The Italian occupation of Corsica refers to the military (and administrative) occupation by the Kingdom of Italy of the French island of Corsica during the Second World War, from November 1942 to September 1943.[1] After an initial period of increased control over the island, by early spring 1943 the Maquis had begun to occupy the hinterland. In the aftermath of the Armistice of Cassibile, the Italian capitulation to the Allies, the Germans evacuated Sardinia via Corsica and occupied the island with the support of Italian units who had defected to them. Italian troops under Giovanni Magli, the Maquis and Free French Forces joined forces against the Germans and liberated the island.
On 8 November 1942, the Western Allies landed in North Africa in Operation Torch. The Germans implemented a contingency plan, Case Anton to occupy Zone Libre, the part of France not occupied in 1940. The plan included Operazione C2 (11 November) the Italian occupation of the French island of Corsica and mainland France up to the Rhone. The Italian occupation of Corsica had been strongly promoted by Italian irredentism by the Fascist regime.
The 20th Infantry Division "Friuli", of VII Corps (VII Corpo d'armata) made an unopposed landing on Corsica. The absence of Corsican resistance and a desire to avoid trouble with the Vichy French limited Italian recruitment of Corsicans, except for a labour battalion in March 1943. The Corsican population initially showed some support for the Italians, partly as a consequence of irredentist propaganda. The VII Corps garrison eventually comprised the 20th Infantry Division "Friuli" and 44th Infantry Division "Cremona", the 225th Coastal Division and the 226th Coastal Division, a battalion of Alpini and an armoured battalion.[2] The garrison was commanded by General Umberto Mondino until the end of December 1942, when General Giacomo Carboni took over until March 1943, followed by General Giovanni Magli until September 1943. The initial occupation force of 30,000 Italian troops rose to just under 85,000 men, a huge number relative to the Corsican population of 220,000.[3]
Some Corsican military officers collaborated with Italy, including Major Pantalacci (ret.) and his son Antonio, Colonel Mondielli, Colonel Simon Petru Cristofini and Marta Renucci, his wife, the first Corsican female journalist.[4] Cristofini collaborated early in 1943 and (as head of the Ajaccio troops) helped the Italian Army to repress the Maquis, before the Italian Armistice in September 1943. He worked with the Corsican writer Petru Giovacchini, who was named as the potential governor of Corsica, if Italy annexed the island. In the first months of 1943, the irredentists, under the leadership of Giovacchini and Bertino Poli, disseminated propaganda to the public, promoting the unification of Corsica as a "Corsica Governorate", similar to the Governatorate of Dalmatia of 1941. Public support for the Italian occupation was lukewarm until the summer 1943.[citation needed]Benito Mussolini postponed unification until a peace treaty after the anticipated Axis victory, mainly because of German opposition to irredentist claims.[5]
Administration
Corsican irredentist propaganda, c. 1941
Social and economic life in Corsica was administered by the French civil authorities, the préfet and four sous-préfets in Ajaccio, Bastia, Sartene and Corte.[6] This helped to maintain calm on the island during the first months of Italian occupation. On 14 November 1943, the préfet restated French sovereignty over the island and stated that the Italian troops had been occupiers.
Resistance
Initially there was no Resistance by the Corsicans, but after the first months it started to increase during the occupation. The mission secrète Pearl Harbour (secret mission Pearl Harbor) commanded by Roger de Saule, arrived from Algiers on 14 December 1942 on the Free French submarine Casabianca (Capitaine de frégateJean L'Herminier). The mission co-ordinated the local Maquis that merged as the Front national in which the communists were most influential. The R2 Corse network was originally formed in connexion with the Gaullist resistance in January 1943. Its leader, Fred Scamaroni, failed to unite the movements and was later captured and tortured, committing suicide on 19 March 1943.[7] In April 1943, Paulin Colonna d'Istria was dispatched from Algeria by Charles de Gaulle to unite the movements. By early 1943, the Maquis was sufficiently organised to request arms deliveries. The Maquis leadership was reinforced and morale was boosted by six visits by Casabianca, bringing personnel and arms, later supplemented by air drops. The Maquis became more ambitious and gained control of considerable territory, especially the countryside, by the summer of 1943.[7] In June and July 1943 the Organizzazione per la Vigilanza e la Repressione dell'Antifascismo (OVRA) the Italian fascist secret police and Black Shirts began mass repression, in which 860 Corsicans were jailed and deported to Italy.[8] On 30 August, Jean Nicoli and two French partisans of the Front National were shot in Bastia, by order of an Italian war tribunal.
