Amedeo Guillet

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Amedeo Guillet
1909–24 March 1976
Place of birth Piacenza, Italy
Allegiance Flag of Italy Italy
Service/branch Royal Italian Army
Years of service 1930–1945
Rank Major
Battles/wars Second Italo-Abyssinian War
Spanish Civil War
World War II
Awards Knight Grand Cross of the Military Order of Italy

Amedeo Guillet (born 1909 in Piacenza) is a former officer of the Italian Army. Descended from a noble family from Piedmont, he graduated from the Academy of Infantry and Cavalry of Modena in 1930 and began his career in the Italian Army. He is one of the few men still living to have commanded cavalry in war. Guillet, with the nickname of Devil Commander,[1] was famous during the Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia in 1942 because of his courage.

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[edit] Pre World War II

Guillet was wounded in a tribal rebellion when stationed in Libya.

In 1936, Guillet participated in wargames in northern Italy as the commander of the "Red Army." He drove before him the "Blue Army" of Crown Prince Umberto.[2]

An excellent horseman, Guillet was selected for the Italian Olympic equestrian team and was due to compete in the Berlin 1936 Summer Olympics. Instead, in late 1935, he used the connections of his powerful relatives to transfer to the Spahis of Libya and participate in the Italian conquest of Ethiopia. He distinguished himself in numerous cavalry actions and subsequently volunteered to serve in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. He had been offered the post of aide-de-camp by General Luigi Frusci, and was proud to have won the coveted post without the help of family connections.

During the Spanish Civil War, Guillet served as commander of a Company of Arditi of the Division "Fiamme Nere" before becoming commander of a Tabor of Moroccans. He distinguished himself at the capture of Santander and at Teruel, winning the Silver Medal for gallantry. Returning to Italy, and the Italian colony of Libya - where he was a particular favourite of the governor, Italo Balbo - Guillet encountered the anti-semitic, pro-Nazi phase of Italian Fascism. He did not like what he saw and asked for a posting in Italian East Africa, whose new Viceroy was the respected Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, who was a mentor of Guillet. In Italian East Africa he carried out various policing operations against insurgents loyal to the toppled Emperor Haile Selassie.

[edit] World War II

In the build up to World War II, Aosta gave Guillet command of the 2,500 strong Gruppo Bande Amhara, made up of recruits from throughout Italian East Africa, with six European officers and Eritrean NCOs. The core was cavalry, but the force also included camel corps and mainly Yemeni infantry. For Guillet to be given command of such a force while still only a lieutenant was a singular honour.

At the end of 1940, the allied forces faced Guillet on the road to Amba Alagi, and specifically, in the proximity of Cherù. He was charged with the task of delaying the allied advance from the North-West.

Guillet's most important battle happened towards the end of January 1941 at Cherù when he decided to attack enemy armoured units. At dawn he charged a column of tanks armed only with swords, guns and hand grenades. He passed unhurt through the British forces who were caught unaware. Guillet then turned to charge again. In the meantime however, the British had organised themselves and fired horizontally with their howitzers. Their shells ripped open the chests of Guillet's horses before exploding. This was the last cavalry charge the British faced and the last but one in the history of cavalry. The final charge took place little more than a year later when a friend of Guillet, Colonel Bettoni, launched the men of the "Savoia Cavalry" against Soviet troops in Russia.

Guillet's Yemeni troops paid a high price in terms of human losses, approximately 800 died in little more than two years and, in March 1941, his forces found themselves stranded outside the Italian lines. Guillet, faithful until death to the oath to the House of Savoy, began a private war against the British. Hiding his uniform near an Italian farm, he set the region on fire at night for almost eight months. He was one of the most famous Italian "guerrilla officers" in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia during the Italian guerrilla war against the Allies occupation of the Italian East Africa.[3]

After numerous adventures, including working as a water seller, Guillet was finally able to reach Yemen, where for about one year he trained soldiers and cavalrymen for the Imam's army, whose son Ahmed became a close friend. Despite the opposition of the Yemenite royal house, he succeeded in embarking incognito on a Red Cross ship repatriating sick and injured Italians and finally returned to Italy a few days before the armistice.

As soon as Guillet reached Italy he asked for Gold sovereigns, men and weapons to aid his disbanded Eritrean forces. The aid would be delivered by aeroplane and enable a guerilla campaign to be staged. But with Italy's surrender, then later joining the Allies, times had changed. Guilet was promoted to Major for his war accomplishments and was assigned to the Military Intelligence Agency (SIM). In this role, perhaps ironically, he was chosen by the British for some very dangerous missions on Italian territory that was still under Nazi Occupation. He worked closely with an official of the services, a cadet of Colonel Harari, Victor Dan Segre, who later became his close friend and biographer. Colonel Harari was the commander of the British special unit services that tried to capture Guillet in Italian East Africa.

At the end of the war, and with the abolition of the monarchy, Guillet expressed a deep desire to leave Italy. He informed Umberto II of his intentions, but the King obliged him to keep serving his country in whatever form of government it would become. As always, he couldn't disobey an order from his King, so he expressed his desire to teach anthropology at university.

[edit] Later life

Following the war Guillet entered the Italian diplomatic service where he represented Italy in Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Morocco, and finally as ambassador to India until 1975. In 1971, he was in Morocco during an assassination attempt on the King.[4]

On 4 November 2000, the day of the Festivity of the Armed Forces, Guillet was presented with the Knight Grand Cross of the Military Order of Italy by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. This is the highest military decoration in Italy. Today, Guillet is one of the most highly decorated (both civil and military) people in Italian history.

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ The Observer: Italians' last action hero
  2. ^ Time Magazine, War Games & Mothers
  3. ^ Comandosupremo.com: Amedeo Guillet
  4. ^ Time Magazine, Slaughter at the Summer Palace

[edit] References

  • Sebastian O'Kelly, Amedeo - the true story of an Italian's war in Abyssinia 2002 Paperback ISBN 0-00-655247-1
  • Victor Dan Segre, The Private War Of Ten. Guillet, Corbaccio Editore
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