On 16 October 1900 he enrolled at the
Nunziatella Military School in
Naples, and in 1903 he entered the
Military Academy of Modena, graduating on 14 September 1906 with the rank of cavalry
second lieutenant 1906, assigned to the
8th Regiment "Lancers of Montebello", in
Pinerolo. On 23 September 1912 he married Clementina Coronedi, with whom he would have four children. On 22 July 1915, after Italy's entrance into the
First World War, he was assigned to the 142nd Infantry Regiment as commander of
machine gun platoon, and in the same year he was awarded a
Silver Medal of Military Valour after being wounded in combat on the
Karst Plateau. On 24 November 1915 he was promoted to
captain. He later became aide to the commander of the "Lancers of Montebello" Regiment and commander of the 4th squadron, on 15 November 1916 he was admitted to the
staff officer course in
Padua. In 1935-1936 Bitossi was in command of the 1st Mixed Regiment of the
102nd Motorised Division Trento, stationed in
Cyrenaica. During his stay in Libya, he worked on developing guidelines for the employment and training of Italian tank units. He also authored several articles and studies on armored vehicles, and collaborated in the drafting of the first doctrinal regulations for the use of tank units. In 1936-1937 he was commander of the Central School of Fast Troops in
Rome, and from 9 September 1937 he served as deputy commander of the
2nd Cavalry Division Emanuele Filiberto Testa di Ferro, with headquarters in
Ferrara. On 31 July 1938 he was promoted to
brigadier general, and on 4 November he left for
Spain, where he replaced General
Annibale Bergonzoli at the command of the
Assault Division Littorio of the
Corpo Truppe Volontarie, fighting in the
Spanish Civil War. On 10 March 1939 he was promoted to
major general for war merit and on 30 May 1939 he was wounded in action, after which he was repatriated. In April he wrote
Frammenti di una esperienza decennale di guerra motorizzata 1933-1943 ("Fragments of a decennial experience of motorized war 1933-1943"), an important report addressed to
crown prince Umberto and Generals
Ambrosio,
Roatta, Sartoris,
Cadorna and
Sorice, to report on the conditions in which his division had operated in the North African campaign. After a long convalescence due to an illness he had contracted for cause of service, on 3 September 1943 he was promoted to
lieutenant general and on 5 September he assumed command of the
II Corps in
Siena, just before the proclamation of the
Armistice of Cassibile. On 19 September he was captured by the Germans in
Vicenza and interned in Oflag 64/Z in
Schokken till May 1945. In June 1946 he retired from the army, refusing to swear allegiance to the
Italian Republic. He died in
Rome in 1951. ==References==