ASCOLI, ETTORE

ASCOLI, ETTORE (1873–1943), Italian soldier. Ascoli, who was born in Ancona, was commissioned in the artillery in 1891. As a young man he took part in the African campaign of 1896, which ended in the defeat of Adua. He terminated his studies in 1902, and in 1905 he was appointed captain. For several years before World War i, from 1909 to 1915, he was a senior instructor at the Modena Military Academy.

In 1917 he was appointed colonel commander of the 7^th Group of Artillery of the 26^th Army Corps on Mount Podgora. He was then appointed divisional commander of Artillery. After the Austrian offensive of 1917, which terminated in the Italian defeat of Caporetto, Ascoli was appointed in June as commander of the Inter-Allied Artillery, which included British and French units.

He returned to instructional duties after the end of the war, by which time he had reached the rank of colonel and had been decorated several times, with the Bronze Medal, the War Cross, and the Knight's Cross of the Order of Savoy, and the Officer's Cross of the Order of Savoy. In 1924 he was appointed head of the Military Schools Service. Ascoli returned to the artillery in 1926, and in 1933, as a major general, was appointed deputy commander general of the Italian artillery. He was inspector of the military zone of Bologna from 1935 until 1937 when, as a lieutenant general, he was appointed an army corps commander. General Ascoli published various manuals for field artillery officers, as well as a book on Italian artillery during World War i.

Shortly before the outbreak of World War ii when anti-Jewish legislation was enacted in Italy, Ascoli was compelled to leave the army. After September 1943, when the Germans invaded Italy, Ascoli joined the partisans, and was killed fighting against the Germans on December 14, 1943. He was buried in the cemetery of Cingoli.

bibliography:

Jewish Heroism in Modern Times (1965); E. Rubin, 140 Jewish Marshals, Generals and Admirals (1952), 179–80.

[Mordechai Kaplan]