Ettore Bastico

Ettore Bastico (9 April 1876 – 2 December 1972) was an Italian military officer before and during World War II. He held high commands during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War (Ethiopia), the Spanish Civil War, and the North African Campaign.

Biography
Bastico was born in Bologna, Italy. When he came of age, Bastico joined the Italian Army and fought in World War I. In 1928, Bastico was promoted to brigadier (generale di brigata). At that time, the Kingdom of Italy was ruled by dictator Benito Mussolini.

In this role, Bastico was a target of Giulio Douhet in Recapitulation (published with the work The Command of the Air). Douhet devotes many pages to critically examining six "basic theories" put forth by Bastico and how they relate to the future of an Independent Air Force's role in future wars.

Bastico was promoted to major general on 29 May 1932 and in 1935, he commanded the 1st Blackshirt Division (23 Marzo) during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. In 1935, Bastico was the commander of the III Corps in Ethiopia and on 10 February 1936 he was promoted to lieutenant general (generale di corpo d'armata). From 1936 to 1937, he was the commander of the II Corps.

In 1937, during the later stages of the Spanish Civil War, Bastico replaced Mario Roatta as the Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Corps of Volunteer Troops (Corpo Truppe Volontarie, or CTV) in Spain. The CTV was sent to help the Spanish Nationalists side in the war. From mid-1937, Bastico's force fought in the Battle of Santander, a decisive victory for the Nationalists. In late 1937, Bastico was replaced by Mario Berti and, in February 1939, the Italian volunteers left Spain.

In 1939, Bastico was named senator of the Kingdom of Italy. He was then assigned to command a reserve division in the Po River area.

When Italy entered World War II, Bastico was Governor-General of the Italian Dodecanese Islands and he was promoted to general (generale d'armata) on 7 August 1940. On 19 July 1941, Bastico was named commander over all Axis forces in North Africa. In 1942, he was reduced to the command of troops in Libya. Ugo Cavallero became the commander of all forces further east in North Africa. Despite this, Bastico was promoted to Marshal of Italy (Maresciallo d'Italia) on 12 August 1942. However, the loss of Libya left him from 2 February 1943 without a command for the rest of the war.

Bastico died in Rome very old at 96, after spending his last years studying history. At the time of his death, he was the last living Italian military officer to have held an Italian five-star-rank in an active capacity. (Umberto II, the last King of Italy, was appointed a marshal of Italy in a ceremonial capacity; he would die in 1983)

Honours

 * Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic - 2 June 1957
 * Knight Grand Cross of the Military Order of Savoy - 17 February 1942  (Grand Officer: 1 May 1939; Commander: 9 July 1936)
 * Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy
 * Knight Grand Cross of the Colonial Order of the Star of Italy
 * Grand Officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
 * Commander of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
 * Knight of the Order of Vittorio Veneto
 * Silver Medal of Military Valor
 * Bronze Medal of Military Valor
 * War Cross for Military Valor
 * Distinction for War Merit (general officer degree)
 * Distinction for War Merit (superior officer degree)
 * Seven awards of the War Merit Cross
 * Commemorative Medal for the Italo-Turkish War 1911-1912
 * Commemorative Medal for the Spanish Campaign (1936-1938)
 * Commorative Medal of the Volunteer Division of Littorio (guerra di Spagna 1936-38)
 * Commemorative Medal for the Italo-Austrian War 1915-1918
 * Commemorative Medal of the Unity of Italy
 * Allied Victory Medal
 * Cross of Military Merit of Spain
 * French Croix de Guerre (1914-1918)
 * German Cross in Gold (5 December 1942)

Works
Bastico wrote some books about Italian military history. The most famous are:
 * "Il Ferreo Terzo Corpo in Africa Orientale" (1937)
 * "L'evoluzione dell'arte della guerra" (1930)