Stemma



The Cosenza Exchange

The Cosenza Exchange

February 29, 2008

World War I Casualties of Soldiers Born In San Fili

The following is a list of soldiers who were born in San Fili and died while in service during World War I. The list, to the best of my knowledge is complete and is in alphabetical order. This list includes name of deceased soldier, his father's name, his birth date, his status and unit and a description of where and when he died. My thanks to Riccardo Bruno who researched and transcribed these records from the military archives in Italy. This list provides name, date and place and date of birth, father's name, medals awarded, Regiment, rank and date, location and date of death.


Casualties in World War I: Other Towns

There are other towns in Italy that have records of soldiers who died during World War I. I have listed them here.

About war deaths

I must make a note here regarding the soldiers that died of disease. Although the official records do not clarify what diseases these soldiers died from, it is interesting to note that the influenza epidemic of 1918 killed millions of people worldwide, including soldiers involved in the war. I have learned that many of these deaths occurred in the Italian Front. You will notice that some of the men died as a result of their ship sinking. After receiving help from members of the Gente Di Mare forum, I learned about the ship that sunk. I have put information about that ship below.

The Principie Umberto was built in 1909 as a passenger ship. The Italian government used it as a soldier transport on June 8, 1916 when the ship was torpedoed at Linguetta by the Austrian submarine U-5. 2,000 Italian soldiers were killed. The commanding officer of the U-5 submarine was George Ritter von Trapp. He is the same Captain von Trapp as father of von Trapp family singers, the subject of The Sound of Music movie. The soldiers who died as a result of this torpedo attack from Montalto Uffugo were:

San Fili citizens who died on this ship were:
Francesco Cribaro, age 23

The List