Ugo Cavallero

Ugo Cavallero
Kesetiaan	Itali
Perkhidmatan	Tentera Darat Itali
Tahun perkhidmatan	1900–1943
Pangkat	Marsyal Itali
Arahan	Ketua Turus Pertahanan
Pertempuran	Perang Itali-Turki Perang Dunia I Perang Dunia II
Anugerah	Knight Cross of the Iron Cross

Ugo Cavallero (20 September 1880 – 13 September 1943) ialah seorang panglima tentera Itali sebelum dan semasa Perang Dunia II, merupakan Ketua Turus Am Angkatan Tentera Itali dengan pangkat Marsyal. Beliau juga adalah penerima Knight Cross of the Iron Cross (Jerman: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzescode: de is deprecated ). Pingat Knight Cross of the Iron Cross telah dikurniakan oleh Reich Ketiga bagi mengiktiraf keberanian tentera luar biasa atau kepimpinan perang yang berjaya.

Biografi

Dilahirkan di Casale Monferrato, Piedmont, Cavallero mempunyai kehidupan yang istimewa sebagai ahli golongan bangsawan Itali.

Selepas belajar di sekolah tentera, Cavallero telah ditauliahkan sebagai Leftenan Muda pada tahun 1900.

Cavallero kemudian memasuki maktab dan lulus pada tahun 1911, memperolehi ijazah dalam matematik.

Bertugas dalam tentera darat, Cavallero berperang di Libya pada tahun 1913, kemudian dalam Perang Itali-Turki, dan telah dikurniakan pingat Bronze Medal for Military Valor.

Perang Dunia I

Pada tahun 1915, Cavallero telah ditukarkan ke Markas Tertinggi Itali. Seorang penganjur yang bijak dan pakar taktik, Cavallero menjadi Brigedier Jeneral dan Ketua Pejabat Operasi Markas Tertinggi Itali pada tahun 1918. Di jawatan ini, Cavallero memainkan peranan penting dalam merangka rancangan yang menyebabkan kemenangan Itali dalam Pertempuran Piave River dan Pertempuran Vittorio Veneto ketika Perang Dunia I. Dalam tempoh sebagai ketua rancangan Staf Am Itali, beliau mewujudkan perasaan benci dengan Pietro Badoglio, iaitu Sottocapo di Stato Maggiore ( timbalan ketua turus ) tentera darat.

Tempoh antara perang

Cavallero bersara dari tentera darat pada 1919 tetapi kemudian menyertai semula pada 1925, yang mana pada masa itu beliau menjadi Setiausaha Rendah Perang kepada Benito Mussolini. Seorang fasis yang komited, Cavallero telah dilantik Senator pada 1926 dan pada 1927 menjadi Mejar Jeneral. Selepas meninggalkan tentera buat kali kedua, Cavallero terlibat dalam syarikat-syarikat perniagaan dan diplomatik pada penghujung tahun 1920an dan awal 1930an.

Cavallero menyertai semula tentera buat kali ketiga dan buat terakhir pada 1937. Dinaikkan pangkat ke Leftenan Jeneral, beliau menjadi Panglima Angkatan Tentera Itali di Afrika Timur Itali pada 1938 dan dijadikan Jeneral penuh pada 1940.

Perang Dunia II

Cavallero bersama Erwin Rommel.

After Italy entered World War II, on 6 December 1940 Cavallero replaced Pietro Badoglio as Capo di Stato Maggiore Generale; shortly after, he was sent to command the Italian forces involved in the unsuccessful Greco-Italian War until the spring of 1941. While he managed to halt the Greek advance, Cavallero was unable to break the stalemate until the German intervention. In the meantime, his role as Chief of Staff was filled by General Alfredo Guzzoni.

As Chief of the Italian Supreme Command, Cavallero worked closely with German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring; he had a rather conflicting relationship with Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, whose advance into Egypt after his success at the Battle of Gazala he opposed, advocating instead the planned invasion of Malta; his opinion was however discounted. Under Cavallero’s leadership, Italy’s military forces continued to perform rather poorly during the war; nonetheless, he was promoted to Marshal of Italy (Maresciallo d'Italia) in 1942 after the promotion of Rommel to Field Marshal (largely to prevent Rommel to claim rank before him). Despite having a good grasp on the problems inherent to the war in the Mediterranean that Italy had to fight, his acquiescence to Mussolini's views (for example his insistence on augmenting the Italian contingent fighting on the Eastern Front) led to a fatal dispersion of Italy's meager resources.

In January 1943, after the definitive loss of the African campaign and the setbacks suffered by the Italian army in Russia, Cavallero was dismissed and replaced by General Vittorio Ambrosio. In response to Cavallero's dismissal, members of the Fascist leadership like Galeazzo Ciano, openly hostile to him, openly expressed their satisfaction.

After Mussolini’s government was toppled by the King, the newly appointed Prime Minister Pietro Badoglio ordered the arrest of Cavallero. In a document written in own defense, Cavallero claimed the merit of having opposed Mussolini and his regime. After Italy surrendered in September 1943, he was freed by the Germans, and was offered by Kesselring the command of the forming armed forces of the Repubblica Sociale Italiana, but the finding of the letter led to some suspicions.

In the morning of 14 September 1943, he was found dead by a gunshot in the garden of a hotel in Frascati, after having dined and talked with Kesselring the night before; it is still up to debate wheter he committed suicide or was assassinated by the Germans. It seems however that he expressed firmly his will to refuse collaborating with the Germans.

Anugerah

• Knight Cross of the Iron Cross pada 19 Februari 1942 sebagai Generale di Corpo d'Armata dan ketua turus am Tentera Darat Itali

Lihat juga

• Tentera Darat Diraja Itali
• Tentera Darat Diraja (1940–1946)