Carlo De Simone (4 March 1885 – 1951) was an officer in the
Italian Army during
World War II.
Biography
During most of the
East African Campaign,
Lieutenant-General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
De Simone commanded Italian forces in southern
Italian Somaliland. However, during the Italian invasion of
British Somaliland
British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate ( so, Dhulka Maxmiyada Soomaalida ee Biritishka), was a British Empire, British protectorate in present-day Somaliland. During its existence, the territory was bordered by Italian Soma ...
, De Simone commanded General
Guglielmo Nasi's main "center" column. De Simone's command in Italian Somaliland included the reinforced Harar Division (XIII Colonial Brigade, XIV Colonial Brigade, and XV Colonial Brigade - amounting to eleven infantry battalions, fourteen batteries of artillery, a company of medium tanks (12 tanks), a squadron of light tanks (4 light tanks), and an armored car company (12 armored cars). Whilst in command of these forces, De Simone won 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 ...
, where his center column overcame a smaller
British army and forced them to evacuate.
Command history
* Commanding Officer,
3rd Bersaglieri Regiment
The 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment ( it, 3° Reggimento Bersaglieri) is an active unit of the Italian Army based in Teulada in Sardinia. The regiment is part of the army's infantry corps' Bersaglieri speciality and operationally assigned to the Mecha ...
*
Governor of Harar,
Italian East Africa - 1936
* Commanding Officer, 2nd Armored Brigade - 1937 to 1939
* General Officer Commanding,
132nd Armored Division Ariete - 1939
* General Officer Commanding, Somaliland Army,
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 ...
- 1940 to 1941
* Prisoner of war - 1941 to 1944
* General Officer Commanding, VII Territorial Defence Command - 1945
* Prefect of
Bologna - 1950
See also
*
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 ...
*
East African Campaign (World War II)
*
Order of Battle, East African Campaign (World War II)
Italian military personnel of World War II
Italian generals
Italian prisoners of war
Governors of British Somaliland
1885 births
1951 deaths
{{World-War-II-bio-stub