4th Reggimento artiglieria controaerei “Peschiera”
The fourth anti-aircraft missile regiment Peschiera (pronounced Peskiëra , to the fortress of Peschiera del Garda ) is an air defense - Association of the Italian Army , based in Mantua . The regiment is equipped with the SAMP / T missile system and is subordinate to the army's anti-aircraft command in Sabaudia .
For a long time the 4th and 5th anti-aircraft regiments with Hawk missiles formed an anti-aircraft missile belt in the north Italian Po plain .
history
From the beginning to the Second World War
In 1915, the 13th Field Artillery Regiment in Rome formed a first anti-aircraft unit. During the First World War , the number of anti-aircraft batteries increased to 69. In 1918 five units were formed at regimental level, to which the history of the 4th regiment can also be traced. By 1920 these units and associations were largely disbanded.
In 1920 an anti-aircraft defense school was established at Nettuno , and in 1926 there were temporary twelve anti-aircraft associations for the corps of the individual army corps , including the 4th anti-aircraft association in Peschiera del Garda . The 4th Flak Cartillery Regiment was formed from this association in Mantua . It initially consisted of two battalions ( departments ), which were equipped with the anti-aircraft gun 75/46 Mod. 34 from 1934 , later with the 90/53 Mod. 39 .
The territorial air defense was taken over by militia units. In the army, there were usually anti-aircraft units in every division , which were equipped with light flak of the 2 cm FlaK Scotti and Breda 20/65 mod. 35 were equipped. The heavy army anti-aircraft guns remained concentrated in five regiments in Vercelli (1st), Naples (2nd), Florence (3rd), Mantua (4th) and Padua (5th). Their battalions should be assigned to individual armies or corps.
The 4th Regiment moved two battalions to Marsala in Sicily and a third battalion to Rome to defend the capital during the Italian colonial war in East Africa and because of the associated British-Italian tensions . In 1938 and 1939 parts of the regiment took part in the final phase of the Spanish Civil War. During the Second World War , individual battalions of the regiment were deployed in the various theaters of war with Italian participation. From 1942 to 1943 the regiment operated in the Soviet Union , where it was eventually used against battle tanks and received an award for this. The 4th AA Regiment was disbanded in September 1943 after the Cassibile armistice .
Re-establishment and Hawk era
On May 24, 1947 it was re-established in Albenga as the 4th light anti-aircraft regiment of the Army Air Defense Command and then came in July 1947 with its three battalions on 75/56 to Cervignano del Friuli . It existed in this form until June 30, 1951, when it surrendered its battalions to the division troops of three divisions. On the following July 1, 1951, it was set up as the 4th heavy anti-aircraft regiment on 90/53 in Riva del Garda , where it remained until November 1955. After being stationed in Verona for almost 13 years , it returned as the 4th anti-aircraft missile regiment with new Hawk missiles to its old location in Mantua, where it is still located today.
From 1964, the two anti-aircraft regiments 4 and 5 received a total of 16 Hawk batteries for their two battalions each, which were set up decentrally:
The 16 Hawk positions in northern Italy in their totality roughly formed a rectangle that stretched from Lombardy in the west to Friuli in the east. A frontal attack from the east would have come across deeply staggered positions. Bypasses from the north or south had to fend off the positions along the longer, west-east facing sides of the imaginary rectangle. The southern flank was formed by a line of position of the 1st Battalion / 4th which branched off to the south near Venice and ran along the Adriatic coast to Rimini . Regiment as well as additional anti-aircraft units secured. The 2nd Battalion of the 4th Regiment provided the positions in the western part of the aforementioned rectangle. Up until the end of the 1970s there was the tower position San Fiorano (Site 12) of the 7th battery in Lombardy, which was the only one in NATO not to face east, but west; it was supposed to repel attacks behind the northern Italian defense system. In the area of this hawk belt, which was intended for low to medium altitudes, the Italian Air Force stationed the twelve batteries with the Nike Hercules missile system of the 1ª Brigata Aerea intended for high altitudes . This meant that all operational Nike and Hawk units were concentrated in the north and northeast of Italy, where the focus of operations in Italy was expected in a war with the Warsaw Pact states . The operational management of the Nike and Hawk units lay with the Italian Air Force.
Almost without exception, the Hawk deployment positions were set up according to a uniform NATO standard. They enabled a partially overlapping coverage of northern Italy. In addition, they were usually positioned in the vicinity of particularly important military facilities such as command centers, military airfields or special ammunition depots (including the Pluto site ). In the case of the 4th regiment, these were the military airfields of Cervia and Rimini (2nd, 3rd battery / I.) And the airfields of Piacenza and Ghedi (7th, 8th battery / II.). In contrast to the stationary Nike Hercules, the Hawk units could and should also be relocated to different field positions. Exercises with a sharp shot were carried out in Salto di Quirra in Sardinia .
In central and southern Italy there was normally no area-wide air defense. Here, interceptors were primarily responsible for air defense. In some cases, military airfields in particular were protected by air defense ( Spada ). The air defense systems of warships could also make a contribution. The city of Rome benefited from the proximity of the Army's anti-aircraft school in Sabaudia. The permanent staff of the two Hawk regiments were also trained here.
In the case of the Hawk missiles, measures to increase combat value were carried out several times , for example between 1975 and 1977 (HELIP, Improved Hawk ) and then 1983 (PIP), which made it possible to improve data transmission, reaction times and ECM resistance . In 1985 the battalion command posts received the AN / TSQ 73 Missile Minder combat control system , which gave the entire missile system a very high level of efficiency.
As part of an army reform, regiments of battalion strength were introduced from 1992 onwards. From the four battalions mentioned above, the air defense regiments 2 in Ravenna, 3 in Rovigo, 4 in Mantua and 5 in San Donà di Piave, which basically changed little. In 1996 the 2nd regiment was disbanded, then the 3rd in 2001. The 5th regiment came to Rovigo in 2001. In 2011, the 4th anti-aircraft regiment began to introduce the SAMP / T, with which only this unit is equipped in the army. At the same time the dissolution of the 5th anti-aircraft regiment began and with it the final retirement of the Hawk. The positions mentioned in the list above are no longer used.
Exercises and missions
The exercises and missions that the 4th Air Defense Regiment has completed since 1990 include:
- From 1995 to 1996 batteries were moved to central and southern Italy during Operation Deny Flight .
- From 1998 to 1999 parts of the regiment were transferred to Apulia during Operation Allied Force .
- In April 2002 he took part in the Spring Flag exercise , moved to Grosseto in Tuscany.
- In May 2002 partial relocation to Pratica di Mare during the NATO summit there.
- 2003 and 2004 partial relocation to Rome for political summit meetings.
- April 2005 Partial relocation to Rome for the funeral of Pope John Paul II and the subsequent conclave .
- In January 2006 partial relocation to Piedmont because of the Olympic Winter Games .
- In June 2016 a SAMP / T battery was relocated to Turkey ( Operation Active Fence )
