Renzo Bertoni
Renzo Bertoni (died March 31, 1938), was an Italian political journalist, author and military officer who served during the Spanish Civil War. He was bestowed Italy's highest award for heroism on the battlefield — the Gold Medal for Military Valor.[1]
Contents
Biography
Renzo Bertoni was born at the comune of Revere, in the Kingdom of Italy.
In the early 1930s he graduated from the University of Rome. After spending a year in the USSR as part of a Soviet-Italian social and cultural exchange program, he published in 1934 his work entitled Il trionfo del fascismo nell'URSS (The Triumph of Fascism in the USSR), to commemorate the Italo-Soviet Pact signed the previous year.[2][3]
Lieutenant Renzo Bertoni, a journalist and employee of the Italian Ministry of Culture, volunteered in the Spanish Civil War. On March 31, 1938, after advancing 15 kilometers into enemy-held territory, his CV 33 Ansaldo tankette was hit near Calaceite. Bertoni and his mechanic-driver attempted to escape from the burning tank, but he was killed by a machine-gun burst.
His platoon took brave measures to capture Calaceite as quickly as possible, broke through to the rear of the enemy, and, wreaking havoc, bravely advanced without reinforcements. After the tank was hit, he got out of the tank and, together with the mechanic-driver, took hand grenades and engaged the enemy. Shot in the chest by a machine gun, he fell to the ground, heroically sacrificing his young life for the Fatherland.
— Calaceite, March 31, 1938[4]
Legacy
A street in Milan (Via Renzo Bertoni) is named after Renzo Bertoni.
Works
- Il Trionfo del Fascismo nell'U.R.S.S. Roma: Signorelli (1934).
- Russia: Trionfo del Fascismo. Milano: La Prora (1937).
Notes
- ↑ Awarded posthumously in 1938.
- ↑ Mutti, Claudio (2005). "La Verità di Bombacci sulla Russia." Retrieved 26 May 2022.
- ↑ Algisi, Francesco (2010). "Il Fascismo di Sinistra. Intervista con Ivan Buttignon," Archivio Storico. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ↑ From the presentation of the award. See, "Bertoni, Renzo," Quirinale.
Further reading
- Buttignon, Ivan (2010). Compagno Duce: Fatti, Personaggi, Idee e Contraddizioni del Fascismo di Sinistra. Bresso: Hobby.
- Coverdale, John F. (1975). Italian Intervention in the Spanish Civil War. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
