Italian-occupied Corsica
Encyclopedia
Italian-occupied Corsica refers to the military (and administrative) occupation by the Kingdom of Italy of the island of Corsica
during World War II
. It lasted from November 1942 to September 1943.
, and in the aftermath of the Italian capitulation to the Allies various units took different sides in the battle between newly landed German troops, on one hand, and resistance fighter and Free French Forces
, on the other hand.
landed in North Africa
. In response, Nazi Germany
formulated Operation Anton
, as part of which Italy occupied the island of Corsica on November 11 (Italian operation codename: "Operazione C2"), and some parts of France up to the Rhone
river.
The Italian occupation of Corsica had been strongly promoted by the Italian irredentist movement during Italy's Fascist period. The occupation force initially included 30,000 Italian troops and gradually reached the size of nearly 85,000 soldiers (reinforced in June 1943 by 12,000 German troops). This was a huge occupation force relative to the size of the local population of 220,000.
The VII Army Corps of the Regio Esercito was able to occupy Corsica, which was still under the formal sovereignty of Vichy France
, without a fight. Because of the initial lack of perceived partisan resistance and to avoid problems with Marshal Philippe Pétain
, no Corsican units were formed under Italian control (except for a labour battalion formed in March 1943). Corsican population initially showed some support for the Italians, even as a consequence of the irredentist propaganda.
The Italian troops grew to encompass two Army Divisions (the "Friuli"
and the "Cremona"
), two coastal Divisions (the Italian 225 Coastal Division and the Italian 226 Coastal Division), eight battalions of Fascist Militia, and some units of Military Police and Carabinieri
. In July 1943, after Benito Mussolini
's fall, 12,000 German troops were sent to Corsica.
These Italian troops were commanded by General Mondino since the occupation until the end of December 1942, then by General Carboni until March 1943 and later by General Magli until September 1943.
Some Corsican military officers collaborated with Italy, including the retired Major Pantalacci (and his son Antonio), colonel Mondielli and colonel Petru Simone Cristofini (and his wife, the first Corsican female journalist
Marta Renucci). Cristofini, who even met Benito Mussolini
in Rome, was a strong supporter of the union of Corsica to Italy and defended irredentist ideals. Indeed Cristofini actively collaborated with the Italian forces in Corsica during the first months of 1943 and (as head of the Ajaccio troops) helped the Italian Army
to repress the Resistance in Corsica before the Italian Armistice in September 1943. He closely worked with the famous Corsican writer Petru Giovacchini
, who was named as the potential "Governor of Corsica" if the Kingdom of Italy should have annexed the island.
was initially limited, but it started taking shape immediately in the aftermath of the Italian invasion. This initially led to the development of two movements:
In April 1943 Paulin Colonna d'Istria was sent by De Gaulle from Algeria and united the movements.
By early 1943, the Resistance was organized enough that it requested arms deliveries. The Resistance leadership was reinforced and the movement boosted morally by six visits by the submarine Casabianca carrying personnel and arms, and it was later further armed by Allied airdrops. This allowed the Resistance to increase its activities and establish greater territorial control, especially over the countryside in summer 1943. In June and July 1943 the OVRA (Italian fascist police) and the fascist Black Shirts paramilitary groups started a large-scale repression. According to General Fernand Gambiez
, 860 Corsicans were jailed and deported to Italy. On 30 August, Jean Nicoli and two French partisans of the Front national were shot in Bastia
by order of an Italian Fascist War Tribunal.
in July 1943, 12,000 German troops came to Corsica. They formally took over the occupation on 9 September 1943, the day after the armistice between Italy and the Allies. While their leaders were ambivalent, most of the Italian troops remained loyal the Italian King Victor Emmanuel II and some fought (mainly at Teghime, Bastia and Casamozza) alongside the French Resistance against the Nazi troops until the liberation of Corsica on 4 October 1943. Meanwhile, the French resistance aimed to establish control of the mountains in the island's center, with the goal of preventing the occupying forces from moving from one coast to the other and thus facilitating an Allied invasion.
The liberation of Corsica began with an uprising ordered by the local Resistance on 9 September 1943. The Allies did not initially want such a movement, preferring to focus their forces on the invasion of Italy. However, in light of the insurrection, the Allies acquiesced to the landing of elements of the reconstituted French I Corps on Corsica in September 1943, starting with one division of elite French troops being landed - again - via submarine Casabianca at Arone near the village of Piana in the North West of Corsica. This prompted the German troops to attack Italian troops as well as French resistants in Corsica. The Corsican and French Partisans
and the Italian 44 Infantry Division Cremona
, 20 Infantry Division Friuli
engaged in heavy combat with the German Sturmbrigade Reichsführer SS
and 90th Panzergrenadier Division, supported by the Italian 12th Parachute Battalion of the 184th Parachute Regiment
), which came from Sardinia
and retreated through Corsica from Bonifacio towards the Northern harbor of Bastia. On 13 September elements of the Free French "4th Moroccan Mountain Division" were landed in Ajaccio
to support the efforts to stop the 30,000 retreating German troops. During the night of 3 to 4 October the last German units evacuated Bastia and left for northern Italy, leaving behind 700 dead and 350 POWs
.
