Italian Lieutenant General (1884–1973)
Annibale Bergonzoli (1 November 1884 – 31 July 1973), nicknamed "barba elettrica", "Electric Whiskers", was an Italian lieutenant general who served during World War I, the Spanish Civil War and World War II. In 1940 he commanded the defences of Bardia, Libya. In February 1941, after the disastrous Battle of Beda Fomm, Bergonzoli surrendered to Australian forces.[1] He was held as a prisoner in India and the USA before being repatriated to Italy. Bergonzoli settled in his birthplace, Cannobio, and died there in 1973.
Biography
Italian colonial wars
He entered the Italian Regio Esercito in 1911, beginning his military career as a second lieutenant. Bergonzoli then took part in the occupation of Libya during the Italo-Turkish War in 1911, continuing to be prominent in Libya for several years, dedicated to mop-up operations against Libyan rebels opposed to Italian colonization.
He also took part in the First World War, a conflict in which he received several decorations for his performance at the front.
In 1935 he participated in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, which culminated in the annexation of Ethiopia to the Kingdom of Italy, distinguishing especially in the capture of the Ethiopian city of Neghelli.
Spanish Civil War
Between 1936 and 1939, Bergonzoli was ordered by Benito Mussolini to Spain, forming part of the Corpo Truppe Volontarie, in support of General Francisco Franco and the military rebels during the Spanish Civil War, with Bergonzoli taking charge of the 4th Infantry Division Littorio.
After the defeat suffered by the Italian troops at the battle of Guadalajara, he was the only Italian general posted to Spain who was not replaced by Benito Mussolini.
For his performance in the capture of Santander during the northern campaign, he received an Italian decoration, the Gold Medal of Military Valour. Throughout his career, he received two other silver and one bronze medals. He was one of the architects of the so-called Pact of Santoña, by which the Italians accepted the agreed surrender of the Republican People's Army militants affiliated with the Basque Nationalist Party. He also participated in the Aragon Offensive against the troops of the Republican Popular Army.
Second World War
In 1940 he was the commander-in-chief of the XXIII Italian Army Corps when the invasion of Egypt was attempted.[citation needed]
Bergonzoli was the commander of the Italian garrison in Bardia, which fell on 5 January 1941 following an assault by Commonwealth forces. While most of his men were taken prisoner, Bergonzoli managed to avoid being captured when he escaped through the desert with other soldiers, arriving in Tobruk on 7 January 1941 after crossing some 120 km of desert on foot.
He left Tobruk before the town was captured by Commonwealth forces on 22 January, but on 7 February 1941 Bergonzoli, along with the remnants of the 10th Army, was taken prisoner by troops of the 6th Australian Division in the Battle of Beda Fomm. He was taken first to India and then to the United States as a prisoner of war.
Last years
He returned to Italy in 1946, settling in Cannobio, his place of birth, until his death on 31 July 1973.
Popular culture
In the 1941 film, Love Crazy, starring Myrna Loy and William Powell, Powell's character refers to another character played by Vladimir Sokoloff in the film, as looking like "General Electric Whiskers". This may be a reference to General Bergonzoli in a pun on his nickname and General Electric.
Bergonzoli is mentioned in C.S. Forester's wartime short story "An Egg for the Major" (later published in Forester's Gold from Crete, 1971), which describes the Battle of Beda Fomm from the perspective of a British light tank commander in an unnamed unit that historically would be the 7th Hussars.
Kingdom of Italy
Royal Italian Army