3rd Reggimento bersaglieri
The 3rd Bersaglieri - Regiment is the highest excellent regiment of the Italian Army . It has been stationed in Teulada in Sardinia since 2009 and is subordinate to the Sassari Infantry Brigade . The regiment has a special relationship with the northern Italian metropolis of Milan , where it was based for a long time. As a mechanized infantry unit, it was subordinate to the Centauro tank brigade until 2002 , after which it was dissolved until 2009 to the Ariete tank brigade . In August 2008 the Italian Ministry of Defense ordered the regiment to be relocated to Sardinia as part of rationalization measures .
organization
The regiment has battalion strength and consists of a staff and supply company, three mechanized companies and a heavy company. It is equipped with wheeled infantry fighting vehicles of the Freccia type and armored vehicles of the Lince type, the heavy company with 120mm mortars and spike anti-tank guided weapons .
history
1861 to 1946
The 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment was created on December 31, 1861 as a service and disciplinary superior command for several operationally independent Bersaglieri battalions of the III. Corps in Milan. In 1871 it also took over the operational management of the four subordinate battalions and moved its headquarters to Parma . At the same time it contributed to the formation of the new 8th Bersaglieri Regiment with several units . Parts of the 3rd Regiment took part in operations in the Italian colonies in Africa in the following years .
During the First World War , the regiment fought in 1915 on the Col di Lana , on the karst plateau near Gorizia , in Vermegliano and on Monte Sei Busi, in 1916 near Selz, on Monte Sief , on the Kleine Colbricon and near Jamiano, in 1917 near Flondar, the Hermada, near Monfenera and on the Piave near Zenson and Ponte Pinzano, 1918 near Costalunga, Serravalle and in Cadore .
In 1935 and 1936 it took part with four battalions in the Italo-Ethiopian War , where it was used in both Tembi battles . In 1937 the newly established Ariete Armored Brigade (then Division ) was temporarily added . In 1939 it was combined with the 3rd Artillery Regiment on Horseback and the Cavalry Regiments Lancieri di Novara and Savoia Cavalleria to form the 3rd Rapid Division Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta and took part in the campaign against Yugoslavia in early 1941 , then from August 1941 as part of the Corpo di spedizione italiano in Russia (CSIR) on the war in the Soviet Union .
The campaign on the Eastern Front began for the regiment between the Dniester and the southern Bug , from where they advanced south to Dnepropetrovsk . At Petrikowka, where the CSIR took over 10,000 prisoners, there was greater success. In the subsequent fighting in the Donets Basin , the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment was involved in the conquest of Stalino on October 20, 1941 , where the railway junction was captured . On November 1, the regiment conquered the city of Rykowo in the fight against far superior Soviet forces , after which the advance came to a standstill because of the onset of winter. The focus of the Soviet counter-offensive, which began on December 25, was in the front section of the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment, which paid a terrible blood toll in the heavy fighting. By counter-attacks by the division, the front line was restored by December 28th. In the course of the summer offensive, the Italian troops advanced as far as the Don . At the end of July 1942, the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment took part in the heavy fighting near Serafimowitsch , which then dragged on until the end of August. The regiment fought in particular at Rassypnaya, Fatschewka, Ivanovka, Serafimotsch, Brobowski and Jagodnij. On December 11, 1942, the Soviet troops in the area of the 8th Italian Army began the counter-offensive " Operation Little Saturn ". The front of the 3rd Division with its 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment on the Don withstood the attacks until December 19, although Soviet units had already broken through elsewhere on the front and were in the rear of the Bersaglieri. The general withdrawal order came on December 19th, when other armies on the Don were already in the process of disintegration. The 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment still excelled in the retreat battles near Chertkowo, but was then almost completely destroyed by the end of the month. The Alpini dressings freed themselves by the end of January 1943 with heavy losses from the grip. In total, the 8th Italian Army lost 85,000 soldiers during the Soviet winter offensive. The few survivors of the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment returned to Italy by the end of March. In the course of the armistice of September 8, 1943, the regiment in Emilia-Romagna was disbanded.
1946 to 2009
It was created again on July 1, 1946 in Milan , u. a. with the Goito battalion , which fought as part of the Legnano division from 1943 to 1945 on the side of the Allies in Italy and a. at Poggio Scanno. In 1951 the regiment became part of the new Centauro tank brigade , which in the following year became a tank division of III. Corps in northwest Italy grew up. When this division was reorganized in 1975 as part of an army reform, the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment became the headquarters of the new 3rd Bersaglieri Brigade Goito . In addition to an artillery and a tank battalion, this led the Bersaglieri battalions Palestro (6th), Bezzecca (10th) and Poggio Scanno (18th). The latter also took over the troop flag of the regiment and was involved with parts in a peace operation in Lebanon from 1982 to 1984 (a company to the 2nd Bersaglieri Battalion Governolo of the Legnano Brigade ). In August 1992, the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment was re-established mainly for reasons of tradition and took over the 18th Bersaglieri Battalion Poggio Scanno . In 1993/1994 the association was in action within the framework of UNOSOM II in Somalia . With the dissolution of the Centauro tank brigade in 2002, the regiment went to the remaining Ariete tank brigade , but was gradually reduced in size in the following years until finally only the regimental staff remained. In August 2008, the Ministry of Defense ordered the transfer of the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment from Milan to Teulada in Sardinia , as well as the takeover by the Sassari Infantry Brigade . One reason for this measure was that there were no military and above all no economic necessities for the regiment to continue to exist in northern Italy, while numerous volunteers from structurally weak Sardinia have to serve on the mainland. In addition, for reasons of tradition, there was an interest in maintaining the regiment.
today
In the south-west of Sardinia there has been a military training area near Capo Teulada since the 1950s , which armored army units from all over Italy regularly use for exercises. In the 1970s, the 1st Panzer Regiment with a site command and a mixed tank battalion was (re) set up for its administration and as a small opposing force . In the course of the transfer, the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment took over this mixed battalion , to which a Bersaglieri company already belonged in the past. Further restructuring and expansion is in progress. The first tank regiment remains in existence as a purely administrative command for the time being.
In September 2011, the regiment and the brigade were sent to Afghanistan for a month-long mission . The 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment took over the leadership of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Herat and was involved in the reconstruction of the civilian part of Herat Airport . Parts of the regiment were temporarily sent to Libya at the end of 2017 .
