Ettore Deltetto, also known as Ettore Del Tetto (21 April 1889 – 18 April 1945) was an Italian general during World War II.

Biography

After attending the Military Academy of Modena 1908 to 1911, he was assigned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

to the

9th Bersaglieri Regiment 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

, fighting in Libya during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, being seriously wounded in action and earning a Silver and a Bronze Medal of Military Valor. At the outbreak of the First World War, with the rank of lieutenant, he was assigned to the 3rd Bersaglieri Battalion; by the end of the war he rose to the rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

, in command of the 55th Bersaglieri Battalion. After a period as a teacher at the Army War School of Turin, on 10 October 1925 he was assigned to the staff of the military division of

Alessandria Alessandria (; pms, Lissandria ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about east of Turin. Alessandria ...

. On 1 December 1926 he was promoted to

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

, being then given command of the military district of

Mondovì Mondovì (; pms, Ël Mondvì , la, Mons Regalis) is a town and ''comune'' (township) in Piedmont, northern Italy, about from Turin. The area around it is known as the Monregalese. The town, located on the Monte Regale hill, is divided into ...

, which he held until 19 May 1927. On 22 May 1935 he was promoted to colonel and on 10 June 1937 he was given command of the 44th Infantry Regiment "Forlì". On 3 June 1938 he was knighted with the

Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus The Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus ( it, Ordine dei Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro) (abbreviated OSSML) is a Roman Catholic dynastic order of knighthood bestowed by the royal House of Savoy. It is the second-oldest order of knighthood in the wo ...

. On 1 January 1941 he was promoted to brigadier general and assigned to the territorial defense of Bolzano, and later transferred to the headquarters of the I Army Corps in Turin for special assignments. In 1942 he was appointed commander of territorial defense of Naples, a post he retained after promotion to major general on 28 March 1943 and still held at the time of the proclamation of the

Armistice of Cassibile The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice signed on 3 September 1943 and made public on 8 September between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was signed by Major General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Brig ...

, on 8 September 1943. His forces consisted of 9,000 men – largely poorly trained and equipped territorial troops – but he did not attempt any resistance to the German takeover. He instead forbade public gatherings "in order to avoid incidents with the Germans", threatening to have the Army fire on the crowds, ordered subordinated commands to "buy time and avoid angering the Germans", ordered the release of German soldiers who had been captured by Italian units that had engaged them on the initiative of their commanders (even returning them their weapons), and finally fled the city in civilian clothes along with his superior, General

Riccardo Pentimalli Riccardo Pentimalli (Palmi, 29 February 1884 – Venice, 23 May 1953) was an Italian general during World War II. Biography He was born in Palmi on February 29, 1884, the son of Luigi Pentimalli and Giuseppina Contestabile. After attending ...

, commander of the XIX Army Corps. The two generals were later put under trial for collaborationism and dereliction of duty for their failure to defend Naples. Deltetto, who claimed in his defense that he did not have enough men, that he had not been forewarned of the armistice and that he had not received any orders from Rome, was acquitted of the accusation of collaborationism, but sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment for "abandonment of command" on 24 December 1944. The High Court of Justice, while admitting "the overwhelming superiority of the German forces", stated that defenders could have done "something more and better". The sentence was overturned by the Court of Cassation on 27 December 1946, stating that "the basic elements that guarantee the proper conduct of a trial" had not been observed by the High Court. Deltetto, however, had meanwhile died in prison in Procida on 18 April 1945, from gastrointestinal perforation. He was 55.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deltetto, Ettore 1889 births 1945 deaths Italian military personnel of World War II Italian military personnel of World War I Italian generals Recipients of the Silver Medal of Military Valor Recipients of the Bronze Medal of Military Valor Prisoners who died in Italian detention Italian people who died in prison custody