Liberation
Prelude
Italian capitulation
By the time of the Armistice of Cassibile, signed in 3 September 1943, in which the Italians withdrew from the Axis, German occupation forces in Corsica comprised the [Brigade Reichsführer SS] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |3= (help), a battalion of the 15th Panzergrenadier Division, two heavy coastal artillery batteries and one of heavy anti-aircraft guns. On 7 September, General Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin arrived to take command. Senger received assurances from the Italian commander, Generale Giovanni Magli, that the Italian garrison would continue to fight against the local resistance and not oppose the arrival of German troops from Sardinia. There were about 20,000 French Maquis on the island and the Germans suspected that many of the Italians would defect.[9]
At the First Quebec Conference 17–24 August 1943, the Allies had decided not to occupy Sardinia and Corsica until Italy had capitulated and Allied air bases had been established around Rome.[10]Unternehmen Achse (Operation Axis), a German plan to forestall an Italian surrender and defection to the Allies, began on 8 September, which included the evacuation of the garrisons of Sardinia to Corsica. When news of the Armistice was announced on 8 September, German forces began to embark from the ports of La Maddalena and Santa Teresa Gallura on the north coast of Sardinia, landing at Porto-Vecchio and Bonifacio in Corsica, the Italian coastal gunners nearby not interfering with the operation. The Germans used craft available since the evacuation of Sicily and barges that could be diverted from transporting fuel from Leghorn (Livorno) to the front in Italy to move troops from Sardinia to Corsica. Fliegerführer Sardinia moved to Ghisonaccia Airfield in Corsica on 10 September, becoming Fliegerführer Corsica and the next day the last 44 Luftwaffe aircraft in Sardinia arrived.[11]
At midnight on 8/9 September, German marines captured Bastia harbour, damaged Ardito and massacred seventy of the crew. The merchant ship Humanitas (7,980 gross register tons [GRT]) and a MAS boat were also damaged but Aliseo managed to sail at the last moment. The next day, Italian troops counter-attacked and forced the Germans out; the port commander ordered Commander Fecia di Cossato, the captain of Aliseo, to prevent Germans ships in the harbour from escaping. At dawn on 9 September, lookouts on Aliseo spotted German ships leaving the harbour in the early morning mist and turning north, close to the coast.[12]
Aliseo was outnumbered and outgunned, having only a speed advantage over the German flotilla but closed on the submarine chaser UJ2203 as it opened fire, zig-zagging until 7:06 a.m. to a range of about 8,000yd (4.5mi; 3.9nmi; 7.3km), opening fire on the German ships. At 7:30 a.m.Aliseo was hit in the engine room and brought to a stop but the damage was quickly repaired. Aliseo caught up with the German ships again and hit UJ2203 and some of the barges. At 8:20 a.m.UJ2203 exploded with the loss of nine of the crew. Aliseo fired on UJ2219 and after ten minutes it exploded and sank. The barges, which were well-armed and had been firing continuously, separated but three were sunk by 8:35 a.m. At 8:40 a.m.Aliseo attacked another two barges, which were also under fire from Italian shore batteries, and with the assistance of the corvette Cormorano, forced their crews to beach them. Aliseo rescued 25 Germans, but 160 had been killed.[12]
Evacuation of Sardinia
From 8 to 15 September, the Germans conducted demolitions on seven Sardinian airfields but Italian aircraft had begun landing on other airfields on 10 September, some en route to Sicily and Tunisia to join the Allies, others to operate from Sardinia with the Allies. Five Cant Z 1007 bombers attacked German ships in the Bay of Bonifacio on 16 September. Luftwaffe aircraft retaliated with attacks on Sardinian airfields for the next four days. By 19 September, the 90th Panzergrenadier Division, a fortress brigade, anti-aircraft and Luftwaffe units comprising 25,800 men, 4,650 vehicles and 4,765 long tons (4,841t) of supplies had reached Corsica from Sardinia.[11] In Sardinia the XII Paratroopers Battalion of the 184th Infantry Division "Nembo" defected to the Germans.[13]
