32nd Tank Regiment (Italy)


The 32nd Tank Regiment is a tank regiment of the Italian Army based in Tauriano in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The regiment is equipped with Ariete C1 main battle tanks and assigned to the 132nd Armored Brigade "Ariete". On 15 September 1936, the Royal Italian Army formed the 2nd Tank Infantry Regiment, which on 1 December 1938, was renamed 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment and assigned to the II Armored Brigade. In January 1941, the regiment deployed to North Africa, where it fought in the Western Desert campaign in Libya and Egypt. In December 1941, the depleted regiment was taken out of the front and its place in the Ariete division taken by the 132nd Tank Infantry Regiment.
In September 1942, the regiment was reformed in mainland Italy and then sent to the island of Sardinia. After the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943, the regiment joined the Italian Co-belligerent Army. In March 1944, the regiment was split to reform the 132nd Tank Infantry Regiment. However, at the end of August 1944 both regiments were disbanded. In 1964, the Italian Army reformed the regiment and assigned it to the Armored Division "Ariete". In 1975, the regiment was disbanded and its flag and traditions were assigned to the 3rd Tank Battalion "M.O. Galas", which had become an autonomous unit on 1 October 1975. In 1992, the 3rd Tank Battalion "M.O. Galas" lost its autonomy and entered the reformed 32nd Tank Regiment.
Originally the unit, like all Italian tank units, was part of the army's infantry arm, but on 1 June 1999 the tankers specialty was transferred from the infantry arm to the cavalry arm. Consequently, on the same date the regiment replaced its flag with a cavalry standard. The regiment's anniversary falls on 8 February, the last day of the Battle of Beda Fomm, during which the remnants of the III Tank Battalion M13/40 fought until the battalion's total annihilation, for which the battalion was awarded Italy's highest military honor the Gold Medal of Military Valor.

History

Interwar years

On 1 October 1927, the Royal Italian Army reorganized its Armed Tanks Formation Center in Rome and formed the Armed Tanks Regiment as central training unit for the army's tank battalions. On 15 September 1936, the Armed Tanks Regiment was split into four tank infantry regiments, which had training and administrative functions:
The 2nd Tank Infantry Regiment received four battalions from the disbanded regiment and formed a depot, which included training and maintenance units. The four battalions, like all tank battalions at the time, were named for infantry officers, who had served in World War I and been awarded posthumously Italy's highest military honor the Gold Medal of Military Valor. The regiment consisted of the following units after its founding:
  • 2nd Tank Infantry Regiment, in Verona
  • * III Breach Tanks Battalion "Matter", in Verona
  • * IV Assault Tanks Battalion "Monti", in Bolzano
  • * V Assault Tanks Battalion "Venezian", in Trieste
  • * XI Assault Tanks Battalion "Gregorutti", in Udine
  • * 2nd Training Center, in Verona
  • * 2nd Maintenance Workshop, in Verona
The assault tanks battalions were initially equipped with L3/33 tankettes, which were soon replaced by slightly improved L3/35 tankettes, while the breach tanks battalion fielded Fiat 3000 light tanks. In 1938, the regiment added the XXII Assault Tanks Battalion "Coralli", which was based in Trento. The same year the Assault Tank Battalions were renamed Tank Battalion L, while Breach Tanks Battalions were renamed Tank Battalion M.
On 30 November 1938, the 1st Tank Infantry Regiment transferred the IV Tank Battalion M to the 2nd Tank Infantry Regiment, the 3rd Tank Infantry Regiment transferred the XXI Tank Battalion L to the 2nd Tank Infantry Regiment, and the 4th Tank Infantry Regiment transferred the V Tank Battalion M to the 2nd Tank Infantry Regiment. On 1 December 1938, the 2nd Tank Infantry Regiment was reorganized as an operational unit and renamed 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment. The regiment was assigned to the II Armored Brigade. On the same day, the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment transferred the IV Tank Battalion L and XXII Tank Battalion L to the 1st Tank Infantry Regiment, and the V Tank Battalion L and XI Tank Battalion L to the 3rd Tank Infantry Regiment. Upon entering the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment the tank battalions M were renumbered and moved to the regiment's expanded base in Montorio Veronese near Verona. Afterwards the regiment consisted of the following units:
  • 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment, in Verona
  • * XXI Tank Battalion L
  • * CCCXXI Tank Battalion M
  • * CCCXXII Tank Battalion M
  • * CCCXXIII Tank Battalion M
  • * 32nd Training Center
  • * 32nd Maintenance Workshop
On 1 February 1939, the II Armored Brigade was disbanded and the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment, 8th Bersaglieri Regiment and newly formed 132nd Armored Artillery Regiment were assigned to the newly formed 132nd Armored Division "Ariete". On 23 September 1939, the regiment received the III Tank Battalion L from the 1st Tank Infantry Regiment and in turn transferred, on 1 November 1939, the CCCXXIII Tank Battalion M to the 1st Tank Infantry Regiment. At the same time the two remaining tank battalions M replaced their Fiat 3000 light tanks with M11/39 tanks. In April 1940, the CCCXXI and CCCXXII tank battalions were renumbered as I and II tank battalions M11/39, while the XXI Tank Battalion L was renumbered IV Tank Battalion L.

