Mario Berti
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Mario Berti (1881 – 1960) Italian General in the Spanish Civil War and World War II.
As a general he was the commander of the 9th Infantry Division Pasubio then commander of the 3rd Celere Division Principe Amedeo Duca d’Aosta before becoming the Deputy Commander of the Corpo di Truppe Volontarie in Spain's Spanish Civil War in 1937. Subsequently he became its commander fron late 1937 into 1938 during the Aragon Offensive. He was Commander of the Italian XV Corps from 1939 to 1940.
In 1940 he was put in command of the Italian 10th Army that invaded Egypt in September 9th, 1940. Halted at Sidi Barrani by logistical problems he deployed his advanced units in a ring of strongpoints around it, and began work on extending the Via Balbia into Egypt. However, however his ring of forts was not mutually supporting, large gaps between them were only covered by motorised patrols. A build up for a new offensive into Egypt was delayed by the Italian invasion of Greece and finally was planned for mid-December. Prior to this General Berti went on sick leave, Italo Gariboldi taking his place. He arrived back in North Africa seven days after General O'Connor's Operation Compass was launched on December 7, 1940. The British forces had exploited the gaps between the Italian units and in three days were able to destroy most of them, Sidi Barrani fell on the December 11th and by the 16th the Italians had been evicted from Egypt and the 10th Army was soon destroyed.
