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Content in this edit is translated from the existing Greek Wikipedia article at el:Σεμπαστιάνο Βισκόντι Πράσκα; see its history for attribution.
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{{short description|Italian general}}
{{Expand Greek|Σεμπαστιάνο Βισκόντι Πράσκα|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
{{Infobox military person
| name = Sebastiano Visconti Prasca
| name = Sebastiano Visconti Prasca
| image = Prasca.png
| image = Prasca.png
| birth_date = January 23, 1883
| birth_date = {{birth date|1883|2|27|df=y}}
| death_date = February 25, 1961
| death_date = {{death date and age|1961|2|25|1883|2|27|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Rome]]
| birth_place = [[Rome]], [[Italy]]
| death_place = Rome
| death_place = [[Monte Porzio Catone]], Italy
| allegiance = {{flag|Kingdom of Italy}}
| allegiance = {{flag|Kingdom of Italy}}
| branch = {{army|Kingdom of Italy}}
| branch = {{army|Kingdom of Italy}}
| serviceyears = 1904-1940
| serviceyears = 1904-1940
| rank = General
| rank = [[General officer|General]]
| battles = {{plainlist|
| commands = *36th Infantry Regiment
* Italian corps, [[Territory of the Saar Basin]]
* 5th Infantry Brigade "Cosseria"
* [[2nd Cavalry Division "Emanuele Filiberto Testa di Ferro"]]
* [[III Army Corps (Italy)|III Army Corps]]
* [[XXVI Army Corps (Italy)|Albanian Army Corps Command]]
* [[XXVI Army Corps (Italy)|Higher Forces Command Albania (XXVI Army Corps)]]
* [[11th Army (Italy)|11th Army]]
| battles = {{Tree list}}
*[[Italo-Turkish War]]
*[[World War I]]
*[[World War I]]
*[[Greco-Italian war]]}}
**[[Italian front (World War I)|Italian front]]
*[[World War II]]
**[[Greco-Italian War]]
**[[Italian resistance movement|Italian resistance]]
{{Tree list/end}}
}}
}}
'''Sebastiano Visconti Prasca''' (23 January 1883 – 25 February 1961) was an Italian general. He led the initial offensive of the [[Greco-Italian War]], but was relieved of his command after two weeks for incompetence and substituted with General [[Ubaldo Soddu]].
'''Sebastiano Visconti Prasca''' (27 February 1883, [[Rome]] – 25 February 1961, [[Monte Porzio Catone]]) was an Italian [[General officer|general]]. A veteran of the [[Italo-Turkish War]] of 1911–1912 and {{nowrap|[[World War I]],}} he led the initial offensive of the [[Greco-Italian War]] in 1940 during [[World War II]], but was relieved of his command after two weeks for incompetence and relieved by General [[Ubaldo Soddu]].


==Biography==
==Biography==
===Early life and ancestry===
Sebastiano Visconti Prasca was born in [[Rome]], a member of the [[nobility|noble]] family of the [[Visconti of Milan|House of Visconti]]. He took part in [[World War I]], receiving two commemorative medals and a Merit Cross.
Sebastiano Visconti Prasca was born in [[Rome]] on 23 July 1883.<ref name=generals>{{cite web|author=|url=http://www.generals.dk/general/Visconti_Prasca/Sebastiano/Italy.html|title=Visconti Prasca, Sebastiano|accessdate=1 January 2024|website=www.generals.dk|publisher=Generals}}</ref> He was a member of the [[Nobility|noble]] family of the [[Visconti of Milan|House of Visconti]], patricians of [[Alessandria]].


===Career===
Starting from 1924, he served as [[military attaché]] at [[Belgrade]] in [[Yugoslavia]]. In 1934 he commanded the Italian corps in [[Saar (League of Nations)|Saar]]. Later he was military attaché at [[Paris]] and [[Berlin]], and, in 1938, he became commander of the [[2nd Cavalry Division Emanuele Filiberto Testa di Ferro]].


Visconti Prasca joined the [[Royal Italian Army]] and began studies at the [[Military Academy of Modena|Royal Military Academy of Infantry and Cavalry]] in [[Modena]], from which he graduated with the rank of [[infantry]] [[Captain (armed forces)|captain]]<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Gazzetta del Regno d'Italia|issue=227|date=29 September 1904|lang=it}}</ref> in 1904. He participated in the [[Italo-Turkish War]] of 1911–1912, for which he received an award of the [[Bronze Medal of Military Valor]]. During [[World War I]], he served on the [[Italian front (World War I)|Italian front]] from 1915 to 1918, receiving a promotion to [[lieutenant colonel]] in 1917 and a second award of the Bronze Medal of Military Merit as well as the [[War Merit Cross (Italy)|War Merit Cross]].
In 1940 he was commander-in-chief of the lackluster [[Greco-Italian War|Italian invasion of Greece]]. Visconti Prasca's personal propaganda in convincing [[Benito Mussolini]] that the initial forces under his command would prove sufficient, and that the Italian invasion would meet a feeble resistance, was one of the factors leading to the disaster.<ref name="Cervi">{{cite book|title=Storia della guerra di Grecia|last=Cervi|first=Mario|year=1965|publisher=Rizzoli}}</ref> Visconti Prasca was replaced on 13 November, only two weeks after the beginning of the invasion, by [[Ubaldo Soddu]].


