Name Annibale Bergonzoli Commands held XXIII Corps | Years of service 1911 - 1941 | |
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Nickname(s) "barba elettrica" (Electric Beard or Electric Whiskers) Born 1 November 1884Cannobio, Italy ( 1884-11-01 ) Rank Generale di Corpo d'Armata(Corps General) Battles/wars Italo-Turkish WarItalo-Ethiopian WarWorld War I:Italian CampaignSpanish Civil WarWorld War II:North African CampaignBattle of BardiaBattle of Beda Fomm Similar People Richard O'Connor, Pietro Maletti, Rodolfo Graziani, Giuseppe Tellera, Archibald Wavell - 1st Earl Wavell |
Annibale Bergonzoli (1 November 1884 – 31 July 1973), nicknamed "barba elettrica", "Electric Whiskers", was an Italian Lieutenant General during World War I, the Spanish Civil War and World War II. In 1940 He commanded the defences of Bardia, Libya. In February 1941, after the disastrous Battle of Beda Fomm, Bergonzoli surrendered to Australian forces. He was held as a prisoner in India and the USA before being repatriated to Italy. Bergonzoli settled in his birthplace, Cannobio, and died there in 1973.
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Popular Culture

In the 1941 film, Love Crazy, starring Myrna Loy and William Powell, Powell's character refers to another character in the film, as looking like "General Electric Whiskers". This may be a reference to General Bergonzoli.
References
Annibale Bergonzoli Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA