1ª Divisione fanteria “Superga”

1st Infantry Division "Superga"
	; ; coat of arms
active	1934 to May 1943
Country
Armed forces	Royal Italian Army
Type	Mountain Infantry Division
structure	See outline
Installation site	Turin , Bizerte
Second World War	Western campaign , Tunisian campaign
Commanders
list of	Commanders

The 1ª Divisione fanteria “Superga” ( German 1st Infantry Division “Superga” ) was a major military association of the Royal Italian Army . The division was formed in Turin and took part in the Italian invasion of France in June 1940 , and then in the war in North Africa.

Division history

The history of the division goes back to the origins of the division level in Sardinia-Piedmont , in particular to the army reform of 1774 under Viktor Amadeus III. (I Dipartimento / I Ala) and the Turin Territorial Military Division, established in 1822, which had to form the 1st Infantry Division in the event of mobilization. This was activated several times in the Italian wars of independence between 1848 and 1866 and each subordinate to two brigades. At the beginning of the First World War , the 1st Infantry Division led the infantry brigades "Parma" (49th / 50th Infantry Regiment) and "Basilicata" (91st / 92nd Infantry Regiment) as a square division , towards the end of the war the brigades "Umbria" ( 53./54. InfRgt) and "Emilia" (119./120. InfRgt). In the course of the army reform of 1926, the 1st became a triangular division consisting of the 1st Infantry Brigade with the infantry regiments 90th "Salerno", 91st "Basilicata" and 92nd "Basilicata", plus the 5th field artillery regiment and other division troops . In 1934 the division was given the nickname " Superga " as a reminder of the Battle of Turin (1706) . In 1939, as part of a further army reform, the so-called binary divisions became standard, i.e. divisions consisting of only two infantry regiments. As a rule, these divisions and the two sister regiments also received the names of the brigades to which the regiments had belonged until 1926. In the case of the 1st and a few other divisions, the name of 1934 was left. The division retained the two infantry regiments of the Basilicata Brigade , which was set up in 1883 and had already led it in the First World War.

During the Second World War , the 1st Infantry Division “Superga” took part in the Italian invasion of France in the Alps as part of the western campaign on June 10, 1940 . Against bitter resistance, the division, like the rest of the Italian divisions, was only able to achieve minimal gains in terrain. After the armistice in Rome, she was moved back to Italy. In 1942 she was finally relocated to Sicily and was to take part in the invasion of Malta . After Operation Hercules was canceled , she was finally transferred to Tunisia in November 1942 and assigned to the 5th Panzer Army. To her support she was mostly accompanied by the "50 Special Brigade Imperiali", which was equipped with Semovente 75/18 assault guns. Between December 1 and May 1943, she was involved in heavy fighting with the Allied troops over Sousse and Tunis as part of the Tunisian campaign. The division finally surrendered to the British forces on May 12, 1943.

structure

Structure of the 1st Infantry Division "Superga" as a binary division based on the Brigade "Basilicata". The Division was scheduled to fight in the mountains and had instead of artillery - tractors pack animals to transport their guns . Italian mountain infantry divisions of this type should not be confused with the Alpini, who are specially trained for combat in the mountains .

91st Infantry Regiment "Basilicata" (3 battalions)
92nd Infantry Regiment "Basilicata" (3 battalions)
5th artillery regiment "Superga" (2 motorized divisions 100 mm / L17, 2 divisions 75 mm / L13, 1 flak division 20 mm)
1st Mortar Battalion (81 mm)
1st PaK Battalion (47 mm / L32)
1st Security Battalion
101st Engineer Battalion
Smaller units, including supplies, paramedics, telecommunications, carabinieri, field post

The flaka division was directly subordinate to the division commander when deployed.

Commanders

Generale di Divisione Curio Barbasetti di Prun (1939–1940)
Generale di Divisione Dante Lorenzelli (1940)
Generale di Divisione Ferdinando Gelich (1943)

Succession

The 5th Artillery Regiment “Superga” still exists from the former division. It is stationed in Portogruaro , northern Italy , equipped with MLRS rocket launchers and is under the army's artillery command .

literature

Philip S. Jowett: The Italian Army 1940-45 (1): Europe 1940-1943. Osprey, Oxford - New York, 2000, pp. 5-6
Vittorio Cogno: 400 anni di vita degli eserciti sabaudo e italiano - repertorio generale 1593 - 1993 . Edizioni Fachin, Trieste 1995.

Web links