Granatieri di Sardegna

Coat of arms of the Brigade
Granatieri di Sardegna

The Granatieri di Sardegna ( German " Grenadiers Sardiniens " ) are a guard force of the Italian army . Its origins lie in a regiment of guards set up in Turin in 1659, which consisted of grenadiers from 1815 , and in a regiment raised in Sardinia in 1744 . The two units were combined within the infantry as grenadier regiments with their own numbering to form the Brigade Granatieri di Sardegna . The headquarters of the brigade is now in Rome .

assignment

The brigade is subordinate to the Acqui Divisional Command in Capua near Naples and mainly performs security tasks in Rome and central Italy. If necessary, it can be reinforced by units from the military schools around Rome. Units of the brigade are also deployed abroad as part of (relatively uncomplicated) peace missions. In Rome, the 1st Regiment of the Granatieri di Sardegna, together with the Lancieri di Montebello and other units, take on tasks that correspond to those of a guard regiment .

structure

Coat of arms of the 1st Grenadier Regiment

Grenadiers of the 1st Rgt. (Military parade June 2, 2007)

Granatieri di Sardegna staff and supply association ( Rome )
1st Grenadier Regiment (Rome)
- 1st Grenadier Battalion Assietta
2nd Grenadier Battalion Cengio ( Spoleto )
8th Cavalry Regiment Lancieri di Montebello (Rome)

The brigade was downsized after the turn of the millennium, and the dissolution of the brigade staff was considered several times. Because of the changed security situation, the brigade staff remains. The reactivation of the 2nd Grenadier Regiment, which was dissolved in Spoleto in 2002, is planned for 2020.

The Lancieri di Montebello cavalry regiment is currently the only Italian regiment of its kind to have a mounted unit for protocol ceremonies , traditional maintenance and equestrian sport in addition to a tank reconnaissance unit at battalion level . For this reason, he is also responsible for the hippodrome in the Roman district of Tor di Quinto, which is also used by the 4th Carabinieri regiment on horseback .

equipment

In addition to wheeled vehicles, the grenadiers are also equipped with armored personnel carriers of the Dardo type, the cavalry regiment has wheeled armored vehicles of the Centauro type . The 33rd artillery regiment , which belonged to the brigade until 2013, was most recently equipped with M109L self-propelled howitzers .

The Granatieri di Sardegna are the only troops of the Italian army to wear bearskin hats with their parade uniform , while the Lancieri di Montebello wear low black fur hats. In Italy and other countries, bearskin hats are traditionally reserved for the guard grenadiers or guard troops.

history

Of the two Grenadier regiments, the 1st was set up on April 18, 1659 in Turin as a guard regiment of the Dukes of Savoy . Although there are older regiments of Piedmontese origin in the Italian line infantry (11th and 12th Casale Infantry Regiment , founded in 1619), this regiment has military priority over all other Italian regiments . The 2nd regiment has its origins in Sardinia . When the House of Savoy withdrew from Turin to its possession of Sardinia during the Napoleonic occupation of Italy, this regiment took over the guard duties. The two units, which were converted into Guard Grenadier and Guard Jäger regiments after 1814, were later combined in a grenadier brigade and named in 1852 after the official name of the state ruled by the House of Savoy, the Kingdom of Sardinia . After the Italian unification in 1861, three more grenadier brigades were temporarily set up, but were soon transferred to the line infantry. In East Africa there was also the Granatieri di Savoia Brigade until 1941 . Since the brigade level had been abolished in Italy in 1926, the two grenadier regiments went to the 21st division in Rome, which was named Granatieri di Sardegna in 1934 and which also led a 3rd grenadier regiment until 1939, which was then assigned to another major unit in the Balkans . From 1948 to 1976 another division stationed in Rome and central Italy had the name Granatieri di Sardegna , which, however, in addition to the 17th Acqui Infantry Regiment and other regiments that changed several times, was only subject to the reactivated 1st Grenadier Regiment (was one of the stable division troops as in the second World War 13th Field Artillery Regiment). With the army reform of 1975 mixed brigades were introduced instead of the regiments divided into regiments, including the mechanized Brigade Granatieri di Sardegna with three grenadier battalions (1st Assietta , 2nd Cengio , 3rd Guardie ) and the 1st Bersaglieri Battalion La Marmora as well the 6th tank, the 13th artillery and a logistics battalion. In 1992 these battalions took on the name "Regiment" again. The tank regiment was replaced by the Lancieri di Montebello cavalry regiment , the previous artillery regiment by the 33rd Acqui artillery regiment .

