Dedication to the Acqui Division

The Massacre of the Acqui Division was carried out by the German Gebirgsjäger Division on the Greek Island of Cephalonia during World War II and a total of 9,500 Italian soldiers were taken prisoner or lost their lives as a result of the battle, massacre, and drowning aboard German ships with the bulk of the Italian soldiers being summarily executed by their one-time German allies on the island. During the occupation of Greece from 1940-1943 the 33 Acqui division enjoyed relative peace and calm after Germany had decided to intervene and assist Mussolini’s outdated and incompetent war machine as its attack failed to dislodge the Greek Army from the Greek border.

All of the ensuing comradeship and bonding between the Italians and Germans would come to an end on September 13th 1943 when the Acqui Division received 2 conflicting orders on what to do now that Rome along with Southern Italy had been taken by the United States Army and Mussolini had been driven from power fleeing to the safety of German-occupied Northern Italy.

The two conflicting orders were dispatched to the commander of the Acqui Division, General Antonio Gandin on the same day. The first order came from Mussolini’s fascist government in northern Italy calling on the men to join or surrender their weapons to their German allies, and a second order from the newly formed Italian Republic in Southern Italy calling on the soldiers to fight their German allies and to aid Greek resistance in any way possible.

Though General Antonio Gandin was respected by the Germans, even receiving a German Iron Cross for heroism and bravery on the Russian front, as well as a cordial relationship with his German counterpart on the island, Lt Colonel Johannes Barge of the German 966th Fortress Grenadier Regiment of the Gebirgsjäger Division, General Gandin simply couldn’t decide what set of orders to follow. He decided to put it to a vote of all of his men. A majority of his enlisted men and officers corps voted to resist, vowing that they refused to turn over their guns to anyone, Allie, or enemy alike. Acting on the decision of his men the Acqui Division armed themselves and the local Greek ELAS resistance fighters.

On September 15 1943 the first shots rang out in the streets of Cephalonia. Despite the valiant Italian resistance, German air superiority dominated the skies above the island, and dive bombers laid waste to the landlocked artillery division. The Italians hoped the allies would assist them in their resistance efforts, only to succumb to the fact that the Italian planes and ships in the area were ordered to return to Italy as it was thought that the Acqui Divisions resistance could have been a rouse and the pilots and soldiers on their way to assist the Acqui Division may have defected to the German side. Receiving no assistance and running out of ammunition the Italians surrendered on September 25 1943.

The Massacre of the Acqui Division began on September 21st, 1943 in earnest with the Germans taking the Italians prisoner and machine gunning them where they stood. The remaining Italians and subsequent wounded prisoners were rounded up and marched to the San Teodoro town hall and were summarily executed, General Gandin being among them. The remaining officers and soldiers were put on ships bound for Germany and sunk by an Italian mine in the harbor of Cephalonia. Of the 10,000 Italian Soldiers stationed on Cephalonia, only 37 survived.

Despite the rather savage nature in which this massacre was committed, Italy, Greece, and Germany simply swept the incident under the rug. The massacre of the Acqui Division on Cephalonia has only recently begun to come back into the public consciousness because of the book Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, and especially the subsequent movie by the same title in 2001.

Upon the release of the film renewed cries of outrage and justice soon swept across the nation of Italy, and Greece as well as the United States and the United Kingdom where the book and film were released. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin became a British Commonwealth best book winner in 1995, and the film was nominated for an Oscar in the United States in 2001.

The Island of Cephalonia almost overnight morphed into a tourist trap, with street signs being renamed with a more Captain Corellie style, memorials, and even museums being hastily erected in the honor of the Acqui Division. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin had a dramatic sweeping effect not only in Greece and Italy but also in the UK and the United States.

As a result of the film, many people’s attention has been drawn to the plight of the Acqui Division and many people are thought to have flocked to the Greek Island to pay their respects to the fallen Italian Soldiers.
Due to this renewed interest in the massacre my preliminary research addressing how the Massacre of the Acqui Division in Greece during World War II affect the relationship between Italy, Greece, and Germany once the war had ended. Preliminary research indicates that the massacre was covered up and not talked about due to shifting priorities of the Italian people to rebuild their lives and simply move on from the war however after the release of the movie in 2001 was the crime investigated resulting in the trial and conviction of two Nazi soldiers. The allies’ desire to bring swift justice to the remnants of the Nazi party via the Nuremberg Trials also played a role in helping the incident to be swept under the rug. Shifting political priorities such as the fight against communism and the construction of NATO and the United Nations were all seen as priorities over what was seen as petty squabbling over professional soldiers dying in combat, only after the release of the book and film was the investigation truly done.

How the historical memory of the Acqui Division affects the tourists who visit the island today centers around the release of the 2001 movie Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Once released in 2001 the debate over the massacre of the Acqui Division was renewed. Scholars began to uncover the truth concerning the Italian men and their fate in 1943. Renewed cries for justice rang through the halls of justice in Italy. As a result of this renewed cry for justice, two German soldiers would be tried and convicted of committing genocide some 60 years after the incident had happened. Italy would continue to mourn its fallen soldiers by re-commissioning one of its Artillery Divisions the Acqui Division, now currently deployed to Iraq, the alumni association of the Acqui Division is established and the story of the Acqui is splashed all over the Italian news, creating a documentary on the massacre and interview of primary sources is further corroborated by a German soldiers diary entries on the Island during the massacre.

The Greek Island of Cephalonia also profited from the release of the film in 2001. Almost overnight the Greek Island renamed streets, erected memorials, and established a museum in memory of the fallen Italian soldiers on Cephalonia in anticipation of British and American tourists flocking to their island to pay respects to their fallen Italian Hero, Captain Antonio Corelli and his Mandolin.