Early life and career

Prince Ferrante Vincenzo Gonzaga was born in 1889, the only son of Prince Maurizio Ferrante Gonzaga, Marquess of Vescovato, general in the Royal Italian Army during the First World War and awarded the victory title of Marquis of the Vodice in 1932. At the death of his father in 1938, Gonzaga inherited the titles of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, Marquess of Vescovato, marquess of the Vodice, count of Villanova and Cassolnovo, lord of Vescovato and Venetian patrician.

After graduating in engineering at the University of Turin, Gonzaga decided to pursue a military career; he participated as a junior officer in the Italo-Turkish War, fighting in Libya, and in the First World War. In 1926 he was assigned to the Command of the Rome Army Corps. In 1936, with the rank of colonel, he commanded the 1st Artillery Regiment "Cacciatori delle Alpi" in Foligno; from December 1938 to June 1940 he was chief of staff of the 33rd Infantry Division Acqui. After Italy's entry into the Second World War he commanded the artillery of the XIII Army Corps in Cagliari, being promoted to brigadier general on 1 July 1940. In March 1942 he was given command of the artillery of the XXV Army Corps in Elbasan, Albania, until November, after which he was attached to the Ministry of War for a few months. On 10 February 1943, he was given command of the 222nd Coastal Division, stationed in the Salerno area, a severely understaffed unit whose personnel largely consisted of ill-trained and ill-equipped territorial troops.^[1]

Death

After the Armistice of Cassibile was announced on 8 September 1943, German forces launched Operation Achse for the occupation of Italy and the disarmament of all Italian units. General Gonzaga, who had been preparing for such an instance, immediately issued orders to his subordinates instructing them to refuse German requests to hand over their weapons, and to regroup and prepare for resistance. On the same day of the proclamation of the Armistice General Gonzaga was approached in Buccoli, a hamlet of Eboli, by a German detachment commanded by Major von Alvensleben, who ordered him to surrender. Gonzaga refused to comply, shouting to his men: "A Gonzaga never surrenders"; having drawn his gun, he was immediately killed with a burst of submachine gun. Major von Alvensleben expressed admiration for Gonzaga's courage; the general was posthumously awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor, Italy's highest military decoration.^[2]