Luigi Capello

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Luigi Capello

Luigi Capello (14 April 1859, in Intra – 25 June 1941, in Rome) was an Italian general, distinguished in both the Italo-Turkish War (1911–12) and World War I.

During the Italo-Turkish War he served in Cyrenaica and took part in operations near Derna, commanding a column in the final action of the war in October 1912.

During World War I he was the commander of several Army corps and led the Italian troops that captured

Bainsizza Plateau (Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo). Later, he was removed from command after the Italian defeat at the Battle of Caporetto
(October–November 1917). He had failed to check the advance of the Imperial troops (which included for the first time, German troops sent from the Western Front) before being forced to cede his command for health reasons. Capello was blamed for the defeat, and he never returned to service.

Despite the defeat, Luigi Capello was considered one of the best generals for the allies in the First World War;[1] endowed with a dominant personality and a restless, passionate character, the general showed intelligence and tactical and strategic ability. Buoyed by a great offensive spirit, he ordered a series of frontal attacks that cost his troops very high casualties, but accordingly recognized by his perspicacity, the spirit of initiative and analytical ability, he was "by far the best of the commanders of the Italian army[2]".

After the war, he joined the

Tito Zaniboni (it
), for which he was tried and sentenced to thirty years jail in 1927. He was released in 1936, after serving nine years.

Biography

Military career

Born in

3rd Army.[3]
He commanded the 25th Division of the XIII Corps.

He took part in the battles on the

Karst Plateau until being promoted to Lieutenant General on 28 September 1915. He then commanded the VI Army Corps facing Gorizia and the heights of Podgora and of Sabotino. Despite the numerous offensives made during the third and fourth Battles of the Isonzo, the Austrian counteroffensives stymied the best efforts of the Italians. However, his great ambition helped him to be initially successful during the First World War achieving victory in the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, with the conquest of the city of Gorizia.[4] This was the first Italian victory of any substance and one that caused Capello's star to shine. The general was subsequently the subject of much envy, including that of General Cadorna.[5]

Thanks to the conquest of Gorizia, Capello gained great popularity, both among the lower classes and among the Italian media. From here his career experienced a clear push upwards. Now Cadorna viewed Capello as a serious rival, and on 7 September 1916, he was transferred to the command of the XXIII Army Corps.

Bainsizza
in the eleventh offensive in that sector. Bainsizza was another Italian “victory”, which now served the belief that the sole successes achieved by the Italian army both bore Capello's imprint.

He commanded as many as nine army corps (between Monte Rombon and

Praetorians
of Capello, and in Capello himself, a general who surrounded himself with mercenaries and the faithful with allegiance to him, creating rivalries that would isolate him at Caporetto.

On 24 October 1917 everything collapsed. Capello was placed alongside other Armies by Cadorna in order to repel the Austro-German offensive led by generals

Stosstruppen to counter widely-used trench warfare, thus denying the defenders a continuous line instead of simply overwhelming it through numbers alone. Such attacks exhausted more men and ammunition, as well as making them have to wait for reinforcements even once they cleared "no man's land" in one battle because there would just be another "no man's land" waiting for them at the next battle. The Italian command underestimated the effectiveness of the Germans at applying whatever intelligence the Austrians could offer them about the terrain and the Italian army's own disposition. Gas masks were in short supply. The Italians also underestimated the effectiveness of the Germans at mountain warfare, figuring the Germans would mostly leave the mountains to the Austrian-Hungarians. Capello had neglected to organize the Second Army for defence, which led to the complete collapse of the front line. All this was exacerbated because sickness forced him to relinquish his command during the battle, this time to General Luca Montuori
.

With the defeat at Caporetto, Capello's military career ended. On 8 February 1918 Capello was relieved of all posts, put before a Commission of Enquiry into the causes of Caporetto and by order of the Commission, he was retired.

Political career

He was later among the first to join the Italian Fascist movement; presiding over the Congress of Rome in November 1921 and in October 1922 he took part in the March on Rome.[7] Following the vote of the Grand Council in February 1923 which declared incompatible, membership in both Fascism and Freemasonry, Capello openly declared his Masonic membership,[8] but did not resign from the Fascists. In 1924 he physically defended the headquarters of the Grand Orient of Italy, Palazzo Giustiniani,[9] from Fascist attacks. After the assassination attempt against Mussolini in 1925, Capello's military role was marginalized by the Fascists. Capello organized patrolling activities[10] near the Italian Freemasonry's seats[11] to which he had adhered during the 1910s.[12][13]

He was arrested in Turin on charges of having taken part in the organization of the failed attack against Mussolini in 1925 organized by Tito Zaniboni. After a show trial, in 1927 he was sentenced to thirty years in prison, but he was released in January 1936.[14]

Released from prison, he spent the last years of his life in an apartment in Rome, where he died in June 1941.[15] By decree in 1947, he was given back all the military decorations that he had been awarded.[16]

Military Honors

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Mangone, Angelo, Luigi Capello, Milano, Ugo Mursia Editore, 1994, p. 172
  2. ^ Silvestri, Mario, Isonzo 1917, Milano, Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, 2001, p. 107-111
  3. ^ Enciclopedia Militare, Il Popolo d'Italia, Milano. Vol. II
  4. ^ Alessandro Gualtieri, The General of Caporetto, 25 April 2009
  5. ^ See Andrea Argenio: Capello, Luigi, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War
  6. ^ See Argenio, Encyclopedia
  7. ^ Il Generale Capello appartenne alla massoneria", Storia illustrata nu. 188, luglio 1973, p. 5
  8. ^ Storia Illustrata 1973, p. 5
  9. ^ Casano, Nicoletta, Libres et persécutés. Francs-maçons et laïques italiens en exil pendant le fascisme, Paris, Garnier, 2015, p. 55, n. 2
  10. Grande Oriente d'Italia (in Italian). 31 October 2013. Archived
    from the original on 21 September 2020.
  11. ^ Padovan, Gianluca (27 May 2015). "1914-2014: dal Piave a Caporetto e viceversa" [1914-2014: from Piave to Caporetto and vice versa] (in Italian). Arianna publishers. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  12. ^ "Luigi Capello (Intra 1859 – Roma 1941)" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 28 August 2016.
  13. Grande Oriente d'Italia (in Italian). Archived
    from the original on 1 March 2016.
  14. ^ Biagi, Enzo, Storia del Fascismo, Firenze, Sadea Della Volpe Editore, 1964, p. 405
  15. ^ Mangone, Angelo, Luigi Capello, Milano, Ugo Mursia Editore, 1994, p. 159
  16. ^ Registrato alla Corte dei conti il 29 gennaio 1948 – Esercito, registro n.2, foglio n.44
  17. ^ Sito web del Quirinale: dettaglio decorato.
  18. ^ Sito web del Quirinale: dettaglio decorato.
  19. ^ Bollettino Ufficiale 1916, disp.24, pag.1670.
  20. ^ Acović, Dragomir (2012). Slava i čast: Odlikovanja među Srbima, Srbi među odlikovanjima. Belgrade: Službeni Glasnik. p. 364.

External links

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