After the turn of the millennium, the gradual downsizing of the brigade began: in 2002 the 3rd Grenadier Regiment in Orvieto , entrusted with training tasks, was dissolved, the 1st Bersaglieri Regiment in Civitavecchia was de facto dissolved and in 2005 the Bersaglieri Brigade Garibaldi in southern Italy was renamed the 18th ; the 2nd Grenadier Regiment in Spoleto was disbanded on October 29, 2002, the two remaining companies (as 2nd Grenadier Battalion Cengio ) were taken over by the 1st Grenadier Regiment . In 2013 plans were announced to dissolve the brigade staff, to subordinate the 1st Grenadier Regiment in Rome to the Infantry School in Cesano (Rome) and the Cavalry Regiment Lancieri di Montebello (also Rome) to another brigade. In the same year, the 33rd Acqui Artillery Regiment was used to re-establish the 185th Paratrooper Artillery Regiment for the Folgore Parachute Brigade at the Artillery School in Bracciano . In the end, however, due to the changing security situation, the brigade was not disbanded and on November 21, 2017 the 2nd Grenadier Battalion Cengio was again independent. The reactivation of the 2nd Grenadier Regiment is planned for 2020.

Coat of arms of the Granatieri di Sardegna division during World War II

The Granatieri di Sardegna have participated in numerous battles and skirmishes since 1659. During the Austrian War of Succession, the 1st Grenadier Regiment (then "Guard Regiment") stood out on July 19, 1747 in the Battle of Colle dell'Assietta . At that time, a French attack on Piedmont was successfully repelled in the western Alps . In the 19th century the brigade took part in the Italian wars of unification. At a critical moment in the Battle of Goito (May 30, 1848), the Duke of Savoy took command of the Guard Grenadiers with the words a me le guardie! ("Me the Guard!"), Which can still be seen today as the motto on the regimental coat of arms. During the First World War, the grenadiers defended Monte Cengio ( seven municipalities ) during the Austro-Hungarian spring offensive in 1916, when they ran out of ammunition. Instead of surrendering, the grenadiers fought on with stones and bare weapons and in some cases fell in close combat with their opponents down the cliffs of Monte Cengio. This mission, together with the Assietta battle, is regarded as the high point in the history of the grenadiers. During the Second World War, the division was used in the Balkans, among other places. In the spring of 1943 she returned to Rome. After the armistice between Italy and the Allies came into force on September 8, 1943 and the German troops near Rome received the order to disarm the Italian units, there were fierce battles between units of the Wehrmacht and Italian troops, who opposed each other defended their disarmament as ordered. The Granatieri di Sardegna fought here, among other things, together with the Lancieri di Montebello cavalry regiment in the south-west of Rome, especially on the Via Ostiense, where the initial successes were undone, primarily due to the flight of the military leadership and the government, but also because of the resignation of other associations were. In 1944 grenadiers of the two grenadier regiments re-established in Sardinia as part of the Friuli infantry division (for whose infantry regiments two grenadier battalions were provided) took part on the side of the Allies in the war of liberation on the Italian mainland and were involved in the conquest of Bologna .

During the Cold War , the Granatieri di Sardegna were again stationed in central Italy. However, as part of a strategic reserve, they were also intended for use in northeastern Italy. In recent years, the brigade has taken on more territorial reserve functions in addition to its traditional guard and representative tasks.

Since 2006, both the brigade staff and the Granatieri di Sardegna have been deployed several times in Kosovo within the framework of KFOR , and smaller units also in Lebanon and Afghanistan .

Fair

On July 10, 1744, Don Bernardino Antonio Genovese, Duca di San Pietro , raised a regiment at his expense in Cagliari , Sardinia, which later became the "Guards Regiment" and then in 1852 (indirectly) the 2nd Grenadier Regiment. The son of the Duke of San Pietro , Don Alberto Genovese , gave the regiment the respectable amount of 120,000 Piedmontese lire in 1776 and stipulated in writing, among other things, that a Holy Mass should always be celebrated for him on the day of his death . To this day, this mass takes place on (or around) February 18 each year, with the grenadiers in parade uniform marching from the Roman Castro Pretorio to the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in the Piazza della Repubblica . It is the regimental holiday on which the fallen are remembered.

museum

The Granatieri di Sardegna have their own museum in Rome. It is next to the Infantry Museum at the Piazza Santa Croce in Gerusalemme 7 , near the homonymous pilgrimage church . The history of the Italian grenadiers from 1659 to the present day is presented in 15 exhibition rooms.

photos

Soldiers and Lince of the Brigade, 2020 on the Blue Line in Lebanon
Brigade staff during an exercise on the Monte Romano military training area , 2013
Centauro and Lince of the Lancieri di Montebello , 2019
Grenadier Museum in Rome

Web links

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