Visconti Prasca attended the Turin Army War School, then served on the [[general staff]]. In January 1920 he went to [[Weimar Republic|Germany]] as a member of the [[Inter-Allied Commission]] for [[Upper Silesia]]. In 1921 he returned to Italy, where he began duty in the [[Ministry of Defence (Italy)|Ministry of War]]. He was admitted to the Army Council in 1922.
In September 1943 he joined the [[Italian resistance movement]]. Captured by the Germans, he was sentenced to death, subsequently commuted to life imprisonment in Germany. Visconti Prasca escaped and fought with the [[Red Army]] in the final stages of [[World War II]], participating in the [[Battle of Berlin]].


In March 1924, Visconti Prasca became [[military attaché]] of the Embassy of the [[Kingdom of Italy]] in [[Belgrade]] in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which was renamed the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]] in 1928. He remained there for six years, during which time [[Prime Minister of Italy]] [[Benito Mussolini]] developed a special regard for him — reflected in notes made in 1931 by General [[Pietro Gacchera]]<ref>"Hearing with His Excellency Mussolini, on April 20, 1931-Th at Palazzo Venezia at 17:15."</ref> — but was recalled in 1930 after the [[Government of Yugoslavia]] bluntly accused him of [[espionage]].<ref name=V0p168>Vento (2010).</ref> He returned briefly to the general staff, then assumed command of the 36th Infantry [[Regiment]]. He then led the military administration of the city of [[Bologna]].
In 1946 he published a memoir, ''Io ho aggredito la Grecia'', in which he tried to justify his personal errors in the War of Greece.<ref name="Cervi"/>

In October 1933, Visconti Prasca was appointed to the office of the Chief of the Army General Staff, General [[Pietro Badoglio]]. That same month, he published a book on [[military strategy]] under the title ''Guerra decisiva'' ({{lang-en|Decisive War}}), in which he developed the theory of what was known in Germany as ''[[blitzkrieg]]'' ({{lang-en|lightning war}}),<ref name=M4p101>Minniti (1994), p. 101.</ref> Mussolini himself read the book, which have decisively influenced many of the events that led to the outbreak of the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]] of 1935–1936. In April 1934, as an envoy of Badoglio, Visconti Prasca made a [[reconnaissance]] visit to the [[Italian Eritrea|Colony of Eritrea]]. After his return to Italy, he drew up a relevant report which helped to organize the operational plans for the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, which were implemented in 1935.<ref name=M4p108>Minniti (1994), p. 108.</ref>

Visconti Prasca was removed from his general staff duties in 1934 following a related decision by Badoglio himself, as he was suspected of disclosing a secret agreement that Badoglio had concluded with the French general [[Maurice Gamelin]]. In December 1934, Visconti Prasca took command of the Italian expeditionary corps in the [[Territory of the Saar Basin]], occupied under a [[League of Nations mandate]], in a move related to a [[League of Nations]] requirement for the supervision of local elections there. In January 1935 , he was promoted to the rank of ''generale di brigata'' ([[brigadier general]]) and at the same time was made an honorary [[adjutant]] of [[King of Italy|King]] [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy|Victor Emmanuel III]]. In September 1935 he assumed command of the 5th Infantry [[Brigade]] "Cosseria". In September 1937 he was promoted to the rank of ''generale di divisione'' ([[divisional general]]) and in December 1937 he assumed command of the [[2nd Cavalry Division "Emanuele Filiberto Testa di Ferro"]].

In 1938, Visconti Prasca became the military attaché at the Italian embassy [[Paris]],<ref name=G2p26>Gin (2012), p. 26.}}</ref> where he followed the deterioration in relations between Italy and [[France]] after [[Nazi Germany]] occupied [[Czechoslovakia]] in September 1938. He was still in Paris when [[World War II]] began with the German [[invasion of Poland]] on 1 September 1939. Always considered a [[Francophile]], he declared a few months after the outbreak of the war that it was inevitable that the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] would defeat Germany.<ref name=C5p54>{Cervi (1965), p. 54.</ref>

Visconti Prasca was recalled to Italy at the end of 1939 when he was appointed to the Army General Staff. For short time in early 1940 he commanded [[III Army Corps (Italy)|III Army Corps]]<ref name=C5p54/> on the Italian border with France<ref name=K2p107>Knox (1982), p. 107.</ref> as Italy made preparations to enter the war on the side of the [[Axis powers]].