supported the Italian occupation, stressing that this was a precautionary measure against a possible Anglo-American
attack. In the first months of 1943 these irredentists, under the leadership of Petru Giovacchini and Bertino Poli, conducted large-scale propaganda efforts among the Corsican population to promote the unification of Corsica to Italy, as had been done in 1941 with Dalmatia
(where Mussolini created the Governatorate of Dalmatia). Indeed, there was a mild support of the Italian occupation from most of the Corsican population until summer 1943.
The Italian occupation of Corsica was related to the Nazi Germany
dominion of Europe over which Adolf Hitler
ultimately exercised control: Benito Mussolini
thus postponed the unification of Corsica to Italy until a "Peace Treaty" could be done after the hypothetical Axis
victory in World War II, mainly because of German opposition to the irrendentist claims. Social and economic life in Corsica was administered by the original French civil authorities, i.e. the préfet and four sous-préfets in Ajaccio, Bastia, Sartene and Corte. On 14 November 1943, the préfet restated French sovereignty over the island and stated that the Italian troops were occupiers.
After the war, nearly one hundred collaborators or autonomists (including intellectuals) were put on trial by the French authorities in 1946. Among those found guilty, eight were sentenced to death. However, only one irrendentist was executed in the end: Petru Cristofini. He had been put on trial after the Allied liberation for treason and sentenced to death; he tried to kill himself, and was executed while he was dying in November 1943.
Petru Giovacchini
was forced to hide after the Free French and Allied invasion retaking the island. Prosecuted by a French tribunal in Corsica, he received a death sentence in 1945 and went into exile in Canterano
, near Rome. He died on September 1955 as a consequence of former combat wounds, and since his death the Italian irredentist movement in Corsica is considered finished.
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It lasted from November 1942 to September 1943.
History
After an initial period of increasing control over Corsica, Italian forces started losing territorial control to the local ResistanceFrench Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
, and in the aftermath of the Italian capitulation to the Allies various units took different sides in the battle between newly landed German troops, on one hand, and resistance fighter and Free French Forces
Free French Forces
The Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
, on the other hand.
Occupation
On 8 November 1942, the AlliesAllies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
landed in North Africa
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
. In response, Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
formulated Operation Anton
Case Anton
Operation Anton was the codename for the military occupation of Vichy France carried out by Germany and Italy in November 1942.- Background :...
, as part of which Italy occupied the island of Corsica on November 11 (Italian operation codename: "Operazione C2"), and some parts of France up to the Rhone
Rhône
Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...
river.
The Italian occupation of Corsica had been strongly promoted by the Italian irredentist movement during Italy's Fascist period. The occupation force initially included 30,000 Italian troops and gradually reached the size of nearly 85,000 soldiers (reinforced in June 1943 by 12,000 German troops). This was a huge occupation force relative to the size of the local population of 220,000.
The VII Army Corps of the Regio Esercito was able to occupy Corsica, which was still under the formal sovereignty of Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
, without a fight. Because of the initial lack of perceived partisan resistance and to avoid problems with Marshal Philippe Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
, no Corsican units were formed under Italian control (except for a labour battalion formed in March 1943). Corsican population initially showed some support for the Italians, even as a consequence of the irredentist propaganda.
The Italian troops grew to encompass two Army Divisions (the "Friuli"
20 Infantry Division Friuli
The 20th Infantry Division Friuli was a Infantry Division of the Italian Army during World War II.- History :The 20th Infantry Division Friuli was formed in 1939 by renaming the existing 20th Infantry Division Curtatone e Montanara...
and the "Cremona"
44 Infantry Division Cremona
The 44 Infantry Division Cremona was a Infantry Division of the Italian Army during World War II. The Cremona Division was part of the Italian XV Corps that took part in the Italian invasion of France in June 1940. It was transferred to Sardinia in March 1941...
), two coastal Divisions (the Italian 225 Coastal Division and the Italian 226 Coastal Division), eight battalions of Fascist Militia, and some units of Military Police and Carabinieri
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both military and civilian populations, and is a branch of the armed forces.-Early history:...
. In July 1943, after Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
's fall, 12,000 German troops were sent to Corsica.
These Italian troops were commanded by General Mondino since the occupation until the end of December 1942, then by General Carboni until March 1943 and later by General Magli until September 1943.