The Free French General Henri Giraud feared that the Maquis on Corsica would be crushed unless the Allies intervened. Giraud gained the agreement of the Allied supreme commander of the North African Theater of Operations, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, to intervene. Eisenhower stipulated that no Allied forces engaged in Operation Avalanche, the landings at Salerno (9–16 September) and the French must use their own ships and troops.[15] From 11 September, French troops were dispatched to Corsica from Algiers, the submarine Casabianca ferried 109 men to Ajaccio and from 13 to 24 September the destroyers Le Fantasque and Le Terrible delivered 500 men and 60 long tons (61t) of supplies. On 16 September 30 men and 7 long tons (7.1t) of supplies were delivered by the submarine Perle, followed on 17 September by 550 men and 60 long tons (61t) of stores in Le Fantasque, Tempête and L'Alcyon; 5 long tons (5.1t) of supplies were delivered by the submarine Aréthuse. An American commando unit comprising 400 men, with 20 long tons (20t) of supplies, was landed from the Italian destroyers Legionario and Oriani.[16]
On 12 September, Hitler ordered Corsica to be abandoned and Fregattenkapitän von Liebenstein, the commander of the Sicily evacuation, was sent to Corsica to supervise the naval withdrawal. The Germans planned to concentrate in the north-east of Corsica and use the port of Bastia and the airfields nearby to evacuate the German garrison to the Italian mainland (Livorno and Piombino) and to the island of Elba, between Corsica and Tuscany.[17] Until 24 September, Luftwaffe transport aircraft operated from Ghisonaccia Airfield, about half-way up the east coast, to mainland airfields at Pisa, Lucca, Arena Metato and Pratica di Mare then closed the airfield. On 25 September, the air evacuation resumed from Bastia.
On 17 September, French General Henry Martin met with the Italian General Giovanni Magli in Corte to coordinate the movements of Allied and Italian troops.[14] On 21 September, Giraud arrived in Corsica.[14] On 22 September Sartène was liberated and on 23 September, advanced troops and Corsican resistance fighters reached Porto-Vecchio. The Italian troops of the 20th Infantry Division "Friuli", along with Moroccan colonial troops, took the San Stefano pass on 30 September and then the Teghime pass on 3 October, pressing the German withdrawal but they were unable to stop the evacuation, which was completed on 3 October..[14] The sea evacuation transported 6,240 German troops, about 1,200 prisoners of war, more than 3,200 vehicles and 5,000 long tons (5,100t) of stores. The Germans also airlifted 21,107 men and about 350 long tons (360t) of supplies for a loss of 55 transport aircraft, most on the ground on Italian airfields, to Allied bombing. Allied bombers and submarines sank about 17,000 long tons (17,000t) of shipping.[17][a] German losses during the liberation amounted to around 1,600, including 1,000 killed and 400 captured, along with 600 artillery pieces, about 100 tanks, and 5,000 other vehicles destroyed. The Italians lost 637 soldiers killed and 557 wounded. The Resistance suffered 170 killed and about 300 wounded, while the Free French Forces recorded 75 killed and 239 wounded.[14]
The transport of Allied forces to Corsica continued and on 21 September, 1,200 men, 110 long tons (110t) of stores, six guns and six vehicles were delivered by the light cruiser Jeanne d'Arc and the destroyers Le Fantasque, Tempête and L'Alcyon. The French cruiser Montcalm and Le Fantasque arrived on 23 September with 1,500 troops and 200 long tons (200t) of supplies. Another 350 men and 100 long tons (100t) of supplies, 21 guns and thirty vehicles arrived on the destroyers Le Fortuné and l'Alcyon, Landing Ship, Tank-79 (LST-79) and the MMS-class minesweepers MMS 1 and MMS 116. Jeanne d'Arc returned with 850 men and 160 long tons (160t) on 25 September, followed the next day by Montcalm and the British destroyer HMSPathfinder with 750 men, 100 long tons (100t) of supplies, twelve guns and ten vehicles. On 30 September 200 men, four guns and 70 vehicles arrived on Le Fortuné and LST-79, which was damaged by air attack and sank in the harbour. On 1 October, Jeanne d'Arc and l'Alcyon delivered 700 men and 170 long tons (170t) of supplies.[16]
