18 Facts About Amedeo Guillet

Baron Amedeo Guillet was an officer of the Italian Army and an Italian Diplomat.

Amedeo Guillet was nicknamed Devil Commander and was famous during the Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia in 1941,1942 and 1943 because of his courage.

Amedeo Guillet's parents were Franca Gandolfo and Baron Alfredo Guillet, a colonel in the Royal Carabinieri.

Amedeo Guillet served in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, which prevented him from competing in equestrian events in the Berlin 1936 Summer Olympics.

Amedeo Guillet next fought in the Spanish Civil War serving with the 2nd CCNN Division "Fiamme Nere" at the Battle of Santander and the Battle of Teruel.

Amedeo Guillet had been entrusted, by Amedeo Duca d'Aosta, with the task of delaying the Allied advance from the north-west.

Amedeo Guillet never failed to repeat that "the Eritreans are the Prussians of Africa without the defects of the Prussians".

Amedeo Guillet's actions served their intended purpose and saved the lives of thousands of Italians and Eritreans who withdrew into the territory better known as the Amba Alagi.

Amedeo Guillet passed unhurt through the British forces who were caught unaware.

Amedeo Guillet then returned to the steps in order to recharge.

The shells that actually exploded, and the extreme noise of the guns firing at point-blank range, successfully disrupted the cavalry attack and dispersed Amedeo Guillet's troopers, ending the attack.

Amedeo Guillet himself had his horse shot from underneath him by Lt Simonds' orderly with a Boys anti-tank rifle.

Amedeo Guillet was one of the most famous Italian "guerrilla officers" in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia during the Italian guerrilla war against the Allies occupation of the Italian East Africa.

Amedeo Guillet informed King Umberto II of his intentions, but the King urged him to keep serving his country, whatever form its government might take.

On 4 November 2000, the day of the Festivity of the Armed Forces, Amedeo Guillet was presented with the Knight Grand Cross of the Military Order of Italy by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.

Amedeo Guillet is one of the most highly decorated people in Italian history.

Since 1974, Amedeo Guillet had been living in retirement in Kentstown, County Meath, Ireland although latterly he had spent his winters in Italy.

In 2003, Amedeo Guillet reunited with one of his old wartime adversaries when he invited Lt Kenneth Simonds, the British officer who had faced his cavalry charge in command of an artillery battery, to his farm in County Meath.