Rodolpho Graziani

Italiensk marskal. Chef for 10. armé 1940-41 i Nordafrika.

• Etiopien, 1936
• Sidi Barrani, 1940
• Bardia, 1941
• Tobruk I, 1941
• Beda Fomm, 1941

Rodolfo Graziani (1882-1955): italiensk general. Ledede 1935-36 angrebet fra syd i Abessinien-krigen; vicekonge over Etiopien 1936-37; guvernør i Cyrenaica i Libyen 1943-45; underskrev som sådan Italiens kapitulation til De Allierede 1945. Fængslet; løsladt 1950.

Under Anden Verdenskrig kommanderede han den 10. armé stationeret i Libyen. Han blev kommandør efter at Italo Balbo blev dræbt ved et flystyrt den 28. juni 1940. Efter krigserklæringen beordrede Mussolini Graziani til at bruge sin hær for at invaderede Egypten. Graziani expressed doubts about the ability of his largely un-mechanized force could defeat the British, however, he followed orders and the Tenth Army attacked on September 13. He resigned his commission in 1941 after being defeated by the British in Operation Compass, following the defeat of his army.

He was the only one of the Italian marshals to remain loyal to Mussolini after Dino Grandi's Grand Council of Fascism coup, and was appointed Minister of Defence of the Italian Social Republic. Graziani also commanded the mixed Italo-German Armee Ligurien. At the end of the war, Graziani spent a few days in San Vittore prison in Milan before being transferred to Allied control. He was brought back to Africa in Anglo-American custody, staying there until February of 1946. Allied forces then felt the danger of assassination or lynching had passed and returned him to Procida prison in Italy. In 1950, a military tribunal sentenced him to prison for a term of 19 years as punishment for his collaboration with the Nazis, he was released after serving only a few months of the sentence. He died in Rome.