The liberation of Corsica holds an important place in the history of the Resistance and the liberation of France. It was the first territory in Metropolitan France and the first French department liberated. After Corsica, Calvados would become the second department to be liberated during the Normandy landings in June 1944. The island became an important base for the United States Army Air Forces and Navy for the continuation of operations in Italy and then for Operation Dragoon, the Allied landing in Provence, in August 1944.[14]
Aftermath
Post-war reprisals
Nearly 100 collaborators or autonomists (including intellectuals) were put on trial by the French authorities in 1946. Among those found guilty, eight were sentenced to death. Seven of the death sentences were commuted, but one irredentist, Petru Cristofini, was convicted of treason and was executed. He tried to kill himself and was executed while he was dying in November 1946.[18] Petru Giovacchini was forced to hide after the Allied re-occupation of the island. Prosecuted by a Free French tribunal in Corsica, he received a death sentence in 1945 and went into exile in Canterano, near Rome. He died in September 1955 from old war wounds. Since his death, the Italian irredentist movement in Corsica has been considered defunct.
↑ The record of the German army high command, Oberkommando des Heeres, has 30,500 men evacuated with 7,430 long tons (7,550t) of supplies and 3,500 vehicles.[17]
1 2 Hélène Chaubin, Sylvain Gregory, Antoine Poletti (2003). La résistance en Corse (CD-ROM). Paris: Association pour des Études sur la Résistance Intérieure.
Corsican is a Romance language consisting of the continuum of the Tuscan Italo-Dalmatian dialects spoken on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, a territory of France, and in the northern regions of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy.
Corte is a commune in the Haute-Corse department, on the island of Corsica, France.
The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as the Battle of Sicily and Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers. It began with a large amphibious and airborne operation, followed by a six-week land campaign, and initiated the Italian campaign.
Italian irredentism was a political movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Italy with irredentist goals which promoted the unification of geographic areas in which indigenous peoples were considered to be ethnic Italians. At the beginning, the movement promoted the annexation to Italy of territories where Italians formed the absolute majority of the population, but retained by the Austrian Empire after the Third Italian War of Independence in 1866.
Lucciana is a French commune in the department of Upper Corsica, collectivity and island of Corsica.
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the French mainland, west of the Italian Peninsula and immediately north of the Italian island of Sardinia, the nearest land mass. A single chain of mountains makes up two-thirds of the island. As of January 2024, it had a population of 355,528.
Italian-occupied France was an area of south-eastern France and Monaco occupied by Fascist Italy between 1940 and 1943 in parallel to the German occupation of France. The occupation had two phases, divided by Case Anton in November 1942 in which the Italian zone expanded significantly. Italian forces retreated from France in September 1943 in the aftermath of the fall of the Fascist regime in Italy, and German Wehrmacht forces occupied the abandoned areas until the Liberation.
The history of Corsica goes back to antiquity, and was known to Herodotus, who described Phoenician habitation in the 6th century BCE. Etruscans and Carthaginians expelled the Ionian Greeks, and remained until the Romans arrived during the Punic Wars in 237 BCE. Vandals occupied it in 430 CE, followed by the Byzantine Empire a century later.
Corsica Ferries - Sardinia Ferries is a Franco-Italian ferry company that operates traffic to and from the islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Elba.
