Memoir of Italian Aviator Giulio Cesare Graziani

[Edward]

From the First to the Last Day: 10 June 1940 – 5 May 1945
(August 22, 2022)
by Giulio Cesare Graziani. Translated by Lynne McGregor
143 pages - paperback & ebook
$28 US

available through amz.

"Giulio Cesare Graziani (1915-1998) was an aviator of the Regia Aeronautica who lived as a true protagonist of the Second World War: firstly as a fighter pilot, then as a pilot on bombardment aircraft in Ethiopia, launching air torpedoes in the Mediterranean against the Royal Navy, and finally as a pilot on bombardment aircraft, fighting against the forces of the III Reich, alongside the aviators of the RAF.

As well as his survival, owing to a prodigious combination of bravery and fortune, it is amazing the continuity with which he fought in the various theatres of war, from 10th June 1940 to the 5th May 1945, disregarding the wise advice from relatives and friends who, after such a glorious operational war activity, recommended him to accept a desk at the General Staff Headquarters or else, after the 8th September 1943, to find refuge in the Republic of San Marino where he had always lived before entering into the Aeronautical Division.

Notwithstanding being very seriously injured and destined to immobility in a wheelchair, he succeeded, to the great surprise of the hospital staff, in recovering and, miraculously, to return to fighting to then continue his career in the Military Aeronautical Division as a pilot of jet aircraft and officer of the General Staff also within NATO.

What he himself has narrated, in a concise and spontaneous manner, offers to the reader the possibility of understanding the dramatic conditions in which so many Italian aviators had to fight a war which many of them judged to be already lost, the dangers to which they were exposed daily and to consider their bravery and their generous self-denial.

It is a genuine and complete source which describes a very long operational period, thus constituting a historical document of particular interest helping to fill the pages of history which risked becoming lost, written with the blood of so many brave Italian aviators."

Con bombe e siluri fra le cannonate : avventure di guerra dal Mar Rosso al Mediterraneo
(Edizioni Aerosiluranti, Roma, 1978)
by Giulio Cesare Graziani
242 pages - paperback

[Orwell1984]

Thanks for posting this. Definitely a title I'm adding to my list.