Giuseppe Lombardi

Giuseppe (11 May 1886 – 25 March 1978) was an Italian admiral during World War II.

Early life and career

Born in Dronero, Cuneo province, on 11 May 1886, Lombardi entered the Italian Naval Academy of Livorno in 1905 and graduated three years later with the rank of ensign. With the rank of sub-lieutenant, he took part in the Italo-Turkish War, distinguishing himself in Tripoli, where he fought in a landing company of the battleship Sicilia, receiving a Silver Medal of Military Valor.

During World War I Lombardi, with the rank of lieutenant, was executive officer of the destroyer ; during the war he received a War Cross for Military Valor. In 1923, after becoming lieutenant commander, he participated in the landing at Corfu during the crisis between Italy and Greece. Later, having been promoted to commander, he was commanding officer of the destroyer Luca Tarigo and then, from 1932 to 1935, he served as naval attaché in Spain and Portugal.

In March 1942, Lombardi was appointed Superior Naval Commander in Libya, with headquarters in Tobruk. In this role, between 13 and 14 September 1942, he directed the Italian-German resistance to a British assault aimed at temporarily occupying Tobruk, known as Operation Agreement; the forces under his command repulsed all attacks by land and by sea, sealing the complete failure of "Agreement" and inflicting on the attackers almost 1,400 casualties at a cost of 66 killed and wounded. For this feat, Lombardi was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Savoy. He was then declared a prisoner of war and sent to a POW camp in Schokken, in Poland. He remained there until January 1945, when he was freed by the advancing Red Army, being then repatriated in 1946.

Later life

In 1946, Lombardi was placed in auxiliary; he would be promoted to full admiral in 1952. He then moved to Argentina, where he served as consul of Italy in Tucuman; he returned to Italy in 1957. He died in Rome on 25 March 1978, aged 91.