World War II

On 10 June 1940, the day Italy entered World War II the regiment consisted of the following units:
  • 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment, in Verona
  • * I Tank Battalion M11/39
  • * II Tank Battalion M11/39
  • * III Tank Battalion L
  • * IV Tank Battalion L
On 1 August 1940, the regiment received the I and II tank battalions L from the 1st Tank Infantry Regiment, while transferring its I and II tank battalion M11/39 to the 4th Tank Infantry Regiment, with which the two battalions deployed to Libya for the Italian invasion of Egypt. As replacement the depot of the regiment in Verona formed the III Tank Battalion M13/40, followed, on 8 October 1940, by the IV Tank Battalion M13/40, and, on 11 November 1940, the V Tank Battalion M13/40. Each of the three battalions fielded 37 M13/40 tanks. At the same time the III and IV tank battalions L were disbanded. In fall 1940, the III Tank Battalion M13/40 was sent to Libya to bolster Italian forces in Egypt.
On 9 December 1940, the British Western Desert Force commenced Operation Compass and the II Tank Battalion M11/39 was destroyed on the same day during the British Attack on Nibeiwa. On 13 December 1940, the V Tank Battalion M13/40 embarked in Naples and sailed for Libya. On 10 January 1941, the battalion was assigned to the Special Armored Brigade and arrived on the front on 15 January. On 21–22 January 1941, the I Tank Battalion M11/39 was destroyed during the British capture of Tobruk. On 24 January 1941, the III, V, VI, and XXI tank battalions M13/40 clashed with the British 7th Armoured Division in the action at Mechili. The end for the remnants of the Italian 10th Army came on 6–7 February 1941, when their retreat was blocked by the 7th Armoured Division at Beda Fomm and the furious attempts of the Italian tank battalions to open a breach in the British line during the Battle of Beda Fomm came to naught. By 7 February 1941 the Italian 10th Army with all its units and all the reinforcements sent to it had been destroyed or captured by the British XIII Corps. On 8 February 1941, the III and V tank battalions M13/40 were declared lost due to wartime events.
For their valor and sacrifice during Operation Compass the III Tank Battalion M13/40 was awarded a Gold Medal of Military Valor, while the V Tank Battalion M13/40 was awarded a Silver Medal of Military Valor. Until 1975 both medals were affixed to the 32nd Tank Regiment's flag. When the V Tank Battalion became an autonomous unit in 1975 the Silver Medal of Valor awarded to the battalion was transferred to the battalion's flag and added to the battalion's coat of arms.
Due to the deteriorating situation on the Greco-Italian front, the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment's IV Tank Battalion M13/40 was sent in January 1942 to Albania, where the battalion was attached to the 31st Tank Infantry Regiment of the 131st Armored Division "Centauro".

