Francesco Zingales (1884-1959) was a general in the

Royal Italian Army The Royal Italian Army () (RE) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfredo Fanti signed a decree c ...

during World War II.

Biography

Francesco Zingales fought in World War I on the Isonzo Front. In 1939 he had become commander of the 10th Motorised Division Piave, but saw no action in 1940. In April 1941, during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, was a Nazi Germany, German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was put fo ...

, he commanded the Motorised Corps.
In September 1941, he was appointed as commander of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia, but fell ill in Vienna on his way to the front and was replaced by

Giovanni Messe Giovanni Messe (10 December 1883 – 18 December 1968) was an Italian field marshal and politician. In the Second World War, he was captured in Tunisia but made chief of staff of the Italian Co-belligerent Army after the armistice of September ...

.
After his recovery, he became commander of the XXX Army Corps and reserve Seventh Army.
Later in 1942, he was stationed a couple of months in North Africa at the head of the Italian XX Motorised Corps and then in Calabria as commander of the XXXI Army Corps.
In November 1942, on his turn he replaced Giovanni Messe as commander of the XXXV Corps, which was a part of the 8th Italian Army in Russia. After the Soviet Operation Little Saturn, his Corps was forced to withdraw from the Don River. After his return in Italy in 1943, he became on 12 July commander of the XII Italian Corps in Sicily with which he fought against the

Allied invasion of Sicily 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 Allies of World War II, Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis p ...

Notes

References

External link

Generals.dk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zingales, Francesco Italian Army generals 1884 births 1959 deaths Italian military personnel of World War I Italian military personnel of World War II