Felice De Chaurand de Saint Eustache was an Italian general and spy who was a major contributor of the early

Servizio Informazioni Militare The Italian Military Information Service ( it, Servizio Informazioni Militare, or SIM) was the military intelligence organization for the Royal Army (''Regio Esercito'') of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1925 until 1946, and of the ...

as well as the commander of the Italian 35th Infantry Division during World War I.

Biography

Count Felice De Chaurand de Saint Eustache was appointed second lieutenant of artillery in 1875. He attended the and entered the General Staff Corps in 1884. In 1898 he was promoted to colonel, the rank with which he commanded the 39th Infantry Regiment. In September 1900 he was appointed head of the of the Army Staff. With this assessment, this would be his first approach to the Servizio Informazioni Militare. His major contributions there was the solving of a correspondence that used the Sittler and Mengarini codes but left the organization in June 1902. In 1905, he was promoted to major general and commander of the Reggio brigade. In 1910 he was promoted to lieutenant general and participated in the

Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War ( tr, Trablusgarp Savaşı, "Tripolitanian War", it, Guerra di Libia, "War of Libya") was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result ...

of November 1911 at the helm of the 3rd special division, made up of seven infantry battalions, one of Alpine troops, one of grenadiers and a 75 mm batter. De Chaurand was honored in the fighting and for his contributions, he was awarded the commander's cross of the

Military Order of Savoy The Military Order of Savoy was a military honorary order of the Kingdom of Sardinia first, and of the Kingdom of Italy later. Following the abolition of the Italian monarchy, the order became the Military Order of Italy. History The origin o ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he was in command of the 35th division on the Tridentine front in the area of the

Tonezza del Cimone Tonezza del Cimone (Cimbrian: ''Tonetsch'') is a town in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is west of SP350 provincial road, in the Venetian Prealps The Alpine foothills, or Prealps (german: Voralpen; french: Préalpes; it, Prealpi; ), ...

plateau. He was dismissed by the command and sent home on May 16, 1916, at the start of the

Battle of Asiago The Battle of Asiago (Battle of the Plateaux) or the Südtirol Offensive (in Italian: Battaglia degli Altipiani), nicknamed ''Strafexpedition'' ("Punitive expedition") by the Italians, was a major counteroffensive launched by the Austro-Hungari ...

. He was a prolific author of military history and analysis texts, as well as being a precursor to the use of cryptography and ciphers in Italy. He married Matilde Dall'Ovo who was from

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes C ...

. When he reflected upon the events on the Italo-Turkish War, Chaurand said:

Awards

, Officer (March 16, 1913)Sito web del Quirinale: dettaglio decorato.
/ref> *Military Order of Savoy, Commander (April 5, 1914)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaurand, Felice De 1857 births 1944 deaths Italian generals People from Chiavari Italian military personnel of the Italo-Turkish War Italian military personnel of World War I Italian spies