===Greco-Italian War===

On 26 May 1940,<ref name=P6p7>Pearson (2006), p.7.</ref> following a suggestion by the [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Italy)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]], [[Galeazzo Ciano]], and the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Army, General [[Ubaldo Soddu]], Visconti Prasca was appointed to replace General [[Carlo Geloso]] as commander-in-chief of the Italian armed forces in [[Albania]],<ref name=K2p107/> which [[Italian invasion of Albania|Italy had invaded]] and occupied in April 1939. During his introductory meeting with Mussolini, which took place at the [[Palazzo Venezia]] in Rome, there was no discussion of war with [[Greece]] or Yugoslavia.<ref name=C5p55>Cervi (1965), p. 55.</ref> Upon his arrival in Albania, he took command of [[XXVI Army Corps (Italy)|Higher Forces Command Albania (XXVI Army Corps)]], a reinforced [[corps]] created on 1 December 1939 by the merger of the Higher Forces Command Albania ({{lang-it|Comando Superiore Truppe Albania}}) and the Albania Army Corps Command ({{lang-it|Comando Corpo d'Armata Albania}}), which consisted of approximately, 100,000 men. His command included five Italian [[Division (military)|divisions]] — the [[3rd Alpine Division "Julia"]], [[19th Infantry Division "Venezia"]], [[23rd Infantry Division "Ferrara"]], [[53rd Infantry Division "Arezzo"]], and [[131st Armored Division "Centauro"]] — as well as auxiliary units and Albanian divisions<ref name=P6p7/> which , numerically, corresponded to approximately, two more divisions.<ref name=C5p55/> Upon assuming his duties as a commander in Albania, Visconti Prasca was directly active in the formation of certain Albanian irregular forces under the command of Jaffer Bey Ipi and Kazim Bey Kokuli.<ref name=P6p7/> On 1 June 1940, he was promoted to the rank of [[army corps general]] ({{lang-it|generale di corpo d'armata}}).

On 10 June 1940, Italy entered World War II, [[Italian invasion of France|invading France]] during the [[Battle of France]] in a campaign that resulted in France's capitulation and [[Franco-Italian Armistice|an Italian armistice with France]] that went into effect on 25 June 1940. During July 1940, Mussolini, pushed by Ciano, decided to attack a [[neutral country]] without consulting with [[Nazi Germany]] first in order to compensate for [[Marshal of Italy]] [[Rodolfo Graziani]]'s hesitance to invade [[Egypt]] from [[Italian Libya|Libya]] and to compete with the military successes of the German ''[[Wehrmacht]]''. He selected the [[Kingdom of Greece]] as the target in the belief that the Greeks lacked a desire for war and that an Italian conquest of Greece would be easy.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cervi|first1=Mario|year=1965|title=Storia della guerra di Grecia|lang=it|publisher=Rizzoli|isbn=9788817866408|page=}}</ref>

The Italian Army General Staff proceeded to organize an invasion plan, which was known as "''Esigenza'' G" or "''Emergenza'' G."<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.bibliolorenzolodi.it/it/Giano/GianoQuattro/GIANO%20storia%20memoria%20ricerca%20Anno%20III%20numero%204%20-%20aprile%202020.html#p=7 |first1=L. |last1=Perrone |first2=M. |last2=Pietrosanto |title=Mio nonno racconta la campagna di Grecia |lang=it|journal=Giano |issue=4 |date=2020 |page=38 |accessdate=26 October 2020 |archivedate=2020-04-07 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407055031/https://www.bibliolorenzolodi.it/it/Giano/GianoQuattro/GIANO%20storia%20memoria%20ricerca%20Anno%20III%20numero%204%20-%20aprile%202020.html#p=7}}</ref> Following an order from Mussolini, General Geloso drew up the initial operational plan after his return from Albania. It provided for the invasion of the [[Epirus (region)|Epirus region]] using an Italian force of 11 divisions, two [[cavalry]] regiments, and a [[grenadier]] regiment, but also required the [[Bulgarian Land Forces|Bulgarian Army]] to attack [[Western Thrace]], forcing part of the Greek forces to withdraw from the Epirus front.<ref name=C5p56>Cervi (1965), p. 56.</ref> The next plan provided for the use of 20 Italian divisions<ref name=C5p56/> and their logistical support, all of which would already be in Albania before the start of hostilities.<ref name=C5p56/> On 11 August 1940<ref name=K2p171>Knox (1982), p. 171.</ref> Ciano summoned Visconti Prasca to Rome, where Ciano informed him of the decision to invade the [[Chameria]] region,<ref name=K2p107/> as well as the [[Ionian Islands]],<ref name=K2p171/> instructing him to prepare for the start of operations before the end of August 1940.

Visconti Prasca returned to [[Tirana]], Albania, where he worked for a long time to draw up a plan for the invasion of Greece, which presupposed the use of four ''divisione binaria'' ({{lang-en|double" divisions}}), i.e. divisions composed of only two [[infantry]] regiments, which would carry out an attack along of front of approximately {{convert|60|mi|0}}. On 14 October 1940,<ref name=K2p172>Knox (1982), p.172.</ref> Badoglio, after learning of Ciano's meeting with Visconti Prasca, ordered Visconti Prasca to obey only the orders that came from the Italian Army General Staff.<ref name=K2p172/> On 13 October 1940, Mussolini made the official decision<ref name=K7p462>Kennedy (2007), p. 462.</ref> to attack Greece and conveyed it to Badoglio during a summit meeting attended by Mussolini, Badoglio, Ciano, and [[Francesco Giacomoni di San. Savino]], with the date for the start of military operations set for 26 October 1940,<ref name=K7p462/> before it was then postponed to 28 October.

