Arconovaldo Bonaccorsi

Arconovaldo Bonaccorsi (Bologna 1898–Rome 2 July 1962), was an Italian Fascist soldier, politician and lawyer. He played (with the nickname "Conde Rossi") a prominent role in organising the Falangist conquest of the island of Majorca during the Spanish Civil War.

Born in Bologna in 1898, Bonaccorsi was a fanatical and idealistic fascist from the first moment he met Benito Mussolini after World War I. In 1922 participated to the March on Rome as leader of the fascists from Bologna. He graduated at the prestigious Universita di Bologna as attorney in 1928, and soon started to work as a lawyer defending Italian fascists. In the early 1930s he married and had 3 children.

His moment of glory came when Mussolini sent him to the Balearic Islands at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. In Majorca, having arrived in August 1936, he was known as 'Conde Rossi', a name that derived from his red beard. There, he was soon able to "galvanize" the nationalists who obtained a huge victory at Manacor against the Republicans thanks to him.

Gilberto Oneto, an Italian journalist, wrote the following about Bonaccorsi and the Italians in Majorca:

The nationalist revolt, suppressed in all of Catalonia, has happened successfully only in the island of Mallorca, but the Republicans are going to occupy it. The Italian government has a strong interest (not just strategic) for the Balearic Islands. Action is needed urgently. Need someone skilled enough, smart, determined and ruthless, and they remember the beefy bolognese squadrista Bonaccorsi. On August 26, 1936 he landed at Palma, calling himself Count Aldo Rossi ("Conde Rossi" or el Conde de Leon y Son Servera for Spanish). Resolutely takes command of the disorganized local nationalist forces, puts together 2.500/3.500 men between soldiers, legionaries of Tercio, volunteers, soldiers of the Guardia Civil and Falange, and deals with strong decision against the Republican forces (6000 to 10,000 men) landed 10 days prior to Manacor, commanded by General Alberto Bayo, a theorist of guerrilla warfare and the future "ideal teacher" of Fidel Castro. With the support of the Italian airforce on September 3 Bonaccorsi defeats the Republicans who begin a disastrous retreat that ended on day 12. After the victory of Manacor Bonaccorsi appoints himself military commander and inspector general of all the troops, creating the "Dragones de la muerte". On 20 September with 500 men he landed in Ibiza, camouflaged. He also takes Formentera and Cabrera. Only Minorca remains in the hands of the Reds, protected by a secret agreement between Italy and England. Bonaccorsi then starts to do the "pacificacion" of Majorca, "cleaning" the island from marxists. George Bernanos describes the nearly 3,000 executions of communists done by Bonaccorsi's Dragones de la muerte, but he did not see the early violence (nearly 1,500 nationalists and priests killed only in Majorca) of the marxists done before the arrival of Bonaccorsi. In reality, the Bonaccorsi murders were only 700 (or 1500, as reported by the Italian consul in the Balearic islands), but this was enough to create huge complaints from France and England (even if in Majorca the civil war deaths were in percentage nearly one tenth of those happened in continental Spain). The pressures were such, that he was forced -by diplomatic missions- to be returned to Italy on December 23, 1936. Additionally, Mussolini did not like the Bonaccorsi boasting that Italy was to remain forever in Majorca.

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