136th Armored Division "Giovani Fascisti"

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136th Armored Division "Giovani Fascisti"
Active24 May 1942–May 1943
Country 
North African Campaign
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Nino Sozzani
Insignia
Identification
symbol
Giovani Fascisti gorget patches

The 136th Armored Division "Giovani Fascisti" (Italian: 136ª Divisione corazzata "Giovani Fascisti") was an infantry division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II.[1]

History

Modello 35
infantry mortar in North Africa.

The division was never fully formed and staffed, and it never had armored vehicles: the

1st Tank Infantry Regiment, which was briefly assigned to it never reached the division in Libya.[1]

Origins

In 1940, with Italy's entry into the war, the fascist youth organization

Scauri. After an inspection General Taddeo Orlando expressed a positive opinion on their employment and Adelchi Serena
, who succeeded Ettore Muti in the position of party secretary gave his consent to create with the three battalions the 301st CC.NN. Legion.

Battalion Group "Giovani Fascisti"

The 301st Legion CC.NN. "Primavera" was officially established on 12 April 1941. Already on 18 April it was decided to enroll the young fascists as volunteers in the Royal Italian Army to form the Battalion Group "Giovani Fascisti". The army performed a thorough selection, which reduced the number of those able to enlist to about two thousand of the class of 1922. However the age and parental consent were not controlled properly and besides the class of 1922, also youths from 1923 and 1924, as well as three volunteers from 1925 and one from 1926 were enrolled in the three battalions of the Battalion Group "Giovani Fascisti". The Fascist militia withdrew its uniforms and the volunteers received the army's gray-green uniform and the two-pointed crimson gorget patches of the Bersaglieri corps with an added yellow border. As headgear the battalion group received a black fez, but not helmet. The volunteers fought the entire war without being issued helmets. On 21 April 1942 the battalion group took the oath to King.

Western Desert Campaign

On 29 July 1941 the Battalion Group "Giovani Fascisti" with two battalions arrived in Tripoli in Libya for the Western Desert campaign. The III Battalion had remained in Italy as the group's depot and training unit. In Libya the group was sent to Al-Khums and Misrata, where the group formed an anti-tank company with 47/32 anti-tank guns and a mortar company with 81mm Mod. 35 mortars. In September the group was assigned to the Reconnaissance Grouping of the Maneuver Army Corps. On 4–7 December 1941 the group fought the Action at Bir el Gubi against the 11th Indian Infantry Brigade and parts of the British 22nd Guards Brigade. After the battle group withdrew with other Italo-German units. The group was then attached to the 60th Infantry Division "Sabratha" until it was taken out of the line in March 1942.

Formation of the division

On 24 May 1942, in recognition of the value shown at Bir el Gobi, the 136th Armored Division "Giovani Fascisti" was established in

"Cavalleggeri di Monferrato" with a handful of AB41 armored cars. After the divisional command had been flown to Libya the division occupied the Siwa Oasis
in Egypt on July 22, 1942. After the group's III Battalion had arrived in Siwa the group was elevated to Infantry Regiment "Giovani Fascisti" on 30 August 1942.

On 22 September the division was inspected by Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel. Clashes with allied patrols caused minor losses, but the most insidious danger was malaria, which affected almost the entire garrison with about 800 hospitalizations. At the beginning of the Second Battle of El Alamein there was growing discontent in the division for the lack of combat, inducing 825 volunteers to request a transfer to operational units.

Organization October 1942

The division's organization at Siwa was:[1]

  • 136th Armored Division "Giovani Fascisti"
    • Infantry Regiment "Giovani Fascisti"
    • 136th Armored Artillery Regiment "Giovani Fascisti"[2]
      • Command Unit
      • XIV Group (65/17 mod. 13 mountain guns mounted on Morris CS8 trucks)
      • XV Group (65/17 mod. 13 mountain guns mounted on Morris CS8 trucks)
      • XVI Group (75/27 mod. 06 field guns mounted on TL.37 trucks)
      • XVII Group (100/17 mod. 14 howitzers mounted on Lancia 3Ro trucks)
      • DVI Anti-aircraft Group (90/53 anti-aircraft guns)
      • 13th Anti-aircraft Battery (
        anti-aircraft guns
        )
      • Ammunition and Supply Unit
    • III Squadrons Group/ "Cavalleggeri di Monferrato" (AB41 armored cars)
    • IX Infantry Battalion

The defeat at El Alamein forced the 136th Armored Division to abandon Siwa on 6 November 1942. The division's units reached Ajdabiya on 16–18 November 1942. The division was deployed at Marsa al-Brega and fought in the Battle of El Agheila, and then fell back to Nofaliya. In December 1942 the division received the 8th Bersaglieri Regiment from the disbanded 132nd Armored Division "Ariete". The continuing retreat took the division to Buerat and Tarhuna, finally to the Mareth Line in Tunisia.

Tunisian Campaign

75/27 field guns mounted on TL.37 in North Africa

The division participated in the

Enfidaville
.

While the British Eighth Army and Italian 1st Army at Enfidaville remained static, to their North Allied forces overran German and Italian defenses and took

Bernard Freyberg. The Giovani Fascisti was officially declared lost on the 13 May 1943.[1]

Organization March 1943

The division's organization on the Mareth Line was:[1]

  • 136th Armored Division "Giovani Fascisti"
    • Infantry Regiment "Giovani Fascisti"
    • 8th Bersaglieri Regiment[3]
      • Command Company
      • X Motorized Bersaglieri Battalion
      • XI Motorized Bersaglieri Battalion
      • LXII Support Weapons Battalion
    • 136th Artillery Regiment
      • Command Unit
      • XIV Group (65/17 mod. 13 mountain guns mounted on Morris CS8 trucks)
      • XV Group (65/17 mod. 13 mountain guns mounted on Morris CS8 trucks)
      • XVI Group (75/27 mod. 06 field guns mounted on TL.37 trucks)
      • XVII Group (100/17 mod. 14 howitzers mounted on Lancia 3Ro trucks)
      • DVI Anti-aircraft Group (90/53 anti-aircraft guns)
      • 13th Anti-aircraft Battery (
        anti-aircraft guns
        )
      • Ammunition and Supply Unit
    • XLVIII Anti-aircraft Group
    • IX Infantry Battalion
    • XXV Mixed Engineer Battalion (from the destroyed 25th Infantry Division "Bologna")

Planned organization

The division planned, but never attained, organization was:[1]

Commanding officers

The division's commanding officers were:[1]

See also

  • North African Campaign
  • Tunisia Campaign

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Bollettino dell'Archivio dell'Ufficio Storico N.II-3 e 4 2002. Rome: Ministero della Difesa - Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito - Ufficio Storico. 2002. p. 336. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b F. dell'Uomo, R. di Rosa (1998). L'Esercito Italiano verso il 2000 - Vol. Secondo - Tomo II. Rome: SME - Ufficio Storico. p. 169.
  3. ^ "8° Reggimento Bersaglieri". Regio Esercito. Retrieved 22 December 2021.

Bibliography


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