Division104th Jäger Division
104th Jäger Division was a German Infantry Division of World War II. It was formed in April 1943, by the redesignation of the 704th Infantry Division, which was itself formed in April 1941. The division served in Yugoslavia in May 1941 where it took part in anti-partisan and security operations in...
, under the command of Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
Harald von Hirschfeld
Harald von Hirschfeld
Harald von Hirschfeld was a German general who commanded the 78.Volks-Grenadier-Division/78 Sturm Division during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves...
. The 98th Gebirgsjäger Regiment, in particular, had been involved in several atrocities against civilians in Epirus in the months preceding the Acqui massacre.
At the same time the Germans started dropping propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
leaflets calling upon the Italians to surrender. The leaflets stated:
"Camerati Italiani, ufficiali e soldati, why fight against the Germans? You have been betrayed by your leaders!... LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS!! THE ROAD HOME TO YOUR PATRIA WILL BE OPENED UP FOR YOU BY YOUR GERMAN CAMERATI".
Gandin repeatedly requested help from the Ministry of War in Brindisi but did not get a reply. He even went so far as sending a Red Cross emissary to the Ministry but the mission broke down off the coast of Puglia and when it arrived three days later at the Italian High Command in Brindisi, it was already too late. In addition 300 planes loyal to Badoglio were located at Lecce
Lecce
Lecce is a historic city of 95,200 inhabitants in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Lecce, the second province in the region by population, as well as one of the most important cities of Puglia...
, near the southernmost point of Italy and well within range of Kefalonia, and were ready to intervene. But the Allies would not let them go because they feared they could have defected to the German side. Furthermore two Italian torpedo boat
Torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
s, already on their way to Kefalonia, were ordered back to port by the Allies for the same reasons.
Despite help from the local population, including the island's small ELAS partisan detachments, the Germans enjoyed complete air superiority and their troops had extensive combat experience, in contrast with the conscripts of Acqui who were no match for the Germans. In addition, Gandin had withdrawn the Acqui from the elevated position on mount Kardakata and that gave the Germans an additional strategic advantage.
After several days of combat, at 11:00 hours on 22 September, following Gandin's orders, the last Italians surrendered, having run out of ammunition and lost 1,315 dead. According to German sources the losses were 300 Germans and 1,200 Italians. After that about 5000 Italian soldiers were massacred by Germans.
Aftermath
The events in Cefalonia were repeated, to a lesser extent, elsewhere. In Corfu, the 8,000-strong Italian garrison comprised elements of three divisions, including the Acqui's 18th Regiment. On 24 September, the Germans landed a force on the island, and by the next day they were able to induce the Italians to capitulation. All 280 Italian officers on the island were executed during the next two days on the orders of General Lanz, in accordance with Hitler's directives. The bodies were loaded onto a ship and disposed of in the sea. Similar executions of officers also occurred in the aftermath of the Battle of KosBattle of Kos
The Battle of Kos was a brief battle between British, Italian and German forces for the control of the Greek island of Kos, in the then Italian-held Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea.-Background:...
, when the Italian commander and 90 of his officers were shot.
Order of battle
- 17. Acqui Infantry Regiment
- 18. Acqui Infantry Regiment
- 317. Infantry Regiment
- 33. Artillery Regiment
- 27. CCNN Legion (BlackshirtsBlackshirtsThe Blackshirts were Fascist paramilitary groups in Italy during the period immediately following World War I and until the end of World War II...
) - 33. Mortar Battalion
- 33. Signal Company
- 31. Pioneer Company
- 33. Machine Gun Battalion
- 3. Medical Section
- 4. Supply Section
- 9. Field Bakery
- 7. CarabinieriCarabinieriThe Carabinieri is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both military and civilian populations, and is a branch of the armed forces.-Early history:...
Section