Mario Roatta

Who was Mario Roatta?

Mario Roatta was an Italian general, best known for his role in Italian Second Army's repression against civilians, that matched the German one in the Slovene- and Croatian-inhabited areas of the Italian-occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. In his Circular 3C, Roatta ordered summary executions, hostage-taking, reprisals, internments, burning of houses and whole villages, and deportation of 25,000 people, which equaled 7.5% of the total population of Italy-occupied Province of Ljubljana, which filled up the Italian concentration camps on the island of Rab, in Gonars, Monigo, Renicci d'Anghiari, Chiesanuova and elsewhere. The survivors received no compensation from the Italian state after the war.

From 1934 to 1936, he was the head of the Italian Military Information Service. During the Spanish Civil War he led the Corpo Truppe Volontarie and helped Francisco Franco's forces. He was the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Italian Army from October 1939 to March 1941 and from March 1941 to January 1942 its Chief of Staff and helped in preparing for the invasion of Yugoslavia.