On 28 October 1940,<ref name=K7p462/> as the winter season approached, the Italian troops launched their attack<ref name=K7p462/> along the steep and dangerous mountainous terrain that formed the Epirus front , encountering little resistance during their advance, with the result that Visconti Prasca sent a [[telegram]] to Rome to report Italian forces were advancing at a "rapid pace." However, due to the adverse weather conditions, as well as the beginning of [[Hellenic Army|Greek Army]] counterattacks ordered by the chief of the general staff of the Greek Army , [[Alexandros Papagos]], the Italian advance was halted on 8 November 1940.<ref name=K7p463>Kennedy (2007), p. 463.</ref>

Visconti Prasca's personal assurances that the initial forces under his command would prove sufficient, and that the Italian invasion would meet feeble Greek resistance, had helped to convince Mussolini to launch the invasion and was one of the factors leading to the disaster.<ref name="Cervi">{{cite book|title=Storia della guerra di Grecia|last=Cervi|first=Mario|year=1965|publisher=Rizzoli}}</ref> Mussolini, outraged at Visconti Prasca's handling of the invasion, removed him from command of the troops on 8 November 1940, the same day the initail Italian advance halted, replacing him with General [[Ubaldo Sondu]]. Upon arriving in Albania, Sondu deemed the initial attack a failure and ordered Italian forces to shift immediately to a defensive stance.<ref name=K7p463/> Under relentless pressure from Mussolini, Sondu failed to reverse Italian fortunes in the conflict, and a short time later, he, too, was replaced, when the new chief of the Italian Army General Staff, General [[Hugo Cavallero]], went from Rome to Tirana to exercise direct command of Italian military operations on the Greek front.<ref name=K7p462/> Cavallero assigned Visconti Prasca to command of the newly formed [[11th Army (Italy)|11th Army]], which was created on 9 November 1940 by a merger of the Higher Forces Command Albania (XXVI Army Corps), [[VI Army Corps (Italy)|VI Army Corps]], and [[VIII Army Corps (Italy)|VIII Army Corps]] (formerly the Chameria Army Corps), deployed along the southern sector of the front along a belt stretching from the [[Pindus]] mountain range to the [[Ionian Sea]]. However, Geloso replaced him as commander of the 11th Army on 11 November 1940, and Visconti Prasca returned to Italy.

===Later life===

In December 1940, Visconti Prasca retired from the army. but he was never called back into service. Ever since the end of the war, he had unsuccessfully

After [[Armistice of Cassibile|Italy surrendered]] to the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] on 8 September 1943, Visconti Prasca joined the [[Italian resistance movement]] against the [[German occupation of Italy|German occupation forces]] in Italy. On 24 October 1943 he was arrested, and subsequently he was sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to imprisonment on German soil, where he was imprisoned in [[Oflag 64#Oflag 64/Z|Offizierslager 64Z]] ({{lang-en|Officers Camp 64/Z}}) in [[Skoki]] ({{lang-de|Schokken}}), [[Poland]],<ref name=T4p563>Trionfi (2014), p. 563.</ref> from which he was released in April 1945,<ref name=T4p550>Trionfi (2014), p. 550.</ref> along with a number of senior [[Commissioned officer|officers]] of the Soviet [[Red Army]]. He subsequently witnessed the entry of Soviet troops into [[Berlin]] during the [[Battle of Berlin]]. World War II ended in [[Europe]] with Germany's surrender on 8 May 1945.

After his return to Italy in October 1945, Visconti Prasca published his [[autobiography]] under the title ''Io ho aggredito la Grecia'' ({{lang-en|I Attacked Greece}}) (Rizzoli, 1946), a contrived effort on his part for personal rehabilitation in which he tried to diminish his personal responsibility for the defeat of the Italian army on the Greek front and justify his personal errors in command.<ref name="Cervi"/> On several occasions after the war he tried unsuccessfully to return to active duty, asking the [[President of Italy]], [[Luigi Einaudi]], to reconsider his appeal against the decision to depose him in 1940, but he never returned to active service.

===Personal life===
Visconti Prasca was married to Angelica Zoppi, daughter of Senator Vittorio. He was Grand Master of the [[Synodal Military Order of the Knights of Omonia]]. From 1951 until his death, he was Grand Master of the [[Sovereign Military Order of St. George of Carinthia]].

===Death===
Visconti Prasca died in [[Monte Porzio Catone]], Italy, near Rome, on 25 February 1961.

