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Giovanni Messe
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By Niccolò Graffio
“A good general not only sees the way to victory; he also knows when victory is impossible.” – Polybius: Histories; I, c. 125 B.C.
It had been 54 years since the creation of the pseudo-nation of Italy by the intrigues of the Kingdom of Sardinia, “the Prussia of Italy” in 1861 when its amoral royals, the House of Savoy, decided to join in the disaster to Western Civilization known today as the First World War (1914-18). The Savoy foolishly believed they could turn their nascent state into something resembling an empire. That they needed help from France to defeat Austria-Hungary just in order to seize Lombardy mattered little to them. King Victor Emmanuel III deluded himself and his sycophants into believing the small, hodgepodge Kingdom of Italy could rub elbows with the big boys on the international stage.
It takes generations to create and foster a true martial tradition in a country; something even a cursory examination of the history books would show. Discipline, honor, loyalty and a strong sense of patriotism are all required, and these were sorely lacking in a country where the inhabitants of the northern 1/3 of the country basically leeched off the sweat of the inhabitants of the other 2/3. A strong and experienced high command is also required; one that is built by promoting on the basis of merit and ability.
Such was the case with the German Empire, which inherited its military tradition from the old Kingdom of Prussia. The austere militarism of Prussia had been put firmly in place during the reign of Friedrich Wilhelm I, King in Prussia (1713-40).
No such tradition existed in Italy, however. The House of Savoia, that mingling of degenerate lines from Saxony and France, promoted their generals mainly on the basis of nepotism and cronyism. It should therefore come as no surprise the general staff of the Kingdom of Italy should have been regarded in international circles as something of a joke.
The Kingdom of Italy should never have gotten involved in the bloodbath known as World War I. When it ended, 650,000 Italians lay dead and the economy was in ruins! All this for several thousand square miles of territory and the greater glory of a monarch who would live to squander the affection of his subjects.
Not all of Italy’s generals were lackluster, however. After Italy’s disastrous loss at the Battle of Caporetto (Oct. 24-Nov. 19, 1917) due to the massive incompetence of Piedmontese ‘General’ Luigi Cadorna, he was replaced by the abler Neapolitan General Armando Diaz, who reorganized the Italian Army and veritably saved the kingdom by inflicting a mortal wound on the armies of Austria-Hungary at the Battle of the Piave River (June 15-23, 1918). The bitter irony here is that it took a Southerner to save the hides of his people’s northern conquerors from their own ineptitude.
After the end of World War I, Italy found itself under the iron heel of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini (1922-43). Mussolini, a tinpot tyrant, had even greater delusions of grandeur than the diminutive monarch he nominally served. Whereas King Victor Emmanuel III imagined a Greater Italy under his family’s corrupt control, Il Duce envisioned a re-establishment of the old Roman Empire under his autocratic rule!
Several things should have tipped off Mussolini (whom General Italo Balbo once derisively called “a product of syphilis”) as to the logistical problems with this dream, not the least of which was Italy was effectively broke and it costs huge sums of money to modernize a country’s army. It also didn’t help he inherited Italy’s laughably corrupt and inept general staff. Mussolini further compounded his problems by throwing his lot in with Adolf Hitler, ignoring Aesop’s sage aphorism to avoid too powerful (and in Hitler’s case, unstable) an ally.
So it was when Adolf Hitler ordered the German invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939 (without Mussolini’s knowledge or consent), Italy’s would-be Caesar found himself in charge of an antiquated army facing the prospect of going to war against much greater powers.
The consensus among military historians is that Italy’s best general during World War I was Armando Diaz, a Southern Italian. As it was with the First World War, so it was with the second one.
Maresciallo Giovanni Messe was born on December 10th, 1883 in the town of Mesagne, Apulia, Italy. Due to the paucity of material written about him in English (and my regrettably almost non-existent Italian language skills) details about his early life are scant.
His career in the Royal Italian Army began when he enlisted as a private at the age of 18 in 1901. A natural born soldier, within a year he had risen to the rank of noncommissioned officer and was part of the Italian expeditionary force sent to China to help suppress the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901).
Upon returning home, he continued to impress his superiors with his intelligence and leadership skills. In 1910, upon recommendation of his superiors, he attended the Modena Military School and was commissioned on graduating. He fought as a lieutenant during the Italo-Turkish War (1911-12) and during the conflict was promoted to captain.
As a result of his role in the Italian conquest of what is now Libya, by the outbreak of WW1 Messe held the rank of maggiore (major).
