Massacre of the Acqui Division

Massacre of the Acqui Division
The island of Cephalonia
Location	Cephalonia, Ionian Islands, Greece
Coordinates	38°15′N 20°35′E / 38.25°N 20.59°E / 38.25; 20.59Coordinates: 38°15′N 20°35′E / 38.25°N 20.59°E / 38.25; 20.59
Date	21–26 September 1943
Attack type	Mass murder
Deaths	5,155 Italian POWs inc. Gen.
Perpetrators	1st Mountain Division 104th Jäger Division Gen. Hubert Lanz Maj. Harald von Hirschfeld

The Massacre of the Acqui Division, also known as the Cephalonia Massacre, was the mass execution of the men of the Italian 33rd Acqui Infantry Division by the Germans on the island of Cephalonia, Greece, in September 1943, following the Italian armistice during the Second World War. About 5,000 soldiers were massacred and others drowned. The Italians launched their invasion of Greece in October 1940, but by November, they were pushed back into Albania, and in April 1941 the Germans had to come to their aid. But following the decision of the Italian government to negotiate a surrender to the Allies in 1943, the German Army tried to disarm the Italians in what they called Operation Achse. Between 13 and 22 September 1943, on the island of Cephalonia, the Germans fought the Italians of the 33rd Acqui Infantry Division. A total of 1,315 were killed in battle, 3,000 were drowned when the German ships taking them to concentration camps were sunk by the Allies and 5,155 were executed by 26 September. It was one of the largest prisoner of war massacres of the war, along with the Katyn massacre of approximately 22,000 Poles by Soviets, and it was one of many atrocities committed by the 1. Gebirgs-Division.

The massacre provided the historical background to the novel Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, which later became a Hollywood film.

Since the fall of Greece in April–May 1941, the country had been divided in occupation zones, with the Italians getting the bulk of the mainland and most islands. The Acqui Division had been the Italian garrison of Cephalonia since May 1943, and consisted of 11,500 soldiers and 525 officers. It was composed of two infantry regiments (the 17th and the 317th), the 33rd artillery regiment, the 27th Blackshirt Legion, the 19th Blackshirt Battalion and support units. Furthermore, its 18th Regiment was detached to garrison duties in Corfu. Acqui also had naval coastal batteries, torpedo boats and two aircraft. Since 18 June 1943, it was commanded by the 52-year-old General Antonio Gandin, a decorated veteran of the Russian Front where he earned the German Iron Cross.