Alessandro Gloria

Alessandro Gloria (Rome, 7 July 1883 – Genoa, 24 October 1970) was an Italian general during World War II.

Biography

Gloria was born in Rome on July 7, 1883, the son of Gaspare Gloria and Maria Sacchi. After enlisting in the Royal Italian Army, on 3 November 1901 he enrolled in the Royal Military Academy of Artillery and Engineers in Turin, graduating as artillery Second Lieutenant on 7 September 1903. After promotion to Lieutenant and later to Captain, he fought in Libya with the 7th Field Artillery Regiment during the Italo-Turkish War (1911-1912), earning a Bronze Medal of Military Valour for action near Tripoli in October 1911, and later in World War I with the 32nd Field Artillery Regiment, being badly wounded on the Isonzo Front in January 1916 and receiving a further two Bronze Medals of Military Valour.

After promotion to Major at the end of the war, he went on to serve with the 19th Heavy Field Artillery Regiment, and in 1920 he was transferred to the Headquarters of the Military Division of Turin. After a long period as a teacher at the local War School he became a Lieutenant Colonel and then a Colonel in 1930, being placed at the disposal of the Command of the Army Corps of Turin. He later assumed command of the 8th Heavy Field Artillery Regiment, and became alternate judge at the territorial military court of Rome from 1 July 1931 to 10 February 1933.

Following the Armistice of Cassibile, on 9 September 1943 he was captured by German troops at his headquarters in Bolzano, and then interned in the officer POW Camp 64/Z in Schokken (today Skoki), Poland. He returned to Italy after the end of the war, in October 1945, and was discharged from the Army on July 7, 1956. He died in Genoa on October 24, 1970.