Tito Agosti

Tito Agosti (Morrovalle, 19 August 1889 – Rome, 27 January 1946) was an officer in the Royal Italian Army during the Italo-Turkish War, World War I, the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and World War II, and a general in the Army of the Italian Social Republic.

Biography

He was born in Morrovalle, Marche, on 19 August 1889, the son of Felice Agosti and Palmira Garzoglio, and enlisted in the Royal Italian Army at a young age, becoming a second lieutenant on 19 May 1912. He briefly participated in the Italo-Turkish War, fighting in Libya, and then in the First World War, in which he was promoted to the rank of captain on August 23, 1917, and awarded a Silver Medal of Military Valour for his behaviour during the battle of Vittorio Veneto.

In 1925–1926, with the rank of captain, he commanded a company of the 13th Eritrean Battalion, participating in the pacification of Jubaland and the Majerteen Sultanate in Somalia. During the 1920s he joined the National Fascist Party, and in 1935–1936 he participated in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, first commanding the "Penne di Falco" Colonial Cavalry Squadron Group and then the III Somalian Armed Band Group on the Harar front, earning a Bronze Medal of Military Valour and two promotions for war merit, to lieutenant colonel on 31 December 1935 and then to colonel. At the end of the war he was awarded another Silver Medal of Military Valor.

After the outbreak of World War II he fought in Italian East Africa, where he was tasked with the defense of Shahmanna, in the southern front of Galla-Sidamo; after the bloody battle of the Dadaba he managed to withdraw his surviving troops, repelling continuous attacks from thousands of Arsi guerrillas. On 19 May 1941 he was seriously wounded and captured by the British after having fought "to the limit of human possibilities" as ordered by the Supreme Command, and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Savoy on 1 August 1941, and subsequently a third Silver medal of military valor.