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Italian general (1864?1935)
General Giardino
Gaetano Giardino
(24 January 1864 ? 21 November 1935) was an Italian soldier that rose to the rank of
Marshal of Italy
and Italian Representative to the Allied War Council
[1]
during
World War I
.
[2]
Life
[
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]
Born in
Montemagno
, he attended the Royal
Military Academy of Modena
, being appointed
Lieutenant
of
8th Bersaglieri Regiment
. In the late 1880s he joined the Italian forces that were fighting in
Eritrea
and
Sudan
and in 1894 he fought in
Kassala
. He was later named
Captain
and became a company commander of
6th Bersaglieri Regiment
. In the early years of the 20th century he was named chief of the staff of two different Italian divisions then at the outbreak of the
Italo-Turkish War
he was named
sottocapo di Stato Maggiore
(deputy chief of staff) of the Italian expeditionary forces.
World War I
[
edit
]
In the spring of 1915 when Italy declared war on
Austria-Hungary
he was named chief of the staff of the IV Army Corps then of the II Army Corps. He later assumed the duty of commander of the 48th Division, then he was named commander of two different Army Corps.
After the
Battle of Caporetto
and the subsequent changes in Italian highest military positions he became a close adviser of
Armando Diaz
with the duty to maintain the relations with the other
Triple Entente
powers.
April 1918 he was named commander of the
4th Army
, a.k.a. the Army of
Monte Grappa
. In the
Battle of Solstizio
his army was able to stop the Austrian offensive. During the
Battle of Vittorio Veneto
the troops under Giardino's leadership were the first Italian troops to attack the Austrian front in order to force the Austrian general staff to use the reserve troops against the Italians on Monte Grappa, facilitating the
attack along the Piave River
that took place three days later. After the
armistice of Villa Giusti
Giardino’s 4th was disbanded.
Later life
[
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]
Between 1923 and 1924 he was named governor of the free state of
Fiume
. In 1926 he was promoted to the rank of
Marshal of Italy
.
He died in
Torino
in 1935 and he is buried together with his soldiers in the war cemetery of Monte Grappa. A monument in his honor has been erected in
Bassano del Grappa
References
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