During WW1 Messe was instrumental in the creation and training of the Arditi, elite infantry units that were pivotal to Italy’s success during the war against the armies of Austria-Hungary. The Arditi were storm troopers who gained notoriety in trench fighting. As Italian artillery would shell enemy positions, the Arditi would approach carrying nothing but knives and small arms; rifles and carbines were considered too cumbersome. When the artillery lifted the most daring would lunge into the trenches and kill the enemy at close range in hand-to-hand combat!
As commander of IX Reparto d’Asalto (“9th Assault Section”) Messe distinguished himself at the Second Battle of Monte Grappa (June, 1918) by mounting a successful counterattack against Austrian troops. He saw action again as an assault unit commander in 1920 fighting in Albania against the nascent state of the King of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia).
His rise through the ranks plus his numerous commendations earned him notice in high places. He was appointed aide-de-camp to King Vittorio Emanuele III in 1923 and held that post until 1927. From that time until the Italian invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) he commanded a unit of Bersaglieri and held the rank of Colonel.
When Benito Mussolini foolishly ordered the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 Giovanni Messe was given command of the Celere Brigade (a motorized brigade) and promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. By the time the war ended in May, 1936 Messe had been promoted to Major General and was put in command of an entire armored division.
In April, 1938 he was put in charge of the 3rd Celere Division. The following year, after Italy invaded Albania, Major General Giovanni Messe was sent there to assume the post of Deputy Commander of Occupation Troops under General Ubaldo Soddu. He would not hold the post for very long.
World War II broke out in Europe when Germany invaded Poland on September 1st, 1939. Given the way Hitler had lied to his ally, Mussolini was initially hesitant about joining the hostilities. However, after German successes against Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Mussolini (ignoring advice from his counselors including his own son-in-law and Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano) ordered Italian armies to invade France on June 10th, declaring war on both France and the United Kingdom the same day.
Italy’s tinpot Caesar rightfully worried Germany’s neurotic Fuehrer would eclipse him on the battlefield, so on October 28th, 1940, against everyone’s (including Hitler’s) wishes, Mussolini ordered his ill-prepared troops to invade Greece.
Major General Giovanni Messe was called up from Albania to participate in the invasion. Italian forces scored a number of early victories. The Greeks, however, soon turned the tide against their would-be conquerors and the Italians found themselves fighting the Greeks in a stalemate in Albania itself!
Though Messe was a capable commander, he early on realized the Royal Italian Army was simply not equipped to fight a protracted struggle. The government was left severely short of cash by both WW1 and the Great Depression, hampering efforts to modernize the military. Promotion in the military was also still largely the result of cronyism and nepotism. Capable commanders like Giovanni Messe were the exception, not the rule!
In addition, Italy was still a fairly poor country and years away from becoming the industrial powerhouse it is today. Mussolini’s costly invasion of Ethiopia and the large amounts of assistance, both material and military, he rendered to Nationalist forces of General Franco during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) certainly did not help matters, either. The mismanagement of the Italian economy by corrupt Padanian industrialists and their equally corrupt allies in the House of Savoia left the country in no shape to realize Il Duce’s dreams of a “Fourth Shore”.
Mussolini had personally overseen preparations for the attack on Greece, with disastrous consequences. He had failed to allocate adequate resources to his army. He failed to issue winter clothing to his soldiers; foolishly believing Greece would go down easily like Albania (this in spite of one of his generals warning him “The Greeks will resist us like lions!”). Finally, he ignored the findings of the Italian Commission of War Production, which informed him Italy would be unable to sustain a full year of continuous warfare until 1949!
Greece was forced to send reserves to Italy, leaving its northern flank vulnerable. On April 6th, 1941 Germany invaded Greece. On April 20th, Hitler’s birthday, the commander of the Greek forces secretly contacted German forces of his intention to surrender – but only if Italy was not present! Negotiations allowed Italy to be present on April 23rd. In return for their surrender, Greek soldiers were not treated as POWs but instead were allowed to return home. The debacle in Greece would haunt Mussolini and the House of Savoia for the remainder of the war.
In July, 1941 Giovanni Messe was temporarily promoted to Lieutenant General and put in command of a mobile infantry and cavalry unit, Corpo di Spedizione in Russia (CSIR, Expeditionary Corp in Russia). Days earlier Axis forces had invaded the Soviet Union as part of Operation Barbarossa, Hitler’s own insane plan for lebensraum (Ger: “Living space”).
Initially Mussolini had sent 60,000 Italian soldiers for the invasion. Messe let it be known he felt these forces were woefully ill-equipped and supplied for fighting the infamous Russian winter. He would not have to worry; by July Italian forces had been bolstered in Russia to 200,000 men with the arrival of the Armata Italiana in Russia, or ARMIR (It: “Italian Army in Russia”). Less than four months after being sent to Russia he was ordered back to Italy.
