Emilio De Bono (19 March 1866 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian general, fascist activist, marshal, war criminal, and member of the Fascist Grand Council (Gran Consiglio del Fascismo). De Bono fought in the Italo-Turkish War, the First World War and the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. He was one of the key figures behind Italy's anti-partisan policies in Libya, such as the use of poison gas and concentration camps, which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians and have been described as genocidal.[1]
After voting for the ousting of Benito Mussolini, De Bono and five others were arrested and tried for treason at the Verona trial. All of the men were found guilty, with De Bono and four others being executed by firing squad the following day.
In the early 1920s, De Bono helped organize the National Fascist Party. In 1922, as one of the four Quadrumvirs, he organized and staged the March on Rome. The event signalled the start of the fascist regime in Italy.
After the march, De Bono served as Chief of Police and Commander of the Fascist Militia.
In 1925, De Bono was tried for his role in the 1924 death of the leftist politician Giacomo Matteotti. De Bono refused to implicate his superiors and was unexpectedly acquitted in 1925. Later that year, De Bono was appointed governor of Tripolitania, in Libya. De Bono was one of the key figures behind Italy's anti-partisan policies in Libya, such as poison gas and concentration camps, which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians and have been described as genocidal.
In November 1932, at Benito Mussolini's request, De Bono wrote a plan for an invasion of Ethiopia. The plan outlined a traditional mode of penetration: a relatively-small force would move gradually southward from Eritrea, establish strong bases and then advance against increasingly weak and disorganised opponents. The invasion that De Bono envisioned would be cheap, easy, safe and slow.[6]
Mussolini separately involved the Army in planning, and over the next two years, the army developed its own massive campaign, which would involve five to six times the number of troops as required by De Bono. In 1934, Mussolini pulled the uncoordinated plans together into one that emphasized the military's idea of full-scale war.[7]
In 1935, De Bono became Supreme Commander of the Italian operation against Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. De Bono was appointed because Mussolini wanted the victory in Ethiopia to be not just an Italian victory but also a fascist, hence the appointment of a well-known fascist general. In addition, he was Commander-in-Chief of the forces invading from Italian-held Eritrea on what was known as the "northern front". De Bono had under his direct command a force of nine army divisions in three corps: the Italian I Corps, the Italian II Corps and the Eritrean Corps.[8]
On 3 October, forces under De Bono's command crossed into Ethiopia from Eritrea. On 6 October his forces took Adowa, officially avenging the humiliating 1896 Italian defeat. Soon afterward, De Bono entered the historically significant city of Axum and rode a white horse. After those initial triumphs, however, De Bono's advance slowed.
On 8 November, the I Corps and the Eritrean Corps captured Mek'ele, which was to be the limit of Italian advances under De Bono. Increasing world pressure on Mussolini brought a need for fast glittering victories, and he was not prepared to hear of obstacles or delays.[9]
On 16 November, De Bono was promoted to Marshal of Italy (Maresciallo d'Italia), but Mussolini grew ever more impatient with the invasion's slow progress. In December, De Bono was relieved of his command via State Telegram 13181 (Telegramma di Stato 13181), which stated that with the capture of Mek'ele five weeks earlier, his mission had been accomplished. His place was taken by Marshal Pietro Badoglio, and De Bono was appointed Inspector of Overseas Troops.
Second World War
A photograph of De Bono taken in Rome on 21 November 1940. He is in between Heinrich Himmler and Rodolfo Graziani and is easily identified by his signature beard. Reinhard Heydrich is to be seen, second from left.
In 1940, De Bono commanded a southern defense corps headquartered in Sicily and was opposed to the Italian entry into the Second World War; he filed a scathing report about the condition of the troops in Sicily, pointing out that the "mobile battalions" were not mobile at all, and harshly criticizing both the Maritime Artillery Militia and the Anti-Aircraft Defense Militia.[3] However, he kept a low profile and in 1942 was appointed Minister of State.
Later in 1943, Mussolini was freed by Nazi Germany during the Gran Sasso raid and installed in Northern Italy as head of a new state, the Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana, RSI). Mussolini had De Bono and others who voted against him arrested and tried for treason at Verona in what became known as the "Verona trial".[10]
On 11 January 1944, the 77-year-old De Bono was executed by firing squad at Verona. He was shot along with Galeazzo Ciano, Luciano Gottardi, Giovanni Marinelli and Carlo Pareschi. Ciano was the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Mussolini's son-in-law. Gottardi was the former president of the Fascist Confederation of Industrial workers. Marinelli was the former chief of the Fascist militia and Pareschi was the former Agriculture Minister. The only person on trial who escaped from capital punishment was Tullio Cianetti, the Minister of Corporations, who was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment by the RSI judges.[10] De Bono and the other condemned, tied to chairs as it was in use in Italy, suffered the humiliation of being shot in the back as traitors. After hearing the sentence, De Bono reportedly remarked "You barely got me; I am seventy-eight", but later complained about being shot in the back, which he considered a stain to his honour as a soldier.[11][12]
Personal life
Like his maternal grandfather, Emilio was reportedly an atheist, as he stated in his "Memoirs" in 1941: "Atheism is enlightened and rational, based on scientific principles. I, as a member of the military, admire reason, and for that I'm an atheist".
His siblings were Edmondo, Agostino, Constanza, Gerardo and Marella. He had no children.
^John Gooch: Re-conquest and Suppression: Fascist Italy's Pacification of Libya and Ethiopia, 1922–39. In: Journal of Strategic Studies, Band 28, Nr. 6, 2005, S. 1005–1032, hier S. 1009; Aram Mattioli: Experimentierfeld der Gewalt. Der Abessinienkrieg und seine internationale Bedeutung 1935–1941. Zürich 2005, S. 42–45.
Baer, George W. (1976). Test Case: Italy, Ethiopia, and the League of Nations. Stanford, California: Hoover Institute Press, Stanford University. ISBN0-8179-6591-2.
Barker, A.J. (1971). Rape of Ethiopia, 1936. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN978-0-345-02462-6.
Bosworth, R.J.B. (2005). Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915-1945. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN978-0-14-303856-6.
Mockler, Anthony (2003). Haile Sellassie's war. New York: Olive Branch Press. ISBN978-1-56656-473-1.
