Luigi Marchesi (soldier)
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Luigi Marchesi (Turin, 16 July 1910 – 16 June 1997) was an officer in the Royal Italian Army during World War II, most notable for his involvement in the events surrounding the Armistice of Cassibile.
Biography
Marchesi was born in Turin in 1910, the son of a
In the summer of that year, with the rank of major, he participated in the negotiations held in Cassibile for the stipulation of an armistice between Italy and the Allies, was present at its signature by General Giuseppe Castellano (whom Marchesi knew and worked with since 1940, when they both worked at the operations office of the Second Army) on 3 September, and on 5 September he left for Rome where he delivered some documents to Ambrosio (a copy of the "short armistice" and one of the "long armistice", instructions for the departure of Italian warships and merchant ships towards Allied-controlled ports, instructions for the air force and sabotage operations, a memorandum for the intelligence service, the order of operations of the American airborne division that was to be launched on Rome, and a letter from General Castellano), to whom he also reported what Castellano had instructed him to say, that is, that the armistice could have been declared between 10 and 15 September, probably on 12 September.[4][5][6][7][8][3]
On 7 September Marchesi, together with
After General
In his works about the Armistice, journalist and historian Ruggero Zangrandi judged negatively the activities and contribution of Major Marchesi to the events of the armistice; Zangrandi defined him as a "obscure character", connected to the most mysterious events of the period: depositary of the clandestine radio brought from Castellano to Rome on 27 August, present on 3 September in Cassibile, bearer of the mysterious letter from Castellano to Ambrosio with the date of proclamation of the armistice. The major also welcomed General Maxwell Taylor in Ambrosio's absence, and decrypted, transmitted and received the messages between Badoglio and Eisenhower on the morning of 8 September; moreover it was he who received from Ambrosio the instructions for the flight towards Pescara between 03.00 and 03.45 of 9 September. With regard to the Council of the Crown held on 8 September, Zangrandi noted that the presence of Marchesi was expressly requested by Ambrosio who was the only one, together with Badoglio, aware of the details of the negotiations, of the armistice clauses and of the very short timeframe for its planned implementation. Faced with the surprise and grievances of the other participants, unaware of many details, according to Zangrandi Ambrosio had Major Marchesi intervene "artfully", with the pretext of reading a supposed last part of General Eisenhower's radiogram – ostensibly just arrived, while in reality it had already arrived before and had been read by both Badoglio and Ambrosio –, dramatically raising the question of the need for immediate acceptance of the armistice clauses, thus overcoming the resistance of the other members of the Council. Therefore, according to Zangrandi, Major Marchesi's intervention was not spontaneous and the result of his exasperation due to the slowness of the decisions, but a maneuver concocted by Ambrosio to convince the participants to immediately accept the armistice, of which they had only come to know in that moment. Moreover, the participation and role of Marchesi are not even mentioned in the testimonies of Badoglio, Acquarone and De Stefanis, while Ambrosio explicitly stated that it was he who asked Marchesi to intervene.[17]
Other historians, such as Carlo De Risio, instead give a positive evaluation of Marchesi's role. The aforementioned version by Zangrandi is not shared by the memoirs of Paolo Puntoni and Raffaele de Courten, as well as by most other authors who wrote about the Armistice, including Indro Montanelli, Paolo Monelli, Renzo Trionfera, Domenico Bartoli, Silvio Bertoldi and Elena Aga Rossi.[18][12]
During the
References
- ^ a b "Dall'impreparazione alla resa incondizionata. 1939-1945 memorie di un ufficiale del comando supremo - Luigi Marchesi - Libro - Ugo Mursia Editore - Grande universale Mursia.Testimonianze | IBS".
- ^ a b Marchesi museobadoglio.altervista.org
- ^ a b c d Il Maggiore Luigi Marchesi analecco.it p.6
- ^ "Archivio Corriere della Sera". archivio.corriere.it. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
- ^ a b "8 Settembre: Gen. Marchesi -Attenti AI Documenti Falsi (2)". 6 September 1993.
- ^ a b "ROMA 8 SETTEMBRE 1943: Home".
- ^ "3 settembre 1943".
- ISBN 9788869908712.
- ISBN 9788858121436.
- ^ "ROMA 8 SETTEMBRE 1943: La battaglia per Roma - Gen. C.A. Vittorio AMBROSIO".
- ISBN 9788858113851.
- ^ a b c Fonti XVI beniculturali.it [dead link]
- ^ a b "11 settembre 1943". sergiolepri.it (in Italian). Retrieved 15 January 2024.
- ^ "Centro studi della Resistenza: 8 Settembre, cronaca della fuga". www.storiaxxisecolo.it. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
- ^ Melton S. Davis, Who defends Rome?, p. 389
- ^ "I SIGNORI DELLA GRANDE "GUERRA" by Biblioteca Militare - Issuu". 16 March 2021.
- ^ Ruggero Zangrandi, L’Italia tradita, pp. 135-140-183-184
- ^ Carlo De Risio, La tenda di Cassibile, pp. 134-135