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Office Building of the Comando Supremo

Bernhard

New Member
Hallo zusammen,
ich suche nach dem Gebäude, in dem das Comando Supremo ab 12. Dezember 1942 untergebracht war.
Die Zeit zuvor hatte es sein Büro im Palazzo delle Ricerche, später im Palazzo Vidoni in Roma.

Bitte lassen Sie mich wissen, wenn Sie mir weiterhelfen können.
 

jwsleser

Administrator
Staff member
Herzlich willkommen im Forum Bernhard

An interesting question. A quick search didn't find the location. I (and possibly others) will need to dig around to discover whether we can answer the question.

Pista! Jeff
 

Bernhard

New Member
Hallo Jeff,
Danke sehr für Deine Antwort.
Kann es sein, dass Comando Supremo damals nach Monterotondo verlegt wurde?

Gruss
Bernhard
 

jwsleser

Administrator
Staff member
I have not found any new information. None of the sources I have access to provides this information. I would likely need to reread books on Mussolini to see if they mention locations.
 

jwsleser

Administrator
Staff member
My current theory is that the S.M.G. and the S.M.R.E. were co-located in the same building. Before the war, the S.M.G. was quite small and more of a secretariat than a functional headquarters.

Ceva in his La condotta italiana della guerra has a diagram of the Comando Supremo office (yes, a single room, p.35) in 1942. In that room are all three reparti of the S.M.G. That got me digging through the documents that established the S.M.G. In the original document authorizing the S.M.G. (Legge 8 giugno 1925, n.866 also found in Ceva pp.129–132), Article 7 states 'For the execution of the studies and the issuing of the provisions inherent to his assignment, the Chief of the General Staff has the General Staff of the Royal Army'. In the Section "Del Consiglio dell'esercito" it states 'The Army General Staff is directly dependent on the Chief of the General Staff for the execution of the functions referred to in the previous art. 7'.

As the S.M.G. depends on the S.M.R.E. to provide the staff work for the office, it would make sense that the S.M.G. is co-located with the S.M.R.E. It would also explain why a location for Comando Supremo is not mentioned.

Pista! Jeff
 

DrG

Active Member
Before the war the tiny Stato Maggiore Generale was housed in the seat of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (headed by Marshal Badoglio). Later on, when the Comando Supremo (Supercomando) was activated, it was moved to Palazzo Vidoni.

The Stato Maggiore del Regio Esercito and the Comando Superiore del Regio Esercito (Superesercito) was located in Palazzo Esercito in Rome (Via XX Settembre, 123) and moved to Monterotondo (in the castle and some palaces; codename "Centro Marte") since May 1943.
 

jwsleser

Administrator
Staff member
Excellent information DrG. I was hoping you would answer the question. What is your source (just curious as I was unable to find anything)?

Pista! Jeff
 

DrG

Active Member
Jeff, thank you! I have got these information from several books and articles read, honestly I couldn't point to any one specific. Surely some articles or books by Lucio Ceva and the book "La storia nascosta" by Badoglio's relative Vanna Vailati, and a recent article on "Storia Militare" about the German attack on Monterotondo after the armistice of 8 September 1943.
 

DrG

Active Member
By the way, the seat of the Stato Maggiore della Regia Marina, of the Comando Superiore della Regia Marina (Supermarina) and of the Ministero della Marina was Palazzo Marina:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Marina
https://www.marina.difesa.it/cosa-f...usei/palazzomarina/Pagine/palazzo_marina.aspx

The Stato Maggiore della Regia Aeronautica, of the Comando Superiore della Regia Aeronautica (Superaereo) and of the Ministero dell'Aeronautica was Palazzo dell'Aeronautica:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_dell'Aeronautica_(Roma)
 

jwsleser

Administrator
Staff member
Maurizio

Do you the location of the S.I.M.? Googling turns up Forte Braschi as the location. Arena in his book Folgore (p.423) states it was Palazzo Puccinelli. Google finds nothing on the Palazzo Puccinelli, so this is likely incorrect.

Any ideas?

Pista! Jeff
 
The SIM headquarters during the period 1940-1943 was Forte Braschi in Rome (precisely the Braschi Barracks located inside the fort) but certainly that was the headquarters while the organization of the information system of the Royal Army was also based on peripheral systems that they involved offices located in all the army headquarters and under the dominion of the kingdom of Italy (Albania, Aegean etc etc) therefore the headquarters was not unique. Furthermore, the conformation of the Office changed at least 5 times during the 4 years of the war and was immediately divided into various operational sections. Furthermore, each Arma had its own information office and it may be (but I do not have certain data on this) that Palazzo Puccinelli which is located in Florence was the headquarters of the Information Office of the Air Force (given the source) or even it was the temporary headquarters of the SIM (later SID) during the Republic of Salò.....(RSI)
All the best
Maurizio
 
20-9-40
 

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jwsleser

Administrator
Staff member
Thank you.

Odd that Arena stated that the headquarters was at the Palazzo Puccinelli. I agree that he likely confused the R.A. office with the S.I.M. in Rome. I fixed that bit in the book.

Pista! Jeff
 
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