Camillo Ricchiardi


Giuseppe Camillo Pietro Richiardi or Ricchiardi was an Italian journalist, adventurer and soldier.

Early life

Born to Giovanni and Rosa, he attended the Modena Military Academy and the Cavalry School in Pinerolo, then he was commissioned as a Sottotenente in the Genova Cavalleria Regiment and later promoted to Tenente in the Piemonte Cavalleria Regiment. After six years of service he asked for a discharge and, thanks to his connections to Colonnello Girolamo Emilio Gerini, a military advisor in Siam, he moved there and took up the organization of the local army and the education of one of the King's sons. He also worked as a war correspondent, sending reports from China and Ethiopia. In 1895 he joined General Emilio Aguinaldo as a mercenary in his struggle for the independence of the Philippines from Spain.

Participation in the Anglo-Boer War

In 1899 he moved to South Africa and became a trusted friend of Boer General Louis Botha. Subsequently, Ricchiardi took command of the "Italian Volunteer Legion", a 200-men-strong outfit almost entirely composed by Italians, including immigrants in the Veld and ex-soldiers who had served in the Regio Esercito or under Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Under Ricchiardi's leadership this unit became distinguished for their close-knitness and skill in performing reconnaissance and other tasks required by asymmetric warfare. It was not only the bravery of the Italian Legion that made him famous, but also his charisma and chivalric attitude toward the enemy: for instance he used to send the personal belongings of British casualties to their families along with a letter of condolences. However, some of his men were full-blown rogues and at times Ricchiardi had to reinstate discipline with stern measures.
The first successful operation carried out by the Italian Legion was the capture of an armoured train near Chieveley, Natal. Among the passengers who were taken prisoners there was young journalist Winston Churchill, whose life Ricchiardi spared by pretending not to see him dumping his pistol and dum-dum ammo which had been declared unlawful on pain of death. Upon his return to England, Churchill did not mention having been captured by Italians.
During his stay in South Africa, Ricchiardi married Hannah Guttman, Paul Kruger's granddaughter, who he had met in the Pretoria Military Hospital while recuperating from serious leg wounds he had suffered at the battle of Tugela. Upon his return to Italy he was busy organizing pro-Boer committees and narrating his adventures in a series of books.

Later life

A keen businessman, he embarked in several ventures whenever he was not at war. One of his partners was Gastone Guerrieri, a grandson of King Victor Emmanuel II. He later moved to Argentina where he was appointed administrator of a colony of Boer refugees in Chubut.
In 1923 he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage depriving him of the use of various bodily functions. His last years were spent with his family in Casablanca, Morocco, where he died on 21 January 1940 and where his remains lay buried.