Arditi (stormtroopers)

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Troop emblem introduced in 1917. The ambiguous abbreviation FERT also occurs in the Order of Announcements .

Arditi (from ital. Ardito , dt. "Bold", "brave") was the name of the Italian stormtroopers that emerged as a sub-genus of infantry during the First World War . After the war, right-wing and left-wing extremist paramilitary organizations developed from them .

history

First World War

As on other fronts of the First World War, it was also recognized in Italy that in trench warfare the conventional principles of deployment and means of the infantry were usually insufficient to achieve significant success. Machine guns and barbed wire barriers as well as the mountainous front area greatly favored the defenders, which is why even small gains in terrain could only be achieved with considerable sacrifice.

The idea of ​​using specially trained shock troops to prepare for infantry attacks was adopted by the German and Austro-Hungarian armies . The Italian field intelligence service reported on their new assault units in March 1917.

The designation ardito was given to individual frontline soldiers as a special distinction from 1916 onwards. Subsequently, the name was used in the formation and training of the first Italian raiding parties in Sdricca di Manzano near Udine . As a kind of independent sub-genus of infantry, the Arditi formally emerged on July 29, 1917. Its members were mostly volunteers who received better equipment, training, supplies and pay than the other infantry. They only stayed at the front during their short, often very loss-making missions, so they did not have to stay in trenches all the time . In addition, trucks were also available for them to move . The disciplinary standards were far less strict than in the rest of the army. In contrast to the standard at the time, the uniforms had open collars . The color of arms of Arditi was black, as an emblem they had a dagger or a Gladius . Because of their achievements on the one hand and because of their preferential treatment on the other, there was often a very conflicting relationship with soldiers from other branches of the army . The new force was organized into companies and then battalions . In this context, the development largely corresponded to that of the German storm battalions . As a rule, the Italian assault battalions ( reparti d'assalto ) were assigned to the army corps and also had their numbering. In other cases they were directly subordinate to individual army commands . In addition, were in the regiments small reconnaissance and combat patrols in the infantry platoon strength created. These "regimental arditi" corresponded more to the original raid troop concept with its limited effectiveness.

In mid-1918, two assault divisions emerged from 18 assault battalions, which were combined into one assault corps ( Corpo d'armata d'assalto ) . In October 1918, the 1st Division essentially decided the Battle of Vittorio Veneto when it held the bridgehead in Sernaglia on the left bank of the Piave on October 27 and expanded it until October 29.

fascism

At the end of the war, Italy had around 40 assault battalions, which were disbanded in 1919 and 1920 as part of the demobilization . A very large number of their former relatives could no longer cope with civil life and became politically radical. One part was a right-wing radical organization called Arditi , which helped Gabriele D'Annunzio to occupy the city of Fiume in 1919 and then took part in the fascist seizure of power . Other former Arditi tended towards communism and also anarchy and resisted the fascist terror of the 1920s by force of arms. They formed the Arditi del Popolo organization . Between 1943 and 1945, this name was adopted by some groups of the Resistance .

Further development

In the interwar period there were no more Arditi units in the Italian army . The extremist activities of many war veterans induced the monarchist military leadership to forego such units altogether. It was not until September 1942 that a 10th Arditi regiment was set up as a commando force , which again carried out special operations behind enemy lines until September 1943. The Italian Air Force also had special units called Arditi during World War II .

Today's 9th Paratrooper Assault Regiment Col Moschin , a special unit of the Italian Army, is still in the tradition of the Arditi of World War I, but no longer bears their name. The name ardito is only used today for soldiers who have completed a special hunting course ( corso di ardimento ).

literature

  • Giorgio Rochat: Gli Arditi della Grande Guerra: origini, battaglie e miti. LEG, Gorizia 2006, ISBN 8886928025 .

Web links

Commons : Arditi  - collection of images, videos and audio files