Balbo, Italo

From a very early age, Italo Balbo was notable for his high political activity. Already at the age of 14, he took part in the Albanian unrest under the leadership of Riccotti Garibaldi , son of Giuseppe Garibaldi . After the outbreak of World War I, Italy declared its neutrality , while Balbo in every way welcomed Italy’s participation in the war on the side of the Entente and repeatedly participated in pickets in support of the war. In 1915 , immediately after the declaration of war by Italy , Balbo went to the front and served in the 8th alpine regiment. Shortly before the bloody battle at Caporetto, Balbo filed a petition for transfer to aviation, but to no avail. In the battle itself, where his entire corps was taken prisoner, he did not take part, but he soon returned to duty and showed his best side in the battle of Vittorio Veneto , for bravery under enemy fire he was awarded bronze and silver medals. He finished the war with the rank of captain .

After the war, Balbo continued his studies in public disciplines in Florence , worked at a bank.

In 1921, Balbo joined the newly created National Fascist Party ( Italian: Partito Nazionale Fascista ), in which he quickly moved to the secretary of the Ferrara branch. Balbo organized several gangs of black shirts , including his own group, Chelibano, named after his beloved tincture. Chelibano was engaged in the dispersal of socialist demonstrations and rallies , frustrated strikes . By 1922, Italo Balbo became one of the "Ras" - the highest leaders of the fascist movement. He was the youngest of the Quadrumvirs , the four organizers of the famous march to Rome .

After the power passed into the hands of the fascists , Balbo, as one of the “Quadrumvirs”, became the founder of the Great Fascist Council . True, soon after that he was accused of killing an anti-fascist priest, which somewhat slowed down his career. But in 1924 he was still appointed to the post of commander in chief of the Squadrists, and in 1925 he became deputy minister of national economy.

Despite the fact that Balbo had no flying experience and general knowledge of aviation, on November 6, 1926 he was still appointed Italy's Secretary of State for Aviation. After completing a flight training course and familiarizing himself with the basics of aviation, Balbo set about creating the Italian Air Force ( Italian: Regia Aeronautica Italia ). In 1928 he became a general of aviation, and in 1929 - Minister of Aviation.

In general, at that time in Italy there was a rise in interest in aeronautics : in 1925, under the leadership of Francesco de Pinedo , an outstanding flight was made from Italy to Australia , then to Japan and back to Italy, with a total length of about 62,000 km, in 1926 the Italian pilot Mario De Bernardi won the Schneider Cup , in 1928 the famous expedition of the airship "Italy" took place under the leadership of Umberto Nobile .

Italo Balbo also contributed to the Italian history of aeronautics, having made two transatlantic flights with whole fleets of hydroplanes . Under his leadership, in late 1930, twelve seaplanes flew from Italy to Brazil, for which he was awarded the FAI Gold Aviation Medal . In 1933, 24 seaplanes, led by Italo Balbo, made a large-scale flight along the route Rome - Amsterdam - Derry - Reykjavik - Newfoundland - Nova Scotia - Montreal - Lake Michigan ( Chicago ). In honor of this flight, Mussolini presented the city of Chicago with an ancient column from Ostia , which still adorns the coastal park of the city. Chicago authorities renamed Seventh Street to Balbo Drive and held a major parade in honor of Italo Balbo. During this visit to the United States, Balbo was invited to dine with President Franklin Roosevelt , where he was awarded a cross for his merit . During Balbo's performance at Madison Square Garden in front of Italian immigrants, he said the famous: “Be proud that you are Italians. With the advent of Mussolini ended the era of humiliation! " Returning to Rome, Balbo received the rank of Air Marshal .

During Italy's declaration of war on Great Britain and France on June 10, 1940, Balbo was Governor General of Libya and Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Forces in North Africa (ASI). He became responsible for planning the invasion of Egypt. After the surrender of France, Balbo led the transfer of the Italian 5th army from the border of Tunisia to the 10th army on the Egyptian border. Although he expressed some concern about the success of the Italian forces in North Africa, Mussolini and Marshal Pietro Badoglio, Chief of the General Staff, Balbo, nevertheless plans to invade Egypt in early July 1940.

In the evening of June 28, 1940, Balbo flew to Tobruk from the city of Dern, piloting an SM.79 bomber . The purpose of the flight is not exactly clear, perhaps the marshal wanted to inspect the advanced positions and at the same time reconnoiter the area nearby the city. He was accompanied by the same type of aircraft under the command of the commander of the 5th air squadron, General Felice Porro. When approaching one of the Tobruk airdromes (Tobruk-2), pilots saw smoke from ground fires caused by a recent attack on the British airfield bombers. Nonetheless, Balbo decided to land, failing to complete a series of actions required to identify his aircraft from the ground. The approach was carried out at an altitude of 700 meters, instead of 300, and the full circle necessary for identifying in visual visibility from the ground was not completed at a height of 300 meters (this was a requirement of the Navy). There were no radio stations on his plane and the slave's plane, which did not allow him to communicate with each other and with the ground. The airfield was warned of the arrival of the Marshal, the Navy and coastal batteries did not receive such a warning, and the communication between the airfield and the liaison officers of the naval base was broken by an English raid (the base officers left their seats).

There were even no binoculars on the coastal air defense batteries, and the personnel were poorly trained to recognize different types of targets. The same situation was with the airfield batteries. On a landing pair of bombers opened fire standing in the harbor of Tobruk, as a floating battery, the old Italian cruiser "San Giorgio" (the calculations of the anti-aircraft guns of the cruiser were in their places after the British air strike completed minutes earlier), which was joined by coastal batteries and even machine guns Air defense airdrome. The aircraft fired guns and machine guns located in the harbor of submarines and transport ships. After the first shots, fire was opened from all possible air defense systems. The plane of the leader, who had already managed to release the landing gear, got hit in the tank, caught fire and fell on the shore of the harbor, which at first caused glee on anti-aircraft batteries. Together with Balbo, 3 more crew members and 5 passengers died (ranks of the commander’s headquarters). The fallen bomber burned for several hours. Balbo was identified only by a cast of teeth. Since June 29, national mourning has been declared in Italy for five days.

The plane led by General Porro, despite the dense fire from the ground, received several bullet and fragmentation holes, was able to land at a nearby airfield in the village of Ain el-Gazala.

Two days after the death of Balbo, the British plane parachuted over Italian positions a box with a laurel wreath with a note of condolences that read: "The British Air Force sincerely mourn Marshal Balbo, the great leader and brave pilot whose fate turned so unfavorably." The note was signed by British Air Force commander in the Middle East, Marshal Arthur Longmore.

An official investigation into the death of Marshal Balbo was conducted, apparently, nominally. General Porro noted that he was not even called to testify. He also claimed that no one was punished and did not even receive a reprimand in connection with the death of the commander. This can be explained by the position of the high command of Italy, who believed that it is not worth focusing on the fact that the Balbo plane was destroyed by its own anti-aircraft artillery ^{[1] [2]} .

• Via Balbo

• Italo Balbo. Brief Illustrated Biography
• short biography
• Brief Biography
• Zalessky K. A. Who was who in World War II. Allies of Germany. - M .: AST , 2004 .-- T. 2 .-- 492 p. - ISBN 5-271-07619-9 .