Some Corsican military officers collaborated with Italy, including the retired Major Pantalacci (and his son Antonio), colonel Mondielli and colonel Petru Simone Cristofini (and his wife, the first Corsican female journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
Marta Renucci). Cristofini, who even met Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
in Rome, was a strong supporter of the union of Corsica to Italy and defended irredentist ideals. Indeed Cristofini actively collaborated with the Italian forces in Corsica during the first months of 1943 and (as head of the Ajaccio troops) helped the Italian Army
Royal Italian Army (1940–1946)
This article is about the Italian Royal Army which participated in World War II.The Italian Royal Army was reformed in 1861 and lasted until 1946. The Royal Army started with the unification of Italy and the formation of the Kingdom of Italy . It ended with the dissolution of the monarchy...
to repress the Resistance in Corsica before the Italian Armistice in September 1943. He closely worked with the famous Corsican writer Petru Giovacchini
Petru Giovacchini
Petru Giovacchini was a Corsican activist, born in Canale-di-Verde to an old noble Corsican family with deep-rooted pro-Italian feelings...
, who was named as the potential "Governor of Corsica" if the Kingdom of Italy should have annexed the island.
Rise of the Resistance
The French ResistanceFrench Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
was initially limited, but it started taking shape immediately in the aftermath of the Italian invasion. This initially led to the development of two movements:
- A network operating under the codename mission secrète Pearl Harbour (mission Pearl Harbor), which arrived from AlgiersAlgiers' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
on 14 December 1942 aboard the Free FrenchFree French ForcesThe Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
submarine Casabianca, the elusive Phantom Submarine. Under chief of mission Roger de Saule, they coordinated various groups that merged in the Front national. Communists were most influential in this movement. - The R2 Corse network was originally formed in connection with the London-based forces immediately under General de GaulleCharles de GaulleCharles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
in January 1943. Its leader Fred Scamaroni failed to unite the movements and was subsequently captured and tortured, committing suicide on 19 March 1943.
In April 1943 Paulin Colonna d'Istria was sent by De Gaulle from Algeria and united the movements.
By early 1943, the Resistance was organized enough that it requested arms deliveries. The Resistance leadership was reinforced and the movement boosted morally by six visits by the submarine Casabianca carrying personnel and arms, and it was later further armed by Allied airdrops. This allowed the Resistance to increase its activities and establish greater territorial control, especially over the countryside in summer 1943. In June and July 1943 the OVRA (Italian fascist police) and the fascist Black Shirts paramilitary groups started a large-scale repression. According to General Fernand Gambiez
Fernand Gambiez
Fernand Gambiez was a French Army general and military historian, he fought in World War II, First Indochina War and Algerian War, during the Algerian War he was commander-in-chief of the French Army in Algeria....
, 860 Corsicans were jailed and deported to Italy. On 30 August, Jean Nicoli and two French partisans of the Front national were shot in Bastia
Bastia
Bastia is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It is also the second-largest city in Corsica after Ajaccio and the capital of the department....
by order of an Italian Fascist War Tribunal.
Liberation of Corsica
Following the imprisonment of Benito MussoliniBenito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
in July 1943, 12,000 German troops came to Corsica. They formally took over the occupation on 9 September 1943, the day after the armistice between Italy and the Allies. While their leaders were ambivalent, most of the Italian troops remained loyal the Italian King Victor Emmanuel II and some fought (mainly at Teghime, Bastia and Casamozza) alongside the French Resistance against the Nazi troops until the liberation of Corsica on 4 October 1943. Meanwhile, the French resistance aimed to establish control of the mountains in the island's center, with the goal of preventing the occupying forces from moving from one coast to the other and thus facilitating an Allied invasion.
The liberation of Corsica began with an uprising ordered by the local Resistance on 9 September 1943. The Allies did not initially want such a movement, preferring to focus their forces on the invasion of Italy. However, in light of the insurrection, the Allies acquiesced to the landing of elements of the reconstituted French I Corps on Corsica in September 1943, starting with one division of elite French troops being landed - again - via submarine Casabianca at Arone near the village of Piana in the North West of Corsica. This prompted the German troops to attack Italian troops as well as French resistants in Corsica. The Corsican and French Partisans
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
and the Italian 44 Infantry Division Cremona
44 Infantry Division Cremona
The 44 Infantry Division Cremona was a Infantry Division of the Italian Army during World War II. The Cremona Division was part of the Italian XV Corps that took part in the Italian invasion of France in June 1940. It was transferred to Sardinia in March 1941...
