3ª Divisione celere “Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta”

3rd fast division “Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta”
coat of arms
active	November 1, 1934 to September 15, 1943
Country
Armed forces	Royal Italian Army
Type	Motorized division
structure	See outline
Installation site	Milan
Second World War	Balkan Campaign (1941) , German-Soviet War , Middle Don Operation , Battle of Stalingrad
Commanders
list of	Commanders

The 3ª Divisione celere “Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta” ( German  3rd rapid division “Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta” ) was a major military unit of the Royal Italian Army . The fast division , established in Milan in 1934 , took part in the Balkan campaign (1941) in World War II and was then part of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia during the German-Soviet War . In the winter of 1942/43, large parts of the division during the "Operation Little Saturn"destroyed. The survivors returned to Italy in early 1943. In September 1943, the division was disbanded after the Cassibile armistice .

Division history

The history of the division goes back to the 3rd Cavalry Division established in 1887 , whose traditions after the First World War III. Cavalry Brigade took over. On November 1, 1934, the 3rd rapid division was set up in Milan and named after the first Duke of Aosta . The division became the III. Subordinate to cavalry brigade, an artillery regiment, a light tank division and smaller units. On February 1, 1938, the brigade level was omitted, so that the corresponding regiments of the division were directly subordinated. These were the mounted cavalry regiments Savoia Cavalleria and Lancieri di Novara , the 3rd Bersaglieri regiment on bicycles and, as division troops, the motorized 3rd fast artillery regiment , the III. light armored division "San Giorgio", the armored LXVII. Bersaglieri Battalion and smaller units. On June 10, 1940, the quite heterogeneous fast division had a strength of 7,310 men with 2,154 horses, 418 vehicles, 24 artillery tractors , 539 motorcycles and 2,500 bicycles. It had 60 tanks of the type L3-33 or L6 / 40 as well as Semovente 47/32 - tank destroyers , 48 cannons, of which 24 75-mm cannons, 16 20-mm anti-aircraft cannons and eight 47-mm anti-tank cannons as well as 249 machine guns .

Although Italy had entered the Second World War in June 1940, the division had its first use only in April 1941 during the Balkan campaign . From March 30, 1941, the division had to surrender its 3rd rapid artillery regiment, which was moved to North Africa. All that remained for the Balkan campaign was a drawn artillery division. In July 1941 the division was able to re-establish its artillery regiment as a horse-drawn anti-tank unit with drawn artillery units from the other two fast divisions.

The division was transferred to the Eastern Front in August 1941 and now formed the rapid component of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia . Initially, the Italian corps formed the reserve of the 11th Army and was involved in the capture of Stalino . In March 1942, the division lost the cavalry regiments "Savoia Cavalleria" and "Lancieri di Novara", their drawn artillery regiment and the tank division, with which a mounted combat group was formed (Raggruppamento Truppe a Cavallo) . In return, she received the 6th Bersaglieri regiment, the 120th motorized artillery regiment and a tank division for the remaining 3rd. The 3rd fast division was now considered a motorized division.

In the summer of 1942 the division covered the left flank of the 6th Army during the advance on Stalingrad and fought in particular near Serafimowitsch . Subsequently, the division lay as part of the newly established Italian 8th Army between the Hungarian 2nd Army and the Romanian 3rd Army on the Don . The division lost more than half of its soldiers in “ Operation Little Saturn ” in December. She was then converted into a combat group and remained in service until February 1943. The survivors were then transferred back to Italy in March 1943.

After the armistice between the Allies and the Kingdom of Italy, the division was finally disbanded in Imola in September 1943 .

Commanders

List of commanders from 1934 to 1943:

• Generale di Divisione Francesco Guidi
• Generale di Divisione Sebastiano Murari Dalla Corte Brà
• Generale di Divisione Mario Berti
• Generale di Divisione Giovanni Mass
• Generale di Corpo d'Armata Mario Marazzani
• Generale di Divisione Ettore De Blasio

literature

• George F. Nafziger "Italian Order of Battle: An organizational history of the Italian Army in World War II"

Web links

• Details on regioesercito.it