==Honors and awards==

*[[File:Valor militare bronze medal BAR.svg|106px]] [[Bronze Medal of Military Valor]] (two awards)
*[[File:Croce di guerra al merito BAR.svg|106px]] [[War Merit Cross (Italy)|War Merit Cross]]
*[[File:Italian expedition to Albania BAR.svg|106px]] [[Commemorative Medal of the Expedition in Albania]]
*[[File:1GMx4.png|106px]] [[Commemorative Medal for the Italo-Austrian War 1915–1918]] (four years of campaign)
*[[File:Medaglia a ricordo dell'Unità d'Italia BAR.svg|106px]] [[Commemorative Medal of the Unity of Italy]]
*[[File:Allied Victory Medal BAR.svg|106px]] [[Allied Victory Medal (Italy)|Allied Victory Medal]]
*[[File:Cavaliere SSML BAR.svg|106px]] Knight of the [[Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus]] (5th Class)
*[[File:Ufficiale SSML Regno BAR.svg|106px]] Officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (4th Class)
*[[File:Commendatore SSML Regno BAR.svg|106px]] Commander of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (3rd Class)
*[[File:Grande ufficiale SSML Regno BAR.svg|106px]] Grand Officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (2nd Class) (15&nbsp;April&nbsp;1940)
*[[File:Cavaliere OCI BAR.svg|106px]] Knight of the [[Order of the Crown of Italy]]
*[[File:Ufficiale OCI Kingdom BAR.svg|106px]] Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy
*[[File:Commendatore OCI Kingdom BAR.svg|106px]] Commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy (Royal Decree of 13 January 1924)

Visconti Prasca received his first Bronze Medal of Military Valor for his actions in 1912 during the [[Italo-Turkish War]], the citation reading, "Responsible for conveying orders and briefings to the various military units, despite being slightly wounded at the start of the fighting, he continued his work with courage and bravery throughout the day. Merkeb, January 27, 1912."

His second award of the Bronze Medal for Military Valor was for his actions from 1915 to 1917 on the [[Italian front (World War I)|Italian front]] during [[World War I]], the citation reading, "During more than two years of war, in a number of different situations, he carried out daring [[reconnaissance]] missions along the front, while as an officer he relayed orders between the different military units, displaying determination and ignorance of danger. ''Medio Izontso'', May 1915 - September 1917."


==References==
==References==
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==Sources==
==Sources==
===Books===
*{{cite book|title=Storia della guerra di Grecia|last=Cervi|first=Mario|year=1965|publisher=Rizzoli}}
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{cite book|first1=Antonello |last1=Bigini|first2=Alessandro |last2=Gionfrida|year=1997|title= Lo stato maggiore generale tra le due guerre|publisher= Ufficio Storico dello Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito|location=Rome|lang=it}}
* {{cite book|authorlink1=Mario Cervi|first1=Mario|last1=Cervi|year=1965|title= Storia della guerra di Grecia|publisher=Rizzoli Editore|location=Milan|ref=|lang=it}}
* {{cite book|first1=Emilio |last1=Gin|origyear=1947|year=2012|title=L'ora segnata dal destino: gli alleati e Mussolini da Monaco all'intervento. Settembre 1938-Giugno 1940|publisher=Edizioni Nuova Cultura|location=Rome|isbn=88-6134-831-9|lang=it}}
* {{cite book|first1=David M. |last1=Kennedy|year=2007|title=The Library of Congress World War II Companion|publisher= Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=1-4165-5306-1}}
* {{cite book|first1=McGregor |last1=Knox|year=1982|title=Mussolini Unleashed, 1939–1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War|publisher = Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=0-521-33835-2}}
* {{cite book|first1=Mario |last1=Montanari|year=1980|title= La campagna di Grecia|publisher= Ufficio Storico dello Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito|location= Rome|lang=it}}
* {{cite book|first1=Owen |last1=Pearson|year=2006|title=Albania in the Twentieth Century, A History: Volume II: Albania in Occupation and War|publisher= IB Tauris & Co, Ltd.|location=New York|isbn=1-84511-104-4}}
* {{cite book|first1=Sebastiano |last1=Visconti-Prasca|year=1947|title=Io ho aggredito la Grecia|publisher=Rizzoli Editore|location=Milan|lang=it}}
* {{cite book|first1=Maria |last1=Trionfi|year=2014|title=Il diario dell'attesa: storia di una famiglia 1943-1945 |publisher=Biblioteka Edizioni|location=Milan|isbn=88-98801-03-3|lang=it}}
* {{cite book|authorlink1=Andrea Vento |first1=Andrea |last1=Vento|year=2010|title=In silenzio gioite e soffrite: storia dei servizi segreti italiani dal Risorgimento alla Guerra Fredda|publisher=Il Saggiatore|location=Milan|isbn=88-428-1604-3|lang=it}}
* {{cite book|authorlink1=Giovanni Cecini |first1=Giovanni |last1=Cecini|title=I generali di Mussolini|publisher=Newton & Compton Editori|location=Rome|year=2016|isbn=8-85419-868-4|lang=it}}
{{refend}}

===Periodicals===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |first1=Fortunato |last1=Minniti|date=March 1994|title= Oltre Adua. Lo sviluppo e la scelta della strategia operativa per la guerra contro l'Etiopia|journal=Società di Storia Militare Quaderno 1993|publisher=Gruppo Editoriale Internazionale|location=Rome|page=85-142|isbn=88-8011-043-8|lang=it}}
{{refend}}

<!--==External links==-->


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[[Category:Nobility from Rome]]
[[Category:Italian generals]]
[[Category:Italian generals]]
[[Category:Italian military personnel of the Italo-Turkish War]]
[[Category:Italian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Italian military personnel of World War II]]
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[[Category:Recipients of the War Merit Cross (Italy)]]
[[Category:Grand Officers of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Crown (Italy)]]

Revision as of 21:11, 5 January 2024

Sebastiano Visconti Prasca
Born(1883-02-27)27 February 1883
Rome, Italy
Died25 February 1961(1961-02-25) (aged 77)
Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
Allegiance Kingdom of Italy
Service/branch Royal Italian Army
Years of service1904-1940
RankGeneral
Commands held
Battles/wars

Sebastiano Visconti Prasca (27 February 1883, Rome – 25 February 1961, Monte Porzio Catone) was an Italian general. A veteran of the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912 and World War I, he led the initial offensive of the Greco-Italian War in 1940 during World War II, but was relieved of his command after two weeks for incompetence and relieved by General Ubaldo Soddu.

