Italian general? - ID

[Orlov]

Hello,
I found three photo from Eastern Front - who can help in identification?

[Steen Ammentorp]

Hi,

It is difficult to say with no clear view of their faces, however I think that the German general in the upper and lower picture is Guderian. Doing a few searches in Google I found a photo from the book "Das war Guderian" by Horst Scheibert,

Guderian-Marras.png

Here a quick scan from my own copy (2nd edition, 1989, p. 96.). The caption says: "Am Dnjepr-Ufer bei Kopys (1.7.1941) mit dem Italienischen general Marras" This would of course be general Efisio Marras, the Italian military attaché to Germany. I think that the photo here is from the same occasion as the 3 others.

[Waleed Y. Majeed]

I think you are right. On your picture Marras has binoculars and goggles around his neck. This appears to match in picture 1 and 3.

Waleed

[Orlov]

Thanks Steen Ammentorp for fast identification!
More about Luigi Efisio Marras (Cagliari, 2 August 1888 - Rome, 29 January 1991) was an Italian general who held after IIWW the positions of Chief of Staff of the Italian Army and Chief of the Defence Staff.
As Military Attaché to Germany
In October 1936, Marras was chosen for the delicate task of being a military attaché in Berlin. In this capacity, he was responsible for the North European area and for relations with the Baltic states. Marras, who soon became known for his courteous nature, also wrote numerous reports on the German armaments situation, paying particular attention to the Wehrmacht and the training of personnel in the war academies. He gave an unusually accurate picture of the German war effort in terms of practical and pragmatic training, but also on human aspects and weaknesses such as pride and arrogance.
From July to November 1939, he was active in Rome and Libya and then transferred back to Berlin.
After 8 September in 1943, he was promoted to lieutenant general and then interned in Germany. On 31 March 1944, the German authorities handed him over to the fascists of the Republic of Salò in northern Italy and since then he was imprisoned in Verona then Gavi and finally in Alexandria, but in August of that same year, he managed to escape to Switzerland.

Luigi_Efisio_Marras.jpg