V Corpo d'armata

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The V Corpo d'armata ( German  V Army Corps ) was a corps of the Italian army . Apart from brief interruptions, it existed from 1860 to 1997. In 1975, as part of an army reform, it was renamed 5º Corpo d'armata . The V Corps took part in the Italian Wars of Independence and in the First and Second World Wars . During the Cold War , it was on the front line in northeastern Italy, off the Yugoslav border. An attack from Warsaw Pact forces stationed in Hungary was expected there.

history

Until World War II

During the unification of Italy on April 1, 1860, the V Corps was set up as part of the Piedmontese army , from which the Italian emerged the following year. The first deployment of the corps was in connection with the platoon of a thousand led by Giuseppe Garibaldi . When the defeat of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies became apparent after Garibaldi's volunteers landed in Sicily and after further fighting on the southern Italian mainland , the Piedmontese government sent troops to central and southern Italy in order to secure rule over Italy for the House of Savoy . In the campaign in September and October 1860, the IV. With three and the V Corps with two divisions were involved, which together formed the "Marken and Umbria Army". While the IV. Corps along the Adriatic coast pushed forward to the south and the troops of the Papal States in the Battle of Castelfidardo suggested that V. moved Corps under General Enrico Morozzo Della Rocca along the inland Tiber valley prior to the papal troops cut off the retreat . The corps fought against the Neapolitan army, which had been defeated by Garibaldi's volunteers in the Battle of Volturno on October 1st, on October 26th in San Giuliano near Teano and on October 29th on Garigliano ; afterwards it took part in the siege of Gaeta .

After the campaign, the 5th Territorial Command ( military district ), based in Florence , emerged from the corps staff . In the event of war, the V Corps with the 1st Division in Florence and the 15th Division in Perugia were to be reactivated from this Territorial Command and subordinate District Command. This happened in 1866 in the third war of independence against the Austrian Empire . After the Italian Mincio - Army in their attempt to the Austrian Quadrilateral southeast of Lake Garda to break in on June 24, 1866 Battle of Custozza had failed, the V. drew Corps under General Raffaele Cadorna with several divisions over the Apennines to the north and closed to join Enrico Cialdini's Po army . In July 1866 the IV and V Corps crossed the Po and then the lower Adige and advanced east of the Austrian fortresses into Veneto and reached the Isonzo on July 24, 1866 .

After the annexation of Veneto and Friuli , the territorial commands and army corps were dissolved in their previous form in 1867. In the course of a further army reform in 1873 seven territorial commands were re-established as general commands (and one command in Sardinia ); among them was the V General Command in Rome with the territorial military divisions Rome, Perugia and Chieti . In 1877 it was decided to set up a total of ten territorial corps commands, which were supplemented by two more in 1882. From 1877 to 1882 the staff of the V Corps was in Bologna , subordinate to the two territorial military divisions Bologna and Ancona . In 1882 the corps staff moved to Verona , from where it led the territorial divisions in Verona and Padua . The V Corps remained in this list until the outbreak of the First World War.

Immediately after the mobilization of the war, the V Corps consisted of the 9th, 15th and 34th Divisions, each with two infantry brigades and one artillery regiment . There were also corps troops , including three Bersaglieri regiments, a number of Alpini battalions and artillery units. Together with the III. the V Corps formed the 1st Army , which stood between the Stilfser Joch and the Croda Granda at Passo Cereda in the southern Dolomites . The V Corps took over the eastern section from Lake Garda over the seven municipalities to the Croda Granda. In May 1916, the V Corps came under pressure in the course of the Austro-Hungarian South Tyrol offensive, the front could only be held with reinforcements. Another scene of heavy fighting was the Pasubio . The V Corps stayed in this region until the end of the war. The subordinate divisions and other associations changed several times. Most recently it led the 55th and 69th divisions between the Vallarsa (Coni Zugna) and the Val Posina .

