Gino Pavesi

Gino Pavesi
Gino Pavesi
	Vice Admiral)
Commands held	Enrico Cosenz (destroyer) ; ; Cesare Battisti (destroyer); Antonio Pigafetta (destroyer); Lanzerotto Malocello (destroyer); Luigi Cadorna (light cruiser); Pantelleria Naval Area;
Battles/wars	Italo-Turkish War; ; World War I Adriatic Campaign; ; World War II Operation Corkscrew; ;

Gino Pavesi (May 9, 1888 – February 3, 1960) was an Italian admiral during World War II.

Early life and career

Born in Pisa in 1888, Gino Pavesi entered the Naval Academy in Livorno in 1906, graduating as an ensign in 1909.^[1] In 1911-1912 Pavesi participated in the Italo-Turkish War with the rank of sub-lieutenant, on board the armored cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi.^[1] During World War I he served on battleships (including Ammiraglio di Saint Bon) and destroyers (including Antonio Mosto).^[1]

Between 1925 and 1926, with the rank of lieutenant commander, he served as the executive officer of the light cruiser Ancona; after promotion to commander, between 1926 and 1927 he commanded the destroyers Enrico Cosenz and Cesare Battisti.^[1] Between 1933 and 1935, after promotion to captain, he commanded the destroyers Antonio Pigafetta and Lanzerotto Malocello and their Squadron; between 1936 and 1937 he served as the commanding officer of the light cruiser Luigi Cadorna.^[1] He also held shore assignments, mainly at High Command of the Royal Naval Crews Corps (Corpo dei Regi Equipaggi Marittimi, C.R.E.M.) in the Ministry of the Navy.^[1]

World War II

After promotion to rear admiral in January 1940, Pavesi was serving at the Inspectorate for preparation and testing of new ships when Italy entered World War II (June 10, 1940); in February 1941 he became inspector of schools under the C.R.E.M. High Command, of which in November 1941 he became himself the commander.^[1] He was promoted to vice admiral in September 1942, and appointed commander of the Pantelleria Naval Area in March 1943.^[1]

The island of

air-raid shelters (therefore having to use the same shelters as the garrison).^[2]

The capture of Pantelleria and the

naval bombardments were also carried out on 8 and 11 June; ships of the Royal Navy also enforced a blockade in the waters around the island, although this did not entirely prevent the arrival of supplies sent at night with motor barges and other small vessels.^[2] The air raids disrupted communications and road network, making the distribution of food and water extremely difficult, put out of the power plant and destroyed part of the artillery positions (but still on the evening of June 9, 48% of anti-aircraft batteries and 80% of anti-ship batteries were functional).^[2]^[3] Casualties among the garrison and the civilian population were very limited (about forty killed and less than 150 wounded among the garrison, 4 or 5 dead and 6 wounded among the civilian population), thanks to the wide availability of cave shelters, but the morale was severely undermined by the uninterrupted airstrikes and sleep deprivation in the last days.^[2]^[3] A call to surrender was sent by the Allies on June 10, but Pavesi did not answer (as he had already done a few days before); on the following day, a flotilla of about fifty British landing craft and other vessels, carrying about 14,000 men, showed up off Pantelleria.^[5]^[2] At 3:55 on June 11 Pavesi asked Supermarina (the naval headquarters in Rome) for permission to surrender; the request was brought to Benito Mussolini, who - after a consultation with Supermarina and the Supreme Command - decided to authorize it, ordering that the signal of surrender was broadcast at noon of that day, and the yield was to be motivated with the lack of water.^[2] Admiral Pavesi, however, did not wait for the permission of Rome, and announced his surrender at 11:00.^[2]^[3]

Pavesi was interned in a

Fascist court in Parma.^[1]

Pavesi's decision was justified by many by the fact that a resistance to the bitter end would have only resulted in a massacre of the garrison and the civilian population of Pantelleria, without delaying the Allies' plans by more than a few days.[2] More criticism concerned the decision not to order, before the surrender, the destruction of depots, hangars and other military installations on the island, so that they fell intact into enemy hands.^[3]

Pavesi resumed service in 1945, at the disposal of the Naval General Staff; in 1946-1947 he was general director of the Naval Crew Corps, then he was assigned to the General Staff for special assignments.^[1] He was placed in reserve in 1948 after reaching the age limit, and he was promoted to full admiral in the reserve in 1957.^[1] He died in Rome on February 3, 1960.^[1]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Dizionario Biografico Uomini della Marina Militare p. 405
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Giorgio Giorgerini, La guerra italiana sul mare. La Marina tra vittoria e sconfitta, 1940-1943, pp. 394-396.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Mauro Gioannini, Giulio Massobrio, Bombardate l'Italia. Storia della guerra di distruzione aerea 1940-1945 , pp. 298-305.
^ L’Italia della disfatta
^ Springboard to Berlin

[dizionariobiografico-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Dizionario Biografico Uomini della Marina Militare p. 405

[Giorgerini-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Giorgio Giorgerini, La guerra italiana sul mare. La Marina tra vittoria e sconfitta, 1940-1943, pp. 394-396.

[bombardatelitalia-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Mauro Gioannini, Giulio Massobrio, Bombardate l'Italia. Storia della guerra di distruzione aerea 1940-1945 , pp. 298-305.

[4] L’Italia della disfatta

[5] Springboard to Berlin

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