, 20 Infantry Division Friuli
20 Infantry Division Friuli
The 20th Infantry Division Friuli was a Infantry Division of the Italian Army during World War II.- History :The 20th Infantry Division Friuli was formed in 1939 by renaming the existing 20th Infantry Division Curtatone e Montanara...
engaged in heavy combat with the German Sturmbrigade Reichsführer SS
Sturmbrigade Reichsführer SS
The Sturmbrigade Reichsführer-SS was a German military unit of World War II. It was formed in February 1943 when Adolf Hitler ordered the Begleit-Bataillon Reichsführer-SS , which had proved itself in battle, be upgraded to the status of an assault brigade or Sturmbrigade thus Sturmbrigade...
and 90th Panzergrenadier Division, supported by the Italian 12th Parachute Battalion of the 184th Parachute Regiment
184 Airborne Division Nembo
184 Airborne Division Nembo or 184 Divisione Paracadutisti Nembo was an Airborne Division of the Italian Army during World War II....
), which came from Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
and retreated through Corsica from Bonifacio towards the Northern harbor of Bastia. On 13 September elements of the Free French "4th Moroccan Mountain Division" were landed in Ajaccio
Ajaccio
Ajaccio , is a commune on the island of Corsica in France. It is the capital and largest city of the region of Corsica and the prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud....
to support the efforts to stop the 30,000 retreating German troops. During the night of 3 to 4 October the last German units evacuated Bastia and left for northern Italy, leaving behind 700 dead and 350 POWs
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
.
Characteristics
In Corsica, the native collaborationists linked to the Italian irredentist movementItalia irredenta
Italian irredentism was an Italian Irredentist movement that aimed at the unification of all ethnically Italian peoples....
supported the Italian occupation, stressing that this was a precautionary measure against a possible Anglo-American
Allies
In everyday English usage, allies are people, groups, or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out between them...
attack. In the first months of 1943 these irredentists, under the leadership of Petru Giovacchini and Bertino Poli, conducted large-scale propaganda efforts among the Corsican population to promote the unification of Corsica to Italy, as had been done in 1941 with Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
(where Mussolini created the Governatorate of Dalmatia). Indeed, there was a mild support of the Italian occupation from most of the Corsican population until summer 1943.
The Italian occupation of Corsica was related to the Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
dominion of Europe over which Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
ultimately exercised control: Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
thus postponed the unification of Corsica to Italy until a "Peace Treaty" could be done after the hypothetical Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
victory in World War II, mainly because of German opposition to the irrendentist claims. Social and economic life in Corsica was administered by the original French civil authorities, i.e. the préfet and four sous-préfets in Ajaccio, Bastia, Sartene and Corte. On 14 November 1943, the préfet restated French sovereignty over the island and stated that the Italian troops were occupiers.
After the war, nearly one hundred collaborators or autonomists (including intellectuals) were put on trial by the French authorities in 1946. Among those found guilty, eight were sentenced to death. However, only one irrendentist was executed in the end: Petru Cristofini. He had been put on trial after the Allied liberation for treason and sentenced to death; he tried to kill himself, and was executed while he was dying in November 1943.
Petru Giovacchini
Petru Giovacchini
Petru Giovacchini was a Corsican activist, born in Canale-di-Verde to an old noble Corsican family with deep-rooted pro-Italian feelings...
was forced to hide after the Free French and Allied invasion retaking the island. Prosecuted by a French tribunal in Corsica, he received a death sentence in 1945 and went into exile in Canterano
Canterano
Canterano is a comune in the Province of Rome in the Italian region Latium, located about 45 km east of Rome. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 363 and an area of 7.3 km²....
, near Rome. He died on September 1955 as a consequence of former combat wounds, and since his death the Italian irredentist movement in Corsica is considered finished.
See also
- Italian irredentism in Corsica
- Italian occupation of France during World War II
- Petru GiovacchiniPetru GiovacchiniPetru Giovacchini was a Corsican activist, born in Canale-di-Verde to an old noble Corsican family with deep-rooted pro-Italian feelings...
- Petru Simone Cristofini
- Military history of Italy during World War IIMilitary history of Italy during World War IIDuring World War II , the Kingdom of Italy had a varied and tumultuous military history. Defeated in Greece, France, East Africa and North Africa, the Italian invasion of British Somaliland was one of the only successful Italian campaigns of World War II accomplished without German support.In...
- Royal Italian Army (1940–1946)Royal Italian Army (1940–1946)This article is about the Italian Royal Army which participated in World War II.The Italian Royal Army was reformed in 1861 and lasted until 1946. The Royal Army started with the unification of Italy and the formation of the Kingdom of Italy . It ended with the dissolution of the monarchy...
- History of CorsicaHistory of CorsicaThat the history of Corsica has been influenced by its strategic position at the heart of the western Mediterranean and its maritime routes, only from Sardinia, from the Isle of Elba, from the coast of Tuscany and from the French port of Nice, was first proposed by the 19th-century German...