After the end of the war, the staff of the V Corps came to Trieste . From 1919 to 1926 the corps consisted of the 13th Infantry Division in Trieste, the 14th Infantry Division in Gorizia and the 15th Infantry Division in Pola . The three divisions each had two infantry brigades, an artillery regiment and other division troops . After the army reform of 1926, the V Corps consisted of the 12th Timavo Infantry Division in Trieste and the 15th Carnaro Infantry Division in Abbazia , each with three infantry regiments and one artillery regiment. With the army reform of 1939, the binary infantry divisions were introduced, which instead of three had only two infantry regiments. In return for the two divisions mentioned, the V Corps received first the new 57th Infantry Division Lombardia and then the 13th Infantry Division Ré from Udine . The corps with staff in San Pietro del Carso was subordinated to the 2nd Army and took over the area between Postumia and Fiume on the border with Yugoslavia .

In April 1941 the V Corps took part with the 2nd Army in the Balkan campaign led by the German Wehrmacht . The corps consisted of the (renamed) 15th Bergamo Infantry Division and the 57th Infantry Division Lombardia , the other two divisions had been transferred to other corps of the 2nd Army. The corps staff moved first to Crikvenica and then to Otočac , the subordinate units occupied parts of Dalmatia and the areas adjacent to the east. In the further course of the corps received the 153rd Infantry Division Macerata ( Delnice ) and the 154th Infantry Division Murge ( Sinj ) and the 14th Coast Brigade (Crikvenica). The units of the V Corps fought until the Armistice of Cassibile in September 1943 against units of the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army , including in the Battle of the Neretva . It was officially dissolved on September 9, 1943.

Cold War

The army remaining in the Kingdom of Italy , which had participated on the side of the Allies in the Italian campaign , set up eleven territorial military commands at corps level shortly after the end of the war, including the V in Padua for north-eastern Italy. In contrast to several other territorial commands, the V was initially not subordinated to any brigades or divisions; In 1946 it only had an alpine regiment, a training center, a pioneer company and a telecommunications company, as well as other smaller support units. In the following year, after the Peace of Paris , the withdrawal of the Allied troops and because of the escalating Cold War and the unsolved border problems with Yugoslavia, it received the Mantova Infantry Division from the II Territorial Command in Genoa and the Folgore Infantry Division from the VII Territorial Command in Florence . These two divisions, with new headquarters in Treviso and Gorizia, were deployed to the Goths in early 1945 . In 1948 the Ariete tank brigade was re-established in Pordenone , which had distinguished itself as a division in the African campaign ; until 1952 it was again enlarged to a tank division. In 1949 the Alpini Brigade Julia followed in Cividale del Friuli , which in 1943 as a division in the Soviet Union had almost been wiped out in two weeks of fighting behind enemy lines. It covered the left flank of the V Corps in the Julian and Carnic Alps, and the Lagunari troops were set up in Venice at the beginning of 1951 for the right flank on the lagoon-rich northern Adriatic coast .

On May 1, 1952, the staff of the V Corps was re-established from the V Territorial Command in Padua. On September 30, 1953, the corps staff was transferred to Vittorio Veneto , with which one wanted to refer to the Battle of Vittorio Veneto , which had decided the war in Italy at the end of October 1918. The V Corps formed together with the III acting as a strategic reserve. Corps in Milan and the IV Mountain Corps in Bolzano, the Italian field army in northern Italy. In addition, the VI existed from 1952 to 1972. Corps in Bologna and the so-called Comando Truppe Carnia-Cadore . In 1953, the Alpini Brigade Julia went to the latter command, which then merged with the IV Mountain Corps . The V Corps, together with the other corps, was assigned or “assigned” to the Landsouth NATO command in Verona , which was set up in 1951 and which was to take over the command of the aforementioned Italian corps in northern Italy in the event of a war with the Warsaw Pact states . Because of the ongoing tensions with Yugoslavia over the Free Territory of Trieste and other problems, Italy also re-established the designated command of the 3rd Army in Padua in 1952 , which was to lead the Italian corps in northern Italy under national direction in the event of a war with Yugoslavia. The army command in Padua was disbanded in 1972, the NATO command in Verona led by an Italian general in 2004.

In the years after the re-establishment, the V Corps was further strengthened. After the reintegration of Trieste, a brigade-equivalent task force was formed there called Comando Truppe Trieste . 1957 followed in Gradisca d'Isonzo the Panzer Cavalry Brigade Pozzuolo del Friuli and 1959 in Vicenza the III. Missile artillery brigade , which was equipped with American nuclear warheads, nuclear artillery shells and nuclear mines as part of nuclear participation .