Biography

Early life and ancestry

Sebastiano Visconti Prasca was born in Rome on 23 July 1883.[1] He was a member of the noble family of the House of Visconti, patricians of Alessandria.

Career

Visconti Prasca joined the Royal Italian Army and began studies at the Royal Military Academy of Infantry and Cavalry in Modena, from which he graduated with the rank of infantry captain[2] in 1904. He participated in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, for which he received an award of the Bronze Medal of Military Valor. During World War I, he served on the Italian front from 1915 to 1918, receiving a promotion to lieutenant colonel in 1917 and a second award of the Bronze Medal of Military Merit as well as the War Merit Cross.

Visconti Prasca attended the Turin Army War School, then served on the general staff. In January 1920 he went to Germany as a member of the Inter-Allied Commission for Upper Silesia. In 1921 he returned to Italy, where he began duty in the Ministry of War. He was admitted to the Army Council in 1922.

In March 1924, Visconti Prasca became military attaché of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Italy in Belgrade in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1928. He remained there for six years, during which time Prime Minister of Italy Benito Mussolini developed a special regard for him — reflected in notes made in 1931 by General Pietro Gacchera[3] — but was recalled in 1930 after the Government of Yugoslavia bluntly accused him of espionage.[4] He returned briefly to the general staff, then assumed command of the 36th Infantry Regiment. He then led the military administration of the city of Bologna.

In October 1933, Visconti Prasca was appointed to the office of the Chief of the Army General Staff, General Pietro Badoglio. That same month, he published a book on military strategy under the title Guerra decisiva (English: Decisive War), in which he developed the theory of what was known in Germany as blitzkrieg (English: lightning war),[5] Mussolini himself read the book, which have decisively influenced many of the events that led to the outbreak of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935–1936. In April 1934, as an envoy of Badoglio, Visconti Prasca made a reconnaissance visit to the Colony of Eritrea. After his return to Italy, he drew up a relevant report which helped to organize the operational plans for the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, which were implemented in 1935.[6]

Visconti Prasca was removed from his general staff duties in 1934 following a related decision by Badoglio himself, as he was suspected of disclosing a secret agreement that Badoglio had concluded with the French general Maurice Gamelin. In December 1934, Visconti Prasca took command of the Italian expeditionary corps in the Territory of the Saar Basin, occupied under a League of Nations mandate, in a move related to a League of Nations requirement for the supervision of local elections there. In January 1935 , he was promoted to the rank of generale di brigata (brigadier general) and at the same time was made an honorary adjutant of King Victor Emmanuel III. In September 1935 he assumed command of the 5th Infantry Brigade "Cosseria". In September 1937 he was promoted to the rank of generale di divisione (divisional general) and in December 1937 he assumed command of the 2nd Cavalry Division "Emanuele Filiberto Testa di Ferro".

In 1938, Visconti Prasca became the military attaché at the Italian embassy Paris,[7] where he followed the deterioration in relations between Italy and France after Nazi Germany occupied Czechoslovakia in September 1938. He was still in Paris when World War II began with the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. Always considered a Francophile, he declared a few months after the outbreak of the war that it was inevitable that the Allies would defeat Germany.[8]

Visconti Prasca was recalled to Italy at the end of 1939 when he was appointed to the Army General Staff. For short time in early 1940 he commanded III Army Corps[8] on the Italian border with France[9] as Italy made preparations to enter the war on the side of the Axis powers.

Greco-Italian War

On 26 May 1940,[10] following a suggestion by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Galeazzo Ciano, and the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Army, General Ubaldo Soddu, Visconti Prasca was appointed to replace General Carlo Geloso as commander-in-chief of the Italian armed forces in Albania,[9] which Italy had invaded and occupied in April 1939. During his introductory meeting with Mussolini, which took place at the Palazzo Venezia in Rome, there was no discussion of war with Greece or Yugoslavia.[11] Upon his arrival in Albania, he took command of Higher Forces Command Albania (XXVI Army Corps), a reinforced corps created on 1 December 1939 by the merger of the Higher Forces Command Albania (Italian: Comando Superiore Truppe Albania) and the Albania Army Corps Command (Italian: Comando Corpo d'Armata Albania), which consisted of approximately, 100,000 men. His command included five Italian divisions — the 3rd Alpine Division "Julia", 19th Infantry Division "Venezia", 23rd Infantry Division "Ferrara", 53rd Infantry Division "Arezzo", and 131st Armored Division "Centauro" — as well as auxiliary units and Albanian divisions[10] which , numerically, corresponded to approximately, two more divisions.[11] Upon assuming his duties as a commander in Albania, Visconti Prasca was directly active in the formation of certain Albanian irregular forces under the command of Jaffer Bey Ipi and Kazim Bey Kokuli.[10] On 1 June 1940, he was promoted to the rank of army corps general (Italian: generale di corpo d'armata).

