Achille d'Havet

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Achille d'Havet
206th Coastal Division
Battles/wars
Awards

Marquess Achille D'Havet (Bologna, 24 March 1888 – Rome, 21 April 1966) was an Italian general during World War II.

Biography

Early life and World War I

Achille d'Havet was born on 24 March 1888 in Bologna, to Maria Baistrocchi and

Third Army. In August 1917 he was promoted to major and later that year he distinguished himself in the reorganization of the front on the Piave river after the crisis that followed the battle of Caporetto; in July 1918, he was awarded the War Merit Cross.[1]

Interwar years

After the end of the war d'Havet left the Alpini corps, and on 10 April 1919 he was assigned to the command of the military division of Bologna; on 18 January 1920 he entered the Army War School in Turin, graduating on 13 November 1921 and being assigned to the command of the military division of Florence in December. On 7 December 1924 he returned to the Alpini corps and on 20 January 1925 he assumed command of the "Morbegno" Battalion, part of the 6th Alpini Regiment; from 1 November 1926 the battalion was transferred to the 5th Alpini Regiment. On 4 June 1926 he became a lieutenant colonel, and on 15 July 1927 he was appointed chief of staff of the command of the military division of Ravenna.[1][2]

From March 16, 1931, he was chief of staff of the military division of

4th Alpine Division Cuneense.[1][2]

World War II and later years

On 10 June 1940 the

206th Coastal Division, stationed in Sicily. He placed his headquarters in Ragusa and was responsible for the defense of the Pozzallo-Pachino-Noto-Cassibile-Syracuse line in case of enemy landing. On January 1, 1942, he was promoted to the rank of major general and was placed in the officers' reserve, but retained his post as commander of the 206th Coastal Division.[3][4][5][1][2]

In the night between 9 and 10 July 1943, after heavy preparatory air raids,

Allied troops landed on the south-eastern coast of Sicily; d'Havet attempted to oppose a coordinated resistance and locally managed to slow down the Allied advance towards the interior, but on 12 July he was captured by Canadian troops in Modica, along with his entire command. He was then taken, along with Major Stefano Argenziano and the mayor of Modica, Emanuele Giardina, to the headquarters of the 1st Canadian Division, where he met General Guy Simonds. D'Havet was the first general captured during the invasion of Sicily and the first general captured by Canadian troops during the war; General Oliver Leese, the commander of the British XXX Corps, wanted to celebrate this first and had him as a dinner guest before he was embarked on a ship bound for Algeria.[6][7][8][5][9][10][11]

D'Havet was released from captivity at the end of 1944 and returned to Italy on 26 December of the same year, leaving active service in the Army from March 1, 1945; he then settled in Rome. On 1 July 1947 he received honorary promotion to

Lieutenant General, and in 1954 he published an essay about mountain artillery and Alpine engineers. He died in his home on April 21, 1966, at the age of 78.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "noialpini bolognesiromagnoli". www.noialpini.it.
  2. ^ a b c d "Biography of Lieutenant-General Achille D'Havet (1888 – 1966), Italy". generals.dk.
  3. ^ "4th Alpine Division - Quartermaster Section". www.quartermastersection.com.
  4. ISBN 9781472842558
    .
  5. ^
    ISBN 9788892606975
    .
  6. ISBN 9780252070396
    .
  7. ^ "ASSIGNMENT IN SICILY | Maclean's | SEPTEMBER 1, 1943".
  8. ^ "The Second Great War Vol-vii". 1943.
  9. ^ "Ass. Naz. Alpini sez. Conegliano -1966- Notizie Varie". March 4, 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  10. ^ "I Reggimenti Sepolti" (PDF). marinaiditalia.com (in Italian). Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  11. ^ "Notiziario: Due medaglie d'oro per la 206ª divisione Costiera - Associazione Nazionale Combattenti e Reduci". www.combattentiereduci.it.
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