Western Desert campaign

On 22 January, the day British forces captured of Tobruk, the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment, together with the entire 132nd Armored Division "Ariete", embarked in Naples and sailed for Tripoli in Libya where the division arrived on 24 January, the day British spearheads engaged the last Italian units in Cyrenaica. After arriving in Libya the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment was in no shape to contest the British advance as it consisted of the I, II, and III tank battalions L with obsolete L3 tankettes. The first useful M13/40 tanks joined the regiment in late February 1941 with the VII Tank Battalion M13/40, which had been formed on 30 January 1941 by regiment's depot in Verona with the personnel of the disbanded IV Tank Battalion L. The regiment also received an anti-tank company with German 3.7 cm Pak 36 anti-tank cannons. In early April 1941, the VIII Tank Battalion M13/40 formed by the 4th Tank Infantry Regiment arrived in Libya and joined the regiment, which at the time was fighting in Operation Sonnenblume. The battalion joined the regiment on 15–18 May in the area of Sallum, where the regiment was held in reserve during the British Operation Brevity. The regiment then participated in the Axis Siege of Tobruk. On 21 July 1941, the IX Tank Battalion M13/40 formed by the 3rd Tank Infantry Regiment arrived at the front and joined the regiment.
As the regiment's L3/35 tankettes were useless the Ariete division's commander General Ettore Baldassarre demanded repeatedly to be sent M13/40 tanks to re-equip the regiment's three tank battalions L or be sent additional tank battalions M. Ultimately the High Command in Rome settled on a plan to repatriate the men of the three tank battalions L and retrain them at the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment's depot in Verona. Therefore on 15 June 1941, the depot of the 4th Tank Infantry Regiment formed the regimental command and a command company for the newly formed 132nd Tank Infantry Regiment, which was sent immediately to Libya, where the new regiment joined the 132nd Armored Division "Ariete". On 31 August 1941, the VII, VIII, and IX tank battalions M13/40 left the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment and the next day, on 1 September 1941, the three battalions joined the 132nd Tank Infantry Regiment. The 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment then continued to fight in North Africa with only its three tank battalions L as the units return to Italy was repeatedly postponed.
On 28 August 1941, the depot of the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment formed the XIII Tank Battalion M13/40, which was assigned to the 31st Tank Infantry Regiment. In October 1941, the regiment contributed with some of its personnel to the formation of the LII Tank Battalion M13/40, which was formed in Libya and assigned to the Maneuver Army Corps as corps reconnaissance asset. On 18 November 1941, the British Eighth Army commenced Operation Crusader and on 19 November the British 22nd Armoured Brigade attacked Bir el Gubi. The Ariete division repulsed the attack and then moved towards Sidi Rezegh, where on 29 November the Ariete pushed the 2nd New Zealand Division back in the Battle of Point 175. On 6 December 1941, the Ariete division headed back to Bir el Gubi, where a second British attack on Bir el Gubi was repulsed. The same day General Erwin Rommel ordered his forces to retreat to the Gazala line, where in December the Ariete division continued the fight against the British advance. During the night of 15–16 December Axis forces abandoned the Gazala line and retreated to El Agheila. The Ariete division had lost 76% of its personnel during Operation Crusader and the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment was taken out of the front on 31 December 1941 and sent to the rear.
On 8 January 1942, the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment ceded part of its remaining personnel to help bring the 132nd Tank Infantry Regiment back up to strength, and, on 16 January 1942, the regiment ceded all of its remaining troops and equipment to the 12th Auto Grouping in Tripoli to form a Tank Training Center. Afterwards the regiment's command and flag left Libya and returned to Verona, where they arrived on 20 February 1942.