On 10 June 1940, Italy entered World War II, invading France during the Battle of France in a campaign that resulted in France's capitulation and an Italian armistice with France that went into effect on 25 June 1940. During July 1940, Mussolini, pushed by Ciano, decided to attack a neutral country without consulting with Nazi Germany first in order to compensate for Marshal of Italy Rodolfo Graziani's hesitance to invade Egypt from Libya and to compete with the military successes of the German Wehrmacht. He selected the Kingdom of Greece as the target in the belief that the Greeks lacked a desire for war and that an Italian conquest of Greece would be easy.[12]

The Italian Army General Staff proceeded to organize an invasion plan, which was known as "Esigenza G" or "Emergenza G."[13] Following an order from Mussolini, General Geloso drew up the initial operational plan after his return from Albania. It provided for the invasion of the Epirus region using an Italian force of 11 divisions, two cavalry regiments, and a grenadier regiment, but also required the Bulgarian Army to attack Western Thrace, forcing part of the Greek forces to withdraw from the Epirus front.[14] The next plan provided for the use of 20 Italian divisions[14] and their logistical support, all of which would already be in Albania before the start of hostilities.[14] On 11 August 1940[15] Ciano summoned Visconti Prasca to Rome, where Ciano informed him of the decision to invade the Chameria region,[9] as well as the Ionian Islands,[15] instructing him to prepare for the start of operations before the end of August 1940.

Visconti Prasca returned to Tirana, Albania, where he worked for a long time to draw up a plan for the invasion of Greece, which presupposed the use of four divisione binaria (English: double" divisions), i.e. divisions composed of only two infantry regiments, which would carry out an attack along of front of approximately 60 miles (97 km). On 14 October 1940,[16] Badoglio, after learning of Ciano's meeting with Visconti Prasca, ordered Visconti Prasca to obey only the orders that came from the Italian Army General Staff.[16] On 13 October 1940, Mussolini made the official decision[17] to attack Greece and conveyed it to Badoglio during a summit meeting attended by Mussolini, Badoglio, Ciano, and Francesco Giacomoni di San. Savino, with the date for the start of military operations set for 26 October 1940,[17] before it was then postponed to 28 October.

On 28 October 1940,[17] as the winter season approached, the Italian troops launched their attack[17] along the steep and dangerous mountainous terrain that formed the Epirus front , encountering little resistance during their advance, with the result that Visconti Prasca sent a telegram to Rome to report Italian forces were advancing at a "rapid pace." However, due to the adverse weather conditions, as well as the beginning of Greek Army counterattacks ordered by the chief of the general staff of the Greek Army , Alexandros Papagos, the Italian advance was halted on 8 November 1940.[18]

Visconti Prasca's personal assurances that the initial forces under his command would prove sufficient, and that the Italian invasion would meet feeble Greek resistance, had helped to convince Mussolini to launch the invasion and was one of the factors leading to the disaster.[19] Mussolini, outraged at Visconti Prasca's handling of the invasion, removed him from command of the troops on 8 November 1940, the same day the initail Italian advance halted, replacing him with General Ubaldo Sondu. Upon arriving in Albania, Sondu deemed the initial attack a failure and ordered Italian forces to shift immediately to a defensive stance.[18] Under relentless pressure from Mussolini, Sondu failed to reverse Italian fortunes in the conflict, and a short time later, he, too, was replaced, when the new chief of the Italian Army General Staff, General Hugo Cavallero, went from Rome to Tirana to exercise direct command of Italian military operations on the Greek front.[17] Cavallero assigned Visconti Prasca to command of the newly formed 11th Army, which was created on 9 November 1940 by a merger of the Higher Forces Command Albania (XXVI Army Corps), VI Army Corps, and VIII Army Corps (formerly the Chameria Army Corps), deployed along the southern sector of the front along a belt stretching from the Pindus mountain range to the Ionian Sea. However, Geloso replaced him as commander of the 11th Army on 11 November 1940, and Visconti Prasca returned to Italy.

Later life

In December 1940, Visconti Prasca retired from the army. but he was never called back into service. Ever since the end of the war, he had unsuccessfully

After Italy surrendered to the Allies on 8 September 1943, Visconti Prasca joined the Italian resistance movement against the German occupation forces in Italy. On 24 October 1943 he was arrested, and subsequently he was sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to imprisonment on German soil, where he was imprisoned in Offizierslager 64Z (English: Officers Camp 64/Z) in Skoki (German: Schokken), Poland,[20] from which he was released in April 1945,[21] along with a number of senior officers of the Soviet Red Army. He subsequently witnessed the entry of Soviet troops into Berlin during the Battle of Berlin. World War II ended in Europe with Germany's surrender on 8 May 1945.