Italian irredentism in Corsica was a cultural and historical movement promoted by Italians and by people from Corsica who identified themselves as part of Italy rather than France, and promoted the Italian annexation of the island.
Petru Giovacchini was a Corsican activist, born in Canale-di-Verde to an old family of the Corsican nobility with deep-rooted pro-Italian feelings. Giovacchini was the most renowned of the Corsican Italians, who actively promoted the unification of Corsica to the Kingdom of Italy during the Fascist years.
The flag of Corsica was adopted by General of the Nation Pasquale Paoli in 1755 and was based on a traditional flag used previously. It portrays a Moor's head in black wearing a white bandana above his eyes on a white background. Previously, the bandana covered his eyes; Paoli wanted the bandana moved to above the eyes to symbolize the liberation of the Corsican people from the Genoese.
Algajola is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.
Barbaggio is a commune in the French department of Haute-Corse on the island of Corsica. It is known for its wine, its scenery, and the prehistoric site of Strette.
The invasion of Elba, codenamed Operation Brassard, was part of the Italian campaign during the Second World War. The invasion was carried out from 17 to 19 June 1944 by Free French Forces supported by British and American ships and aircraft. According to the testimony of captured Germans, Allied activity had been observed on Corsica, thus the defenders were aware of the impending invasion 24 hours in advance. They resisted for two days before being given permission to withdraw to the mainland.
The Defensive Organization of Corsica was the French military organization that in 1940 was responsible for the defense of the French island of Corsica against a potential invasion by Fascist Italy. As part of the overall effort to fortify France's borders which included the Maginot Line, the fixed Corsican defenses were constructed in parallel with the Maginot Line, using the same organizational structure and similar designs, albeit scaled back in size, cost and fighting power. The Corsican defenses were designed to deter an Italian landing on the south end of Corsica, and to support artillery batteries capable of controlling the Strait of Bonifacio between Corsica and the Italian island of Sardinia, separated by only twelve kilometers. As World War II unfolded, no attempt was made by Italian forces to mount an opposed landing on Corsica. The island was instead occupied in November 1942. In 1943 Corsica saw fighting when German forces moved from Sardinia. Most of the fortified positions remain to the present day.
Petru Rocca was a Corsican politician and writer who supported Corsican independence from France. Initially he advocated regionalism for Corsica within the French state. He briefly supported Italian irredentism in Corsica, before returning to a position of French-Corsican regionalism before World War II.
Simon Petru Cristofini (1903–1943), also known as Pietro Simone Cristofini, was a Corsican soldier who commanded the Phalange Africaine during Tunisia Campaign in World War II and was executed for treason by French authorities because of his support for Italian irredentism in Corsica during the Italian occupation of Corsica.
The action off Bastia was a naval engagement fought on 9 September 1943 between German vessels and Italian ships and coastal artillery. Bastia is the main port of Corsica in the Ligurian Sea. Secret negotiations between the Italian government and the Allies led to the Armistice of Cassibile and the defection of Italy from the Axis.
The Col de Teghime is a mountain pass in the Haute-Corse department of Corsica, France. The pass is in the south of the Monte Stello massif and is one of the main passes in the island.
References
Barba, Selene (1995). La resistenza dei militari italiani all'estero: Francia e Corsica (in Italian). Roma: Rivista Militare. OCLC258039499.
Frieser, K-H.; Schmider, K.; Schönherr, K.; Schreiber, G.; Ungváry, K.; Wegner, B., eds. (2017) [2007]. "Part IV, Chapter 4". The Eastern Front 1943–1944: The War in the East and on the Neighbouring Fronts. Germany and the Second World War. Vol.VIII. Translated by Smerin, B. (eng. trans. Clarendon Press, Oxforded.). Potsdam: Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Research Institute for Military History). ISBN978-0-19-872346-2.
