De Stefanis was born in
La Spezia on December 20, 1885. After enlisting in the
Royal Italian Army, in November 1903 he enrolled in the Royal Military Academy of Artillery and Engineers in
Turin, graduating with the rank of artillery
second lieutenant on September 28, 1905. After promotion to
lieutenant on August 28, 1908, he became
captain on February 1, 1915. In 1915 he married Miss Emanuela dei Visconti di Ozzano. He participated in the
First World War, receiving a
Bronze Medal of Military Valour for an action on the
Isonzo Front in September 1916 and being promoted to
major on June 16, 1917. On 29 October 1922 he became alternate judge at the territorial military court of
Rome, and on 20 April 1924 he was transferred to the General Staff. On March 31, 1926 he took up service as section head in the General Staff of the Royal Army, being promoted to
lieutenant colonel on June 30 of the same year. After promotion to
colonel on 29 October 1929, on 1 December 1932 he assumed command of the 8th Field Artillery Regiment based in
Verona, maintaining it until 1935. On 1 September 1937 he was promoted to
brigadier general, and a week later he was appointed commander of the artillery of the VII Army Corps in
Florence and head of the training office at the command of the Staff Officer Corps in
Rome. On 25 November 1938 he was given command of the artillery of the Armored Army Corps. After Italy entered
World War II on June 10, 1940, he was promoted to
major general on January 1, 1941, and given command of the
24th Infantry Division Pinerolo. In that same month the "Pinerolo" was transferred to the
Albanian front and, after the surrender of Greece in April, remained as an occupation unit in
Thessaly. In August of the same year he was replaced at the command of the "Pinerolo" Division by Major General
Licurgo Zannini, and on 14 August 1941 he was transferred to
Libya at the High Command of the Armed Forces in North Africa, and on the 25th of the same month he assumed command of the
102nd Motorised Division Trento. With this division he participated in the
siege of Tobruk and
Operation Crusader, until January 20, 1942, when he was given command of the
132nd Armoured Division Ariete which he led during the battles of
Gazala,
Tobruk,
Bir Hakeim and
Mersa Matruh. For his successes he was awarded, on May 26, 1942, the Officer's Cross of the
Military Order of Savoy. On June 26, 1942, De Stefanis replaced General
Ettore Baldassarre, killed by an air strike near Mersa Matruh, as the commander of the
XX Motorized Corps, of which "Ariete" was part. He left the command of the division Brigadier General
Francesco Antonio Arena. De Stefanis led the XX Corps during the
first battle of El Alamein, the
battle of Alam Halfa and the
second battle of El Alamein; on 14 November 1942 he was promoted to
lieutenant general. Following the defeat at El Alamein, the XX Corps retreated from Egypt and clashed with the Allies at
El Agheila before abandoning Libya and settling on the
Mareth line in
Tunisia. With the corps reduced to brigade size by the losses suffered at El Alamein, having lost all manoeuvring units, De Stefanis was replaced by General
Taddeo Orlando on February 4, 1943 and repatriated. From 3 May of the same year he assumed the post of Operations Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, replacing General
Carlo Vecchiarelli who had been transferred to
Athens in command of the
11th Army. From 19 to 31 May he temporarily served as Army Chief of Staff, after the departure of
Ezio Rosi and before the appointment of
Mario Roatta. In the afternoon of 8 September 1943, after the Allies had broadcast the news of the
Armistice of Cassibile, De Stefanis, standing in for the absent Roatta, participated in the Council of the Crown held in Rome which decided to confirm and comply with the armistice. On the following night, as German forces implemented
Operation Achse, he was among the high-ranking officers who fled Rome for
Ortona following Marshal
Pietro Badoglio and the royal family, reaching
Brindisi with the corvette
Baionetta. There, a few weeks later, he assumed command of the newly established LI Corps, a nominal command without any real subordinate troops. In June 1944 De Stefanis became head of Delegation A of the General Staff, supervising the organization of
Italian troops that would fight alongside the Allies as the Combat groups. On 5 October 1944 he was made available to the Ministry of War for special assignments. In 1956 De Stefanis was awarded the title of Grand Officer of the
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. He died in Rome on 11 December 1965. ==References==