Giuseppe Tellera
Italian general (1882–1941)
Giuseppe Tellera (March 14, 1882 – February 7, 1941) was a general in the Italian Army during World War II.
Italian Tenth Army
On 23 December 1940 General Tellera took over the command of the Italian Tenth Army from Lieutenant General Italo Gariboldi. The Tenth Army was then trying to stop the British Operation Compass, which had begun 9 December with the Attack on Nibeiwa.
At the beginning of the offensive, the Tenth Army consisted of four Army Corps with nine divisions and two brigade-sized armored groups, but by 23 December, the 1st Libyan Division, the 2nd Libyan Division, the 4th CC.NN. Division "3 Gennaio" and the Maletti Group had been destroyed at the Battle of Sidi Barrani. Also, the 1st CC.NN. Division "23 Marzo", the 2nd CC.NN. Division "28 Ottobre", the 62nd Infantry Division "Marmarica", the 63rd Infantry Division "Cirene" and remnants of the 64th Infantry Division "Catanzaro" were encircled at Bardia. That left Tellera with only the 61st Infantry Division "Sirte" and the Babini Group.
Tellera, who had served as a staff officer during the First World War on the Italian front and been the Chief of Staff under General Balbo and Graziani, set out to build up a defence with whatever reinforcements that he received. The 61st Infantry Division "Sirte" was sent to garrison Tobruk, and the rest of the units remained near Gazala. After the British had captured Bardia and Tobruk, Tellera ordered the newly-arrived 60th Infantry Division "Sabratha" to set up a defensive line between Derna and Al Qubbah, and the Special Armored Brigade took up positions at Mechili.
On 24 January 1941, the British 7th Armoured Division dislodged the Special Armored Brigade during the action at Mechili, and the Australian 6th Division attacked the Sabratha on 25 January. On 29 January, Tellera ordered a general retreat along the Via Balbia road towards Benghazi.
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This entry incorporates text from “Giuseppe Tellera” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.