With the army reform of 1975, the regimental level was largely abolished in Italy . The divisions were then divided into mixed brigades and these into battalions . At the same time, the Roman numerals of the three Italian corps were replaced by Arabic numerals (5º instead of V Corpo d'armata). After the reform, the 5th Corps was composed as follows.

Organization of the 5th Corps from 1976 to 1986
Organization of the 5th Corps in 1989
  • Mechanized Division Mantova ( Udine )
  • Mechanized Division Folgore ( Treviso )

Other corps troops and the division troops are not included here. The latter also included fortress and barricade associations. The armored and mechanized brigades were equipped with Leopard 1 and M60 main battle tanks , with various versions of the M113 transport tank and with M109 self-propelled howitzers , the missile brigade with MGM-52 Lance among others . In 1976, the associations of the V Corps provided disaster relief after a severe earthquake in Friuli .

In 1986 the division level remaining with the 3rd and 5th Corps was abolished and, as with the 4th Mountain Corps and the military regions in central and southern Italy, the brigades were directly subordinate to the corps. The 132nd Armored Brigade Manin in Aviano received the name of the disbanded Ariete Division , the mechanized Isonzo Brigade in Cividale took over the name of the disbanded Mantova division , in the case of the disbanded Folgore division the traditions went to the Folgore parachute brigade of the same name in Livorno . The two mechanized brigades Brescia and Trieste were taken over by the 3rd Corps in Milan. The 5th Corps thus left four tank brigades, each with around 3,400 men, three mechanized brigades with around 4,700 men each, a rocket brigade, the Lagunari and various corps troops. In total, the 5th Corps had around 60,000 soldiers.

After the cold war

From 1989 to 1997 the 5th Corps was gradually reduced in size. The tank brigades Mameli and Vittorio Veneto were disbanded in 1991, with only a few of the subordinate battalions joining other brigades. In 1991 the mechanized Bersaglieri Brigade moved Garibaldi to Caserta in southern Italy and the Aquileia missile brigade was downgraded to a regiment and disbanded entirely in 1992. In 1997 the mechanized brigades Mantova and Gorizia were disbanded , but in return the Centauro tank brigade of the 3rd Corps was received, whose staff was converted into an emergency corps staff shortly afterwards .

On October 1, 1997, the 5th Corps changed its name to “1. Defense Forces Command ” (1º Comando Forze di Difesa - COMFOD 1) . The Ariete Armored Brigade in Pordenone, the Pozzuolo del Friuli Cavalry Brigade in Gorizia and the now mechanized Centauro Brigade in Novara were under the new command . At the end of 2000, COMFOD 1 received the Folgore Parachute Brigade in Livono and the Friuli mechanized Brigade in Bologna from the former 3rd Corps and the new Reaction Corps , which was then restructured into an air-moving brigade. In 2002 the Centauro Brigade and some support units were finally dissolved . At the same time, within the COMFOD 1 staff for foreign missions, the Mantova Division Staff was formed , which was replaced by the Friuli Division Staff in Florence in 2013 . The Ariete armored brigade , the Pozzuolo del Friuli cavalry brigade , the Friuli airmobile brigade and the Folgore paratrooper brigade remained . In 2013, the latter was temporarily placed under the “Land Forces Command” (Comando Forze Terrestri - COMFOTER) in Verona. COMFOD 1, the successor to V Corps, was disbanded on October 1, 2013 in Vittorio Veneto. The operational management of the three remaining brigades was taken over by the aforementioned divisional headquarters in Florence, and territorial tasks by a military command in Padua, which is only indirectly in the tradition of the V Corps.

See also

literature

  • Vittorio Cogno: 400 anni di vita degli eserciti sabaudo e italiano - repertorio generale 1593 - 1993 . Edizioni Fachin, Trieste 1995.
  • Dieter Krüger : Brennender Enzian: NATO's operational planning for Austria and Northern Italy 1951 to 1960 . Rombach, Freiburg im Breisgau 2010.
  • Dieter Krüger, Felix Schneider (ed.): The Alps in the Cold War: Historical Space, Strategy and Security Policy . Oldenbourg, Munich 2011.
  • 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.

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