5ª Armata

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The 5ª Armata ( German  5th Army ) was an army of the Italian Army in the First and Second World Wars .

First World War

Map of the Italian Front (1915-1917)

When Austria-Hungary began a major offensive from Trentino on May 15, 1916, with the main thrust over the seven municipalities in the direction of Venice , this led to a crisis in the 1st Army there and then in the entire army due to insufficient reserves. Associations had to be hastily withdrawn from the Isonzo front, but also from Albania and Libya . These associations were placed under the command of the "Reserve Army" formed in Padua on May 22, 1916 , which was renamed the 5th Army on May 25. It consisted of the VIII., XX., XXII., XXIV. And XXVI. Corps with a total of eleven infantry and two cavalry divisions with a total strength of around 179,000 men. After the end of the offensive, the 5th Army gave up the units assigned to it and was thus disbanded on July 2, 1916. The army high command remained, however, in a smaller form and took care of rearward tasks.

After the German-Austro-Hungarian victory in the twelfth Isonzo battle and the Italian retreat to the Piave, the 5th Army was re-formed as a reserve army in November 1917 from the remains of the defeated 2nd Army . It formed new associations in the Po Valley and therefore had no operational significance. On June 1, 1918, the 5th Army was commanded by the 9th Army , which acted as an operational reserve on the Piavefront.

Second World War

The command of the 5th Army was reactivated in Tripoli , Libya , in 1939 and disbanded there in 1941.

The reorganization of the Italian armed forces in Libya began in 1937. Four new infantry divisions were set up in Italy and permanently stationed in Libya, where they reinforced the colonial troops there. The XX formed in Tripoli in May 1937. Corps received the infantry divisions 60 Sabratha and 61 Sirte , the XXI. , Which was set up in Benghazi in October 1937 . Corps the infantry divisions 62 Marmarica and 63 Cirene . Another four divisions of this type were to be transferred to Libya in the event of war, which happened in the autumn of 1939 when the infantry divisions 17 Pavia , 25 Bologna , 27 Brescia and 55 Savona arrived. Instead of requested armored and motorized divisions, four inferior divisions of fascist black shirts (1st to 4th) were received, of which the third was converted into the 64th Catanzaro Infantry Division . There were also the 1st and 2nd Libyan divisions.

Because of the new divisions it became necessary to form additional corps. In September 1939 the XXII was formed in Tobruk . Corps and in October 1939 in Homs the XXIII. Corps. For the western part of Libya ( Tripolitania ) the command of the 5th Army was established on September 7, 1939 in Tripoli. and the XXIII. Corps took over and in 1940 also received the staff of the X. Corps , which had arrived from Naples . For the eastern part of Libya ( Kyrenaica ) the command of the 10th Army was established in Benghazi on October 15, 1939 . The two armies with a total of around 215,000 soldiers were subordinate to the "High Command of the Armed Forces in North Africa" (Comando Superiore delle Forze Armate dell'Africa Settentrionale) created in April 1937 by the Governor General Italo Balbo .

The three historical provinces of Libya, with Tripolitania in the northwest

In June 1940 the 5th Army was structured as follows:

  • X Corps
  • 25th Infantry Division Bologna
  • 55th Savona Infantry Division
  • 60th Sabratha Infantry Division
  • XX. corps
  • 17th Pavia Infantry Division
  • 27th Infantry Division Brescia
  • 61st Sirte Infantry Division
  • XXIII. corps
  • 1st Black Shirt Division 23 March
  • 2nd Black Shirts Division 28 ottobre
  • Army Reserve: 2nd Libyan Division

At the time of the Italian entry into the war on June 10, 1940, the 5th Army with its three corps stood on the border of the French colony of Tunisia and on the coast of Tripolitania. After the end of the German campaign in the west and the defeat of France , there was no need to concentrate troops on the Tunisian border, which is why several units of the 5th Army went to the 10th Army. In the west, the 5th Army only had the Xth Corps with the four infantry divisions Pavia , Bologna , Brescia and Savona . In this form it was limited to the defense of the coast and some important points in Tripolitania. After the 10th Army had been crushed by British units as part of Operation Compass by the beginning of 1941 , the commands of both armies were dissolved in February 1941 and the remaining units were placed directly under the command of the armed forces in North Africa. From April 15 to September 5, 1941, the reactivated command of the 5th Army again took over the X and at times also the XX. Corps with which it protected the Libyan coast from Benghazi to the Tunisian border.

The command of the 5th Army was re-established in Florence on April 10, 1942 and, as part of the Army Group South, was given responsibility for central Italy and Sardinia . From November 13, 1942, the 5th Army and VII Corps landed on Corsica as part of the occupation of the previously free zone of France by the Axis powers . After the armistice of Cassibile and the disarmament of the Italian armed forces ( Axis case ), the 5th Army was officially disbanded in Florence on September 11, 1943.

Commander in chief

headquarters

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.

Web links