Guglielmo Ciro Nasi (21 February 1879 – 21 September 1971) was an Italian general who fought in

Italian East Africa Italian East Africa ( it, Africa Orientale Italiana, AOI) was an Italian colony in the Horn of Africa. It was formed in 1936 through the merger of Italian Somalia, Italian Eritrea, and the newly occupied Ethiopian Empire, conquered in the S ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Biography

Nasi was born in

Civitavecchia Civitavecchia (; meaning "ancient town") is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located west-north-west of Rome. The harbour is formed by two pier ...

Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil (Old Latium) on whi ...

. In 1912 he was sent to Libya as a Captain with the 8th Artillery Regiment and the following year was decorated for valor at the action at Safsaf. He fought in the First World War and ended the conflict as a Lieutenant-Colonel. From 1924–1928, he was the military representative of the Italian (Royal Army) in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In 1928, Nasi was sent to the Italian colonies as Chief-of-Staff for the Colonial Troops and was Vice-Governor of

Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή ��παρχίαKurēnaïkḗ parkhíā}, after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between ...

in 1934–1935, Governor of

Harar Harar ( amh, ሐረር; Harari: ሀረር; om, Adare Biyyo; so, Herer; ar, هرر) known historically by the indigenous as Gey (Harari: ጌይ ''Gēy'', ) is a walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is also known in Arabic as the City of Saint ...

from 1936–1939, and Governor of

Shewa Shewa ( am, ሸዋ; , om, Shawaa), formerly romanized as Shua, Shoa, Showa, Shuwa (''Scioà'' in Italian language, Italian), is a historical region of Ethiopia which was formerly an autonomous monarchy, kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire. The ...

in 1939–1940. He also served as a Vice-Governor of

from 1939. Nasi promoted a moral reformation of the military and civil administration and he showed notable skills in dealing with indigenous chiefs. In April 1936, during the

Second Italo-Abyssinian War The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression which was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is often referred to simply as the Itali ...

, Nasi commanded the left column of three columns during

Rodolfo Graziani Rodolfo Graziani, 1st Marquis of Neghelli (; 11 August 1882 – 11 January 1955), was a prominent Italian military officer in the Kingdom of Italy's '' Regio Esercito'' ("Royal Army"), primarily noted for his campaigns in Africa before and durin ...

′s advance on the southern front. Most of Nasi's troops were Libyans. After the beginning of

, Nasi led the

Italian conquest of British Somaliland The Italian invasion of British Somaliland (3–19 August 1940) was part of the East African campaign (1940–1941) in which Italian, Eritrean and Somali forces of Fascist Italy entered British Somaliland and defeated its combined garrison o ...

in August 1940. He invaded British Somaliland and with the advantage of air cover and tanks, forced the defending British and Commonwealth forces to evacuate by sea to

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...

after defeating the main body of the British army at the

Battle of Tug Argan The Battle of Tug Argan was fought between forces of the British Empire and Italy from 11 to 15 August 1940 in British Somaliland (later the independent and renamed Somalia). The battle determined the result of the Italian conquest of British ...

from 11 to 15 August. During the East African Campaign, Nasi led the last stand of an Italian garrison in

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

. On 6 July, after Duke Amedeo of Aosta and

Pietro Gazzera Pietro Gazzera (11 December 1879 – 30 June 1953) was an officer in the Italian Royal Army during World War II, as well as a prewar Italian politician. Gazzera was born in Bene Vagienna, he joined the Italian Army and fought in the Italo-Turki ...

surrendered, Nasi became the acting

Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

of Italian East Africa. In early 1941, during the British counter-offensive, Nasi was forced to retreat to the stronghold of

Gondar Gondar, also spelled Gonder (Amharic: ጎንደር, ''Gonder'' or ''Gondär''; formerly , ''Gʷandar'' or ''Gʷender''), is a city and woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Lake Tana on t ...

. While he held out long after other Italian strongholds had fallen, Nasi finally surrendered his stronghold of Gondar on 28 November 1941. Nasi was sent to

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

. After the death of Duke Amedeo, he was responsible for the 60,000 Italian prisoners kept there. Nasi returned to Italy in 1945. Four years later, he was appointed as Commissar for Somalia when the latter was assigned to

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

suzerainty. Nasi died at

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

in 1971.

Aftermath

Although Nasi was listed as a war criminal by the post-war

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n government, Italian historian

Angelo Del Boca Angelo Del Boca (23 May 1925 – 6 July 2021) was an Italian historian. He specialized in the study of the Italian Colonial Empire, and the involvement in Libya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia during the first part of 20th century. Del Boca was th ...

, usually very severe in judging the behaviour of Italian army in the colonies, considers him the best officer of the in East Africa. Solomon Getahun supports this view of Nasi, noting that his behaviour towards the inhabitants of Gondar and the adjoining territories helped him to sustain the fight against both British and Ethiopian forces as long as he did. Near Gondar a mount is still named ''Mount Nasi''.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nasi, Guglielmo 1879 births 1971 deaths People from Civitavecchia Italian generals Italian military personnel of World War II Italian military personnel of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War People of former Italian colonies Italian East Africa Italian prisoners of war Grand Officers of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus Grand Officers of the Military Order of Savoy Knights of the Order of Vittorio Veneto Recipients of the Silver Medal of Military Valor Recipients of the Maurician medal Recipients of the War Merit Cross (Italy) Governors of British Somaliland

Biography

Aftermath

See also

References

Bibliography