80ª Divisione fanteria “La Spezia”

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80th Infantry Division "La Spezia"

active November 15, 1941 to May 14, 1943
Country Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946)
Armed forces Royal Italian Army
structure See outline
Installation site Pisa
Second World War Tunisian campaign
Commanders
list of Commanders

The 80ª Divisione fanteria “La Spezia” ( German  80th Infantry Division “La Spezia” ) was an infantry division of the Italian army during the Second World War . It was set up in November 1941 as an airborne infantry division and was to play an important role in the planned invasion of Malta ( Operation Hercules , Operazione C.3). After the company's cancellation, the Italian Army Command moved the division to Libya in October 1942 and incorporated it into the Italian 1st Army . In North Africa, the infantry division then took part in the Tunisian campaign. On May 13, 1943, the division capitulated to the Allied forces.

Division history

The origins of the division lie in the Spezia infantry brigade and its two infantry regiments 125 and 126, which were set up on March 1, 1915 in Massa and Pisa . The brigade was deployed in the First World War under the command of various divisional headquarters mostly on the middle Isonzo , most recently in Macedonia as part of the 35th Division. Immediately after the war, the brigade and numerous other mobilization units were disbanded. An 80th division existed as a mountain division from September 20, 1918 to April 30, 1919.

From 1938, the weak, binary (infantry) divisions were introduced in Italy, i.e. divisions with only two infantry regiments, which were the sister regiments of the earlier infantry brigades. On November 15, 1941, the 80th La Spezia Infantry Division was established in Pisa with the two infantry regiments 125 and 126, with the 80th artillery regiment and other division troops . It was given the addition of aviotrasportabile or "air transportable". In this configuration, it lacked the Black Shirt Legion, which was generally assigned to replace the third infantry regiments, and the artillery regiment received 65 mm mountain guns . Because of the planned airborne mission in Malta, the division was moved from Pisa to Bari in June 1942 , after which it was canceled on October 1, 1942 by plane to Libya , where it was deployed between Marsa el-Brega and El Agheila . After the Axis' defeat in the Second Battle of El Alamein , it took part in retreat battles as far as the Mareth Line from December 1942 , in January 1942 in particular at al-Chums and az-Zawiya, and then in the following February on the Mareth Line in the south Tunisia . There the division was involved in the failed German-Italian counter-offensive in March 1943, as a result of which one had to retreat to the Akarit Line to avoid being encircled. On April 13, 1943, the remnants of the division were at Enfidaville . After the collapse of the northern front, the remnants of the division were attacked from two sides from May 9, 1943 and completely wiped out by May 13, 1943. The 80th La Spezia Infantry Division was officially disbanded on May 14, 1943.

structure

  • 125th La Spezia Infantry Regiment
  • 126th La Spezia Infantry Regiment
  • 80th Artillery Regiment
  • CCCXLIII Artillery Division
  • XXXIX. Bersaglieri Battalion
  • LXXX. Machine gun battalion
  • LXXX. Anti-tank battalion
  • LXXX. Engineer Battalion
  • smaller units

Commanders

Web links

literature

  • Vittorio Cogno: 400 anni di vita degli eserciti sabaudo e italiano - repertorio generale 1593 - 1993 . Edizioni Fachin, Trieste 1995.
  • George F. Nafziger: Italian Order of Battle: An organizational history of the Italian Army in World War II (Vol. 2). Nafziger Collection, West Chester 1996.