Molony, C. J. C.; Flynn, F. C.; Davies, H. L.; Gleave, T. P. (2004a) [1973]. "Chapter XI. Naval Activities, June to October 1943; The Allied and Enemy Plans to the End of 1943 (iii) The Germans Evacuate Sardinia and Corsica". The Mediterranean and the Middle East: The Campaign in Sicily 1943 and The Campaign in Italy, 3rd September 1943 to 31st March 1944 Part I. History of the Second World War United Kingdom Military Series. Vol.V (pbk. facs. repr. Naval & Military Press, Uckfielded.). London: HMSO. pp.374–376. ISBN978-1-84574-069-6.
O'Hara, Vincent P. (2009). Struggle for the Middle Sea: The Great Navies at War in the Mediterranean Theater, 1940–1945. London: Conway. ISBN978-1-84486-102-6.
Playfair, I. S. O.; Flynn, F. C.; Molony, C. J. C.; Gleave, T. P. (2004) [1966]. "Chapter VI. 'Torch': The Landings (8th – 13th November): The Attitude of the French". In Butler, Sir James (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East: The Destruction of the Axis Forces in Africa. History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Vol.IV (pbk. facs. repr. Naval & Military Press, Uckfielded.). London: HMSO. p.162. ISBN978-184574-068-9.
Rodogno, Davide (2003). Il nuovo ordine mediterraneo: le politiche di occupazione dell'Italia fascista (1940–1943)[The New Mediterranean Order: The Occupation Policies of Fascist Italy]. Nuova cultura 0094 (in Italian). Torino: Bollati Boringhieri. ISBN978-8-83-391432-9.
Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (2005) [1972]. Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (3rd rev.ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN1-86176-257-7.
Further reading
Arrighi, Jean-Marie; Jehasse, Olivier (2008). Histoire de la Corse et des Corses[A History of Corsica and the Corsicans] (in French). Paris: Colonna édition et Perrin. ISBN978-2-262-02029-3.
Mastroserio, Giuseppe (2004). Petru Giovacchini – Un Patriota esule in Patria[Petru Giovacchini – A Patriot Exiled in his Homeland] (in Italian). Bari: Editrice Proto. ISBN978-8-88-882307-2.
Rainero, R. (1990). Mussolini e Petain. Storia dei rapporti tra l'Italia e la Francia di Vichy (10 giugno 1940 – 8 settembre 1943)[Mussolini and Petain. History of Relations between Italy and Vichy France] (in Italian). Roma: Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito-Ufficio Storico. OCLC891136801.
Renucci, Janine (2001). La Corse[Corsica] (in French). Paris: Presses universitaires de France. ISBN978-2-13-037169-4.
Richards, Brooks (2005) [2004]. "Chapter XIX: Missions to Sardinia and Corsica: January–March 1943 and Chapter XX: Last Missions to Corsica before the Italian Armistice and its Liberation". Secret Flotillas: Clandestine Sea Operations in the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Adriatic 1940–1944. Vol.II (Taylor & Francis e-libraryed.). London: Frank Cass (Whitehall History Publishing Consortium). pp.242–267. ISBN0-203-67840-0.
Rodogno, Davide (2006). Fascism's European empire: Italian Occupation during the Second World War (trans.ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-52-184515-1.
Tomblin, B. B. (2004). With Utmost Spirit: Allied Naval Operations in the Mediterranean 1942–1945. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN0-8131-2338-0.
Varley, Karine (2012). "Between Vichy France and Fascist Italy: Redefining Identity and the Enemy in Corsica during the Second World War". Journal of Contemporary History. XLVII (3): 505–527. doi:10.1177/0022009412441647. ISSN0022-0094. S2CID159841622.
Vergé-Franceschi, Michel (1996). Histoire de la Corse[History of Corsica] (in French). Paris: Éditions du Félin. ISBN978-2-86-645221-6.
Vignoli, Giulio (2000). Gli Italiani Dimenticati: minoranze italiane in Europa: saggi e interventi[The Forgotten Italians: Italian Minorities in Europe: Essays and Interventions] (in Italian). Roma: Ed. Giuffè. ISBN978-8-81-408145-3.
The Italian empire before WWII is shown in red. Pink areas were annexed/occupied for various periods between 1940 and 1943. Italian concessions and forts in China are not shown.
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