Divisione “Vittorio Veneto”

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Coat of arms of the Vittorio Veneto division

Divisione “Vittorio Veneto” is the name of one of currently three divisional commands of the Italian army . The division's headquarters are in Florence . It is subordinate to a regional command authority (Comando Forze Operative Nord - COMFOP Nord) in Padua .

structure

In addition to a staff and support group, the divisional command has four brigades of various types stationed in northern and central Italy:

Name and story

The division is named after the Battle of Vittorio Veneto , which during the First World War at the end of October 1918 was mainly fought on the Piave River (therefore also called the Third Piave Battle ) and had the city of Vittorio Veneto (then Vittorio) as a decisive Italian operational target .

During the Cold War, Vittorio Veneto was the seat of the staff of the V Corps , which was the largest Italian corps at the time and led almost all major formations in the north-east of the country.After that, the city was the headquarters of the successor organization from 1997 to 2013, which is now the regional command COMFOP North is based in Padua. The Vittorio Veneto division is the operational arm of COMFOP Nord , and the division name introduced on July 1, 2019 also refers in a broader sense to the former headquarters.

In the Italian Army, the division level no longer existed from 1986 to 1992. At the end of 1992, the III. Corps in Milan (today NATO Rapid Deployable Corps - Italy ) the staff of the so-called 3rd Division was formed because the contributions of the individual NATO states to the Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) were based on the division level. In 2002, this divisional staff was dissolved and instead the three divisional staffs Tridentina in Bolzano , Mantova in Vittorio Veneto and Acqui in San Giorgio a Cremano near Naples were set up at regional command authorities , which were intended for planning tasks and the implementation of foreign missions. In the further course, the Acqui division staff was only available for foreign assignments, the other two had to supplement it with personnel and material as required. In 2018, two of the three divisional headquarters also took on the task of managing brigades.

The Mantova division command in Vittorio Veneto was the successor of an infantry brigade of the same name from World War I and then the 104th Mantova Infantry Division , which was set up in 1942 and which, after the armistice of Cassibile, was the last strong division “Kampfgruppe Mantova ” for the Allies' Italian campaign . From 1945 to 1986 it again existed as an infantry division and then until 1997 as a mechanized brigade Mantova of the aforementioned V Corps in northeast Italy, finally from 2002 to 2013 as a division headquarters.

As a replacement for the Mantova divisional headquarter, the Friuli divisional headquarter was formed in Florence in 2013 , which also succeeded a division ( Corsica ) and then a combat group ( Gothic position ) of the war of liberation from 1943 to 1945. From 2013, this Friuli Divisional Headquarters temporarily shared names and traditions with the Friuli Airmobile Brigade in Bologna in an unusual way , because the brigade was to be renamed soon. Since this renaming could not be done for political reasons, the name of the Friuli division was changed to Vittorio Veneto on July 1, 2019, also against the background of commemorative events for the First World War .

Coat of arms of the former Vittorio Veneto brigade

Since it has been customary in the Italian Army since 1939 to upgrade brigades to divisions after appropriate expansion while maintaining their name, history and traditions, or to downgrade the latter after the corresponding downsizing (or in the course of reactivations) according to the same scheme, the Vittorio Veneto tank brigade can be considered as the forerunner of the today's division apply. This brigade, consisting primarily of armored and mechanized cavalry units, existed from 1975 to 1991, had the headquarters of Villa Opicina near Trieste and belonged to the V Corps. To the original cavalry associations of the brigade departments (among battalions ) Piemonte Cavalleria (2 °) ( M113 ) in Villa Opicina, Lancieri di Aosta (6 °) in Cervignano del Friuli and Lancieri di Firenze (9 °) in Brogo Grotta Gigante (both on Leopard 1 ), the 8th Panzer Artillery Division Pasubio ( M109 ) in Banne near Trieste as well as a logistics battalion in Cervignano and various other support units. In 1986 she received the mechanized cavalry division Cavalleggeri di Saluzzo (12º) , the motorized 1st Infantry Battalion San Giusto (Trieste) and the 33rd Fortress Infantry Battalion Ardenza ( Fogliano Redipuglia ), which de facto became a mainly mechanized large unit from the Vittorio Veneto tank brigade . In 1991, despite the conflicts in neighboring Yugoslavia , the brigade staff was disbanded. In 2019, the subordinate units still included Piemonte Cavalleria (unchanged in Villa Opicina), Lancieri di Aosta in Palermo (both in Centauro ) and the 8th Regiments (in battalion strength) . Pasubio tank artillery regiment in Serre ( Panzerhaubitze 2000 ).

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mayor of Vittorio Veneto to rename the divisional command. qdpnews.it, July 3, 2019
  2. ↑ Details on the combat groups on esercito.difesa.it
  3. ↑ La Repubblica of September 18, 1991 on the dissolutions in the northeast during the beginning of the Yugoslav Wars