4ª Armata

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The 4ª Armata ( German  4th Army ) was an army of the Italian Army in the First and Second World Wars .

First World War

Until 1914 there were four so-called designated army commands in Italy in Milan (1st), Genoa (2nd), Florence (3rd) and Bologna (4th), which had planning tasks in peacetime. In the event of war, army high command should be formed from these bodies and corps and other units and units subordinate to them. These commands were thus similar to the German army inspections .

The Italian plans in north-east Italy largely depended on the fact that the Trentino at that time belonged to Austria-Hungary and from there it was possible to cut off Italian troops in Friuli with an attack on Venice . Until the Bosnian crisis in 1908, the Italian defense strategy essentially provided for a concentration of troops in the Padua area, while cavalry and other more mobile units were left in the very north-east . The 3rd Army was intended to defend the Alpine border from the Stilfser Joch to Monte Peralba , the 1st and 2nd Armies were to hold the Piavel line and, if possible, recapture abandoned areas in the northeast by counterattacking them, while the 4th Army was to hold a reserve role was intended.

Map of the Italian Front (1915-1917)
Map of the Italian Front (1917–1918)

After the Bosnian crisis and the increasing tensions between Italy and Austria-Hungary, the 1st and 4th armies were assigned to the Trentino front arc, the 2nd and 3rd armies were assigned to the Piavel line, which was then used for the Italian war of aggression despite the danger from Trentino East to the Isonzo . The move forward of the 2nd and 3rd Army had the consequence that the 4th Army was assigned the Dolomite front from the Croda Granda at Passo Cereda in the southwest to the Kreuzbergpass in the northeast and then the Carnic Alps to Monte Peralba. In the east, an autonomous unit called Comando Zona Carnia joined up to the Kanin , then the 2nd Army followed in the Julian Alps .

The 4th Army Command was formed in October 1914 from the designated Army Command in Bologna. Until 1916 the army consisted of the I. and IX. Corps with a total of five divisions, at the end of 1917 the I., II., IX. and XXVIII. Corps with a total of nine divisions, at the end of 1918 finally the VI., IX. and XXX. Corps with a total of nine divisions. Compared to the 2nd and 3rd Armies, the 4th Army only had a limited offensive mission. Among other things, it was supposed to advance at Monte Piana on Toblach and over the Kreuzbergpass to San Candido and thus achieve a strategic success over the Pustertal , which did not succeed. In view of the Italian forces on other sectors of the front, the efforts in this strategically particularly important area were insufficient.

After the German-Austrian-Hungarian victory in the twelfth Isonzo battle and the Italian retreat to the Piave, the Dolomite front inevitably became untenable. Under enemy pressure, the 4th Army withdrew to the Monte Grappa massif in November 1917 . As a hinge and key position between the shortened mountain front and the Piave front in the lowlands, Monte Grappa had already played a role in the above-mentioned plans before the war. After the beginning of the war, a partially underground positioning system was created on the mountain for reasons of strategic caution. During the first Piave battle in November 1917 and the second Piave battle in June 1918, the 4th Army successfully defended the Grappa and the surrounding area against attempts to break through the lowlands with the aim of cutting off the Italian units on the Piave, stabbing them in the back and thus to decide the war. From October 24th to 30th, 1918, the 4th Army (also called Grappa Army) suffered heavy losses in unsuccessful Italian attacks on the grappa stick during the Battle of Vittorio Veneto . However, they tied Austro-Hungarian associations there, which could not be used in the lowlands. The 4th Army thus made a significant indirect contribution to the Italian breakthrough on the Piave.

Second World War

The command of the 4th Army was re-established in August 1939 in Rivoli near Turin . In 1940 the 4th Army stood on the border with France in the section from Aosta Valley to Monte Granero , in the south the 1st Army joined up to the Ligurian coast , behind these two armies the 7th Army was in reserve. These three armies formed the Army Group West , which had defensive tasks during the so-called seat war between Germany and France. When the German success became apparent during the campaign in the west , Benito Mussolini announced on June 10, 1940 that Italy would enter the war and on June 21, 1940 ordered the army group West to attack France. France signed the Compiègne armistice the next day and the armistice with Italy in Rome on the evening of June 24th.

Occupied France

In four days, the 1st Army with its I and IV Corps and the Mountain Corps achieved only minimal gains in terrain against bitter French resistance. The focus of the attack was on the Col du Mont Cenis and the Col de Montgenèvre as well as on the Little Saint Bernard , the rest of the mountain front was unsuitable for a war of aggression. After the dissolution of the 1st Army on July 31, 1940, the 4th Army extended its area of ​​responsibility to the entire border of Italy with Vichy-France , i.e. from the Aosta Valley to the sea. It also occupied smaller border areas in the French western Alps . Further to the west there was a demilitarized zone some 50 kilometers deep .

After the Allied landing in French North Africa ( Operation Torch ), the Axis Powers , essentially with German units, began on November 11, 1942 with the Anton company , i.e. with the occupation of the previously unoccupied zone of France. The 4th Army occupied parts of the country in south-east France, while other Italian units occupied Corsica at the same time . In their area, the 4th Army had the I., XV. and XXII Corps. Up until the beginning of September, preparations were made there for a possible Allied landing, which did not take place until August 1944 ( Operation Dragoon ). During the occupation in south-eastern France, the 4th Army made humanitarian merits because it absolutely refused to extradite Jews to German authorities and to the authorities of the Vichy regime. The latter were repeatedly forced to release arrested Jews.

After the Cassibile armistice was publicly announced on September 8, 1943, part of the army was disarmed and interned by German units ( case of the axis ). Other parts of the 4th Army were able to retreat to Italy, where it was officially disbanded on September 12, 1943 in Caraglio .

Commander in chief

  • Generale designato d'Armata Camillo Grossi (1938–1940)
  • Generale designato d'Armata Mario Vercellino (1940)
  • Generale designato d'Armata Alfredo Guzzoni (1940)
  • Generale designato d'Armata Mario Caracciolo di Feroleto (1940–1941)
  • Generale designato d'Armata Mario Vercellino (1941–1943)

literature

  • Vittorio Cogno: 400 anni di vita degli eserciti sabaudo e italiano - repertorio generale 1593 - 1993 . Edizioni Fachin, Trieste 1995.
  • Hans Jürgen Pantenius: Conrad von Hötzendorf's idea of attack against Italy. A contribution to coalition warfare in the First World War. (Diss. Munich 1982, 2 vol.) Böhlau, Cologne, Vienna a. a. 1984.
  • Giorgio Rochat, Giulio Massobrio: Breve storia dell'esercito italiano dal 1861 al 1943. Einaudi, Turin 1978.
  • Filippo Stefani: La storia della dottrina e degli ordinamenti dell'esercito italiano. (Ed. Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore Esercito-USSME, 3 vols.) USSME, Rome 1986.

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