After his return to Italy in October 1945, Visconti Prasca published his autobiography under the title Io ho aggredito la Grecia (English: I Attacked Greece) (Rizzoli, 1946), a contrived effort on his part for personal rehabilitation in which he tried to diminish his personal responsibility for the defeat of the Italian army on the Greek front and justify his personal errors in command.[19] On several occasions after the war he tried unsuccessfully to return to active duty, asking the President of Italy, Luigi Einaudi, to reconsider his appeal against the decision to depose him in 1940, but he never returned to active service.

Personal life

Visconti Prasca was married to Angelica Zoppi, daughter of Senator Vittorio. He was Grand Master of the Synodal Military Order of the Knights of Omonia. From 1951 until his death, he was Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of St. George of Carinthia.

Death

Visconti Prasca died in Monte Porzio Catone, Italy, near Rome, on 25 February 1961.

Honors and awards

Visconti Prasca received his first Bronze Medal of Military Valor for his actions in 1912 during the Italo-Turkish War, the citation reading, "Responsible for conveying orders and briefings to the various military units, despite being slightly wounded at the start of the fighting, he continued his work with courage and bravery throughout the day. Merkeb, January 27, 1912."

His second award of the Bronze Medal for Military Valor was for his actions from 1915 to 1917 on the Italian front during World War I, the citation reading, "During more than two years of war, in a number of different situations, he carried out daring reconnaissance missions along the front, while as an officer he relayed orders between the different military units, displaying determination and ignorance of danger. Medio Izontso, May 1915 - September 1917."

References

  1. ^ "Visconti Prasca, Sebastiano". www.generals.dk. Generals. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  2. ^ Gazzetta del Regno d'Italia (in Italian). No. 227. 29 September 1904. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ^ "Hearing with His Excellency Mussolini, on April 20, 1931-Th at Palazzo Venezia at 17:15."
  4. ^ Vento (2010).
  5. ^ Minniti (1994), p. 101.
  6. ^ Minniti (1994), p. 108.
  7. ^ Gin (2012), p. 26.}}
  8. ^ a b {Cervi (1965), p. 54.
  9. ^ a b c Knox (1982), p. 107.
  10. ^ a b c Pearson (2006), p.7.
  11. ^ a b Cervi (1965), p. 55.
  12. ^ Cervi, Mario (1965). Storia della guerra di Grecia (in Italian). Rizzoli. ISBN 9788817866408.
  13. ^ Perrone, L.; Pietrosanto, M. (2020). "Mio nonno racconta la campagna di Grecia". Giano (in Italian) (4): 38. Archived from the original on 2020-04-07. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  14. ^ a b c Cervi (1965), p. 56.
  15. ^ a b Knox (1982), p. 171.
  16. ^ a b Knox (1982), p.172.
  17. ^ a b c d e Kennedy (2007), p. 462.
  18. ^ a b Kennedy (2007), p. 463.
  19. ^ a b Cervi, Mario (1965). Storia della guerra di Grecia. Rizzoli.
  20. ^ Trionfi (2014), p. 563.
  21. ^ Trionfi (2014), p. 550.

Sources

Books

  • Bigini, Antonello; Gionfrida, Alessandro (1997). Lo stato maggiore generale tra le due guerre (in Italian). Rome: Ufficio Storico dello Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito.
  • Cervi, Mario (1965). Storia della guerra di Grecia (in Italian). Milan: Rizzoli Editore.
  • Gin, Emilio (2012) [1947]. L'ora segnata dal destino: gli alleati e Mussolini da Monaco all'intervento. Settembre 1938-Giugno 1940 (in Italian). Rome: Edizioni Nuova Cultura. ISBN 88-6134-831-9.
  • Kennedy, David M. (2007). The Library of Congress World War II Companion. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 1-4165-5306-1.
  • Knox, McGregor (1982). Mussolini Unleashed, 1939–1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-33835-2.
  • Montanari, Mario (1980). La campagna di Grecia (in Italian). Rome: Ufficio Storico dello Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito.
  • Pearson, Owen (2006). Albania in the Twentieth Century, A History: Volume II: Albania in Occupation and War. New York: IB Tauris & Co, Ltd. ISBN 1-84511-104-4.
  • Visconti-Prasca, Sebastiano (1947). Io ho aggredito la Grecia (in Italian). Milan: Rizzoli Editore.
  • Trionfi, Maria (2014). Il diario dell'attesa: storia di una famiglia 1943-1945 (in Italian). Milan: Biblioteka Edizioni. ISBN 88-98801-03-3.
  • Vento, Andrea (2010). In silenzio gioite e soffrite: storia dei servizi segreti italiani dal Risorgimento alla Guerra Fredda (in Italian). Milan: Il Saggiatore. ISBN 88-428-1604-3.
  • Cecini, Giovanni (2016). I generali di Mussolini (in Italian). Rome: Newton & Compton Editori. ISBN 8-85419-868-4.

Periodicals

  • Minniti, Fortunato (March 1994). "Oltre Adua. Lo sviluppo e la scelta della strategia operativa per la guerra contro l'Etiopia". Società di Storia Militare Quaderno 1993 (in Italian). Rome: Gruppo Editoriale Internazionale: 85-142. ISBN 88-8011-043-8.


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