4º Reggimento alpini paracadutisti
The 4th Alpini Parachute Regiment (it. 4º Reggimento Alpini Paracadutisti ) is an airborne association and a special unit of the Italian Alpini . Since the end of 2010 the regiment has been based in Montorio Veronese near Verona , before that it was stationed in Bolzano for a long time . Since 2013 it has been subordinate to the Army Special Forces Command . It is also part of the Special Forces Command ( COFS ) of the Italian General Staff .
assignment
The main tasks of the regiment are
- coup-like attacks against selected targets in the enemy hinterland;
- Deployments as a mobile reaction force in special situations;
- traditional missions as a mountain hunter .
Organization and equipment
The 4th Alpini Regiment is currently (as of July 2020) structured as follows:
- Regimental staff
- Headquarters and supply company
- Alpini Battalion Monte Cervino
- 1st Ranger Company (3 platoons of 4 groups each)
- 2nd Ranger Company
- 3rd Ranger Company
- 80th heavy company (anti-tank platoon, one heavy and one medium mortar platoon)
- Alpini Battalion Intra
- Training company (advanced training and specialization)
- Support company (telecommunications, transport, paramedics)
The platoons of the three ranger companies each have 36 soldiers in four groups of 8 soldiers each and in a platoon . The heavy company includes spike anti-tank missiles , Thomson-Brandt 120-mm mortars and 81-mm mortars, as well as forward observers .
The A2 version of the Beretta ARX-160 assault rifle, caliber 5.56 mm × 45, which has been the standard rifle in the operational companies since 2017, was developed for the regiments of the special forces command. The regiment also has STEYR AUG and M-4 assault rifles. In addition, semi-automatic Benelli M4 Super 90 repeating shotguns with magazine feed are used. The companies have, among other things, multi-purpose vehicles of the type VTLM “Lince” and armored personnel carriers of the type “Puma” .
Up until 2010 the regiment was mainly supported by the 4th Army Aviation Regiment “Altair” in Bolzano. Today, together with the 8th Airborne Pioneer Regiment “Folgore” ( Legnago ), it mainly uses the Verona military airfield , which serves the 46th Air Transport Brigade of the Air Force ( Pisa ) and army aviation units as a forward operating base .
Recruitment and training
The training center of the Army Special Forces Command in Camp Darby near Livorno is responsible for the recruitment and basic training of all Army Special Forces. A selection process is followed there by uniform basic training for special forces (Operatore Basico per Operazioni Speciali, OBOS) , including paratrooper training at the air landing school in Pisa . As a rule, less than half of the participants survive the basic training. It follows the 4th Alpini Regiment a divided into four sections, a total of 35-week special operations training for Ranger , a term from the United States Army Rangers came from. The course ends with amphibious training near Livorno, which lasts between two and four weeks. Special training followed later at the SERE , including at the German training center for special operations in Pfullendorf (there also Combat Medic, Close Quarter Battle, Advanced Operations Planning Courses ).
history
The 4th Alpini Regiment was formed in 1882 from the Aosta battalion as a mountain association for the northern section of the western Alps . Until 1909 it led the battalions Pinerolo, Aosta and Ivrea , then the battalions Ivrea, Aosta and Intra . During the First World War, the battalions fought together with reserve battalions of the regiment rather independently or within the framework of other formations. The Aosta battalion stood out in particular on Monte Vodice in 1917 and on Monte Solarolo in 1918.
During the Second World War, a few reserve units were added to the three actual battalions, including the Monte Cervino ski battalion . This battalion fought in late 1942 and early 1943 as part of the Alpine Corps on the Eastern Front, which was cut off from its own lines for two weeks in the course of a Soviet offensive. Behind the front, the battalion distinguished itself in the fight against superior tank formations, especially at Olkawaktka, Klinowij, Jahodnj, Iwanowka, Kolkos Selenj Iar and Rossosch . Only a fraction of the battalion survived the two-week uninterrupted fighting in severe frost, which nevertheless managed to break through the enemy perimeter and rejoin its own troops.
After the 4th Alpini Regiment had participated in the war of liberation against Nazi fascism in Italy as part of the Corpo Alpino Piemonte until 1945 , it became the basis for the development of the new Alpini Brigade Taurinense in 1946 with the Aosta, Saluzzo, Susa and Mondovi battalions . When the regimental level was abolished in 1975, the Taurinense took over the units of the 4th regiment directly. The Alpini Battalion Aosta took over the traditions of the 4th regiment and went to the mountain and winter combat school in Aosta as a training association .
In 1952 they began with the new Alpini Brigade Tridentina in Brixen ( South Tyrol ) with the installation of an Alpini - Paratroopers train . In the following years, such trains were also built in the other four Alpini brigades in Turin , Meran , Belluno and Udine . On April 1, 1964, these five platoons were combined in Bolzano to form the paratrooper company of the IV Mountain Corps . This company took on the nickname Monte Cervino in 1990 and carried on the traditions of the former ski battalion. In 1996 the company was expanded into the Alpini Parachute Battalion Monte Cervino , which has been under the 4th Alpini Regiment, which has been reactivated mainly for traditional reasons, since September 25, 2004. The Ranger Battalion Monte Cervino and its predecessors already consisted mainly of regular and professional soldiers as well as voluntary long-term service teams.
The Alpini paratroopers have taken part in numerous missions and exercises abroad in recent years, such as 1993–94 in Mozambique , 1997 in Bosnia and 1998 in the exercise “Strong Resolve” in Norway . They were also used in Iraq and Lebanon . The regiment was active with units in Afghanistan for several years .
After long deliberations, it was decided in November 2010 to move the association from Bolzano to Verona. In 2013, it was outsourced from the Mountain Troop Command (formerly IV Mountain Corps) and placed under the new Special Forces Command of the Army.
Web links
- Official website (Italian)
- 4th Alpini Paratrooper Regiment at specialoperations.com (English)
- Recent developments and plans (as of November 2011) (Italian; PDF; 1.2 MB)