After the armistice of Cassibile the men under his command resisted German attempts at being disarmed and joined the Albanian partisans to fight against the Axis.

During World War II he was deployed in the North African theater, commanding the 101st Motorized Division "Trieste" from 10 December 1941 until 30 July of the following year.

German troops immediately moved to disarm them and occupy all Italian-held territory, succeeding in most cases due to the overall confusion and lack of orders.

On 11 September Germans entered Tirana and arrested the commander of Army Group East, general Ezio Rosi, extorting from him an order for Italian troops to cede heavy weapons to the Wehrmacht in exchange for the promise of safe conduct before replacing him with Renzo Dalmazzo, who was supportive of collaboration with the Axis.

On 28 September he met with Enver Hoxha, other leaders of the Albanian resistance movement and British liaison officers for the Special Operations Executive, and agreed to form the Italian Command Troops on the Mountain (C.I.T.a.M.

The large size of the Italian contingent created many logistical difficulties, forcing it to disperse into small groups and fight a guerrilla campaign.

However, in December of the same year, he was dismissed on order from the Lieutenant-General of the King, Prince Umberto di Savoia, after he had published an article calling for the democratization, depoliticization and downsizing of the Armed Forces, as well as expressing pro-republic sentiments.