205 Italien: Stahlhelm für Generale aus dem Besitz Marschall Rodolfo Grazianis.
The helmet in parade version made of light metal with lateral support for the bush on cockade with the arms of the House of Savoy, respectively the Kingdom of Italy. Original green varnish with front golden eagle emblem for general.
Particularly fine lining of perforated lashed brown leather with green lacquered leather chin strap.
Excellent historical helmet in best quality and condition.
Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, Marquis of Neghelli (* August 11, 1882 in Filettino, ProvinceFrosinone; † January 11, 1955 in Rome) was a leading ItalianMilitary and politician during the rule of Italian Fascism. Graziani gained notoriety for his role in the SecondItalian-Libyan War (1922-1932). Arriving in Libya in October 1921 as the youngest colonel in the Italian army, Graziani took the main credit in the conquest ofTripolitania and also in the occupation of Fessan in 1929/30. As a counter-guerrilla specialist, he modernized the methods of desert warfare, relying not only on rapidly advancing formations with armored vehicles supported from the air, but also on unrestrained brutality. Notorious for his fascist firmness of principle, Graziani made a reputation for himself as an "Arab butcher" and repeatedly ordered mass executions. After being appointed vice governor of Cyrenaika by Mussolini in the spring of 1930, Graziani also set about "pacifying" the Libyan part of the country, following the tried and tested pattern. In a letter to Governor General Pietro Badoglio, he compared the situation in the troubled region to a "boil" that needed to be mercilessly cut out so that the infected body could recover. He became vice-governor (1930-1934), after which he was briefly governor of Italian Somaliland (1935-1936) and, as such, commander-in-chief of the southern invasion forces in the Italian war of aggression against the Empire of Abyssinia. The units commanded by Graziani used poison gas systematically and extensively. During his subsequent tenure as viceroy of Italian East Africa, Graziani established a terror-based occupation regime. As governor-general of Italian Libya(1940-1941), Graziani led the failed invasion of Egypt after Fascist Italy's entry into World War II, which brought him into disfavor withMussolini. Only after the fall of Mussolini's regime and the founding of the Fascist Republic of Salò ( R.S.I.) did Graziani serve under the Duce as its Minister of Defense (1943-1945), supporting the troops of the German Wehrmacht standing firmly alongside the Republica Sociale Italiano. From his headquarters he commanded the Italian units fighting on the German side until the Allies had occupied large parts of northern Italy and resistance was hardly possible. Despite the hopeless situation, he did not consider capitulation until the end, but had those unwilling to fight executed. On April 29, 1945, one day after Mussolini was shot by partisans, Graziani surrendered to U.S. troops in Milan. On the same day, as Marshal ofItaly, together with SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Waffen-SS Karl Wolffas "Plenipotentiary General of the German Wehrmacht in Italy", he signed the Armistice of Caserta, making effective the surrender of all German and Republican-Italian forces in the north of the country in the night from May2 to 3, 1945.
Particularly beautiful helmet and from the personal possession of Marshal Graziani a collector's item of great rarity.
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