Giovanni Messe left the Soviet Union before the nightmare known as the Battle of Stalingrad (Aug. 23rd, 1942-Feb. 2nd, 1943). Well before this it became obvious Hitler’s delusional dreams of lebensraum in Russia were running into serious trouble. Wehrmacht forces tried not once but twice to capture the Soviet capital, failing miserably each time during what is now collectively referred to as the Battle of Moscow (Oct., 1941-Jan., 1942). Stalingrad was Hitler’s last gambit in the Soviet Union and he knew it!
Truth be told, the whole idea behind Operation Barbarossa was ludicrous! Germany was a mid-sized, relatively resource-poor country (though not nearly as poor as Italy) while the USSR was much larger in both size and available resources (including manpower). While the Slavs of the Soviet Union chafed under Stalin’s brutal rule, with the coming of Nazi Germany’s racial policies they realized Operation Barbarossa amounted to nothing less than a war of extermination! Axis forces quickly found themselves facing an enemy with nothing to lose!
Italian forces were generally held in low regard by their German counterparts, who often accused them of cowardice. In truth, Messe’s assessment bore out. Italian soldiers were given outmoded weapons and equipment and little in the way of supplies. In addition, Soviet armies preferred attacking Italian, Hungarian and Romanian forces over German ones, exploiting the “weak link in the chain”. Under these circumstances then, it is small wonder Italian forces often retreated rather than engage the enemy. In spite of this, they won numerous accolades and distinguished themselves in a number of battles, including the Battle of Nikolayevka (Jan., 1943).
On the other hand, during the Soviet counteroffensive known as Operation Uranus, secret communiqués between Hitler and his generals at Stalingrad show the Germans used their Italian, Hungarian and Romanian allies as cannon fodder in order to minimize their own casualties. Though these facts are not kept secret from history buffs, many still cling tenaciously to the belief in the mighty and noble German soldier as well as the cowardly Italian one. Old, stereotypical myths die hard, I guess.
After being recalled from Russia, Messe was promoted to General on January 31st, 1943. Thereafter he was assigned to Tunisia to fight against the encroaching American and British forces. In this capacity, he was put in charge of the Italo-German Tank Army (later renamed the “Italian First Army”), which had previously been commanded by Erwin Rommel, the legendary “Desert Fox”.
In this capacity, Messe assisted Rommel’s attempt to thwart the advance of the British 8th Army (under General Bernard Montgomery) at the Battle of Medenine (March 6th, 1943). Axis forces sustained heavy casualties as Montgomery had adequate time to prepare for the assault. Afterwards German and Italian forces in North Africa under General Messe’s command merely fought for time against an inevitable Allied victory.
On May 12th, 1943 General Giovanni Messe was promoted to the rank of Marshal of Italy. It was a bittersweet commendation. The following day the 5th German Tank Army surrendered to the Allies. With the fall of Tunis and his own army surrounded, Messe had no choice but to surrender himself.
Like so many of our people by that time, Messe was a devoted monarchist who gladly served our enemies in the House of Savoia. After the signing of the Armistice he was made Chief of Staff of the “Italian Co-Belligerent Army”, a fighting force made up in large part of Italian soldiers who were POW’s of the Allies. He served at this post with distinction until the war’s end.
With the fall of the corrupt House of Savoia in 1946 and Italy being declared a republic, Giovanni Messe lost his taste for army life. He retired in 1947 after 46 years of distinguished service. Like many an old soldier before him, he wrote a book about his experiences in North Africa during the war. He remained popular with the Italian people after the war, parlaying that popularity into a three-year stint in the Italian Senate (1953-55). He was elected to Parliament again in 1957 as a member of the Monarchial Party.
His greatest post-war endeavor, however, was as President of the Italian Veteran’s Association. He held this post until his death and during his tenure lobbied the government in Rome for a number of veteran’s benefits.
Maresciallo Giovanni Messe died on December 19th, 1968 at the age of 85.
Messe spent his entire distinguished military career serving men who did not deserve the honor. First he fought for King Vittorio Emanuele III and then Benito Mussolini. The failings of both of them are well-documented. For the life of me, however, I could not find one unkind thing written about General Giovanni Messe. He achieved a rarity – the respect of friend and enemy alike. Even after leaving the military he continued fighting for his men; this time to see the country they served provided adequately for them.
In war and peacetime he always fully deserved the title of warrior.
