3rd Field Artillery Regiment (Mountain)


The 3rd Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the Italian Army, specializing in mountain warfare. The regiment is based in Remanzacco in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and assigned to the Alpine Brigade "Julia". The regiment was formed in 1909 by the Royal Italian Army as 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment. In World War I the regiment's groups and batteries served on the Italian front.
In 1926 the 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment switched numbers with the then 3rd Mountain Artillery Regiment, but retained its flag, traditions, and place as the second oldest Italian mountain artillery regiment. In 1935 the regiment was assigned to the 3rd Alpine Division "Julia", with which it served during World War II in the invasion of France and the Greco-Italian War. In summer 1942 the division was transferred to the Soviet Union, where it was destroyed in winter 1942–43 during the Soviet Operation Little Saturn. The remnants of the division were repatriated in spring 1943 and invading German forces disbanded the division and its regiments after the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943.
The regiment was reformed in 1951 and assigned to the Alpine Brigade "Julia". In 1975 the regiment was split into three mountain artillery groups and its flag and traditions were assigned to the Mountain Artillery Group "Conegliano". In 1992 the regiment was reformed. The regiment is the highest decorated artillery unit of the Italian Army, having been awarded two Gold Medals of Military Valor in World War II: the first for the regiment's conduct during the Greco-Italian War, and the second for its service with the Italian Army in Russia. The Italian mountain artillery has served since its inception alongside the infantry's Alpini speciality, with whom the mountain artillery shares the distinctive Cappello Alpino. The regimental anniversary falls, as for all Italian Army artillery regiments, on June 15, the beginning of the Second Battle of the Piave River in 1918.

History

On 1 January 1883 the 16th Fortress Regiment in Mantua formed the 1st Mountain Brigade, while the 14th Fortress Regiment in Genoa formed the 2nd Mountain Brigade. The 1st Mountain Brigade consisted of the 1st Mountain Battery, which had been ceded by the 11th Fortress Regiment, the 2nd and 3rd mountain batteries, which had been ceded by the 12th Fortress Regiment, and the 4th Mountain Battery, which was formed with elements of the other three batteries. The 1st Mountain Brigade was based in Vicenza and its eight batteries were equipped with the 7 BR Ret. Mont. mountain guns.
On 1 November 1887 the 14th Fortress Regiment and 16th Fortress Regiment ceded the two mountain brigades to help form the Mountain Artillery Regiment in Turin. The regiment consisted of a staff, and three brigades, with the 1st Brigade being based in Conegliano. On 1 May 1895 the 5th Field Artillery Regiment transferred its six mountain batteries to the Mountain Artillery Regiment, which proceeded to form five brigades and the brigade in Conegliano was renumbered as V Brigade.
Like the infantry's Alpini battalions, the mountain artillery brigades recruited from the military districts located in the Alps. In 1882 the Alpini battalions were named for the cities, where the administrations of the military districts were located, from which the battalions recruited their troops. Likewise in 1901 the mountain artillery brigades were given the names of the location of their depot, respectively in the case of the brigades based in Turin, from where they recruited their troops. Afterwards the Mountain Artillery Regiment consisted of the I Brigade "Oneglia", II Brigade "Mondovì", III Brigade "Torino-Susa", IV Brigade "Torino-Aosta", and V Brigade "Conegliano". On 21 August 1902 the regiment's V Brigade "Conegliano" in Conegliano became an autonomous unit as and was renamed Mountain Artillery Brigade of Veneto.
In 1904 the batteries began to replace their 7 BR Ret. Mont. mountain guns with 70A mountain guns. On 15 July 1909 the Mountain Artillery Brigade of Veneto was disbanded and the brigade's three batteries, together with six newly formed batteries, formed the 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment in Vicenza. The regiment consisted of three brigades, which were based in Conegliano, Bergamo, and Vicenza. On the same day the Mountain Artillery Regiment was renamed 1st Mountain Artillery Regiment. On 1 October 1909 the 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment formed a fourth brigade in Belluno and on 17 July 1910 the brigades of the two mountain artillery regiments were redesignated as mountain artillery groups and dropped their numbers. Afterwards the 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment consisted of the following units:
During the Italo-Turkish War in 1911–12 the regiment sent the Group "Vicenza", with the batteries 19th and 23rd, as well as the batteries 15th and 20th to Libya. In May 1912 the 15th and 23rd batteries participated in the Italian operation to seize the island of Rhodes. In 1913 the batteries received 65/17 mod. 13 mountain guns.

World War I

On 1 February 1915 the regiment ceded the Group "Bergamo" to help form the 3rd Mountain Artillery Regiment. The 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment retained the numbers of the batteries of the Group "Bergamo" and assigned them to the batteries of the newly formed Group "Udine" in Udine. At the outbreak of World War I the regiment formed the 55th, 57th, and 58th batteries and entered the war with the organization depicted in the following table:
Note 2: The "Udine" group's 56th Mountain Artillery Battery was not raised until November 1916 for lack of available 65/17 mod. 13 cannons.
During the war the regiment's depots formed the commands of the 6th and 8th mountain artillery groupings and the commands of 13 mountain artillery groups: XVI, XXI, XXIII, XXVI, XXVIII, XXX, XLIX, LIII, LIV, LXI, LXIII, LXIV, and LXVII. The regiment's depots also formed 35 mountain artillery batteries, five commands of siege groups and 21 siege batteries.
During the war the regiment was broken up and its groups and batteries attached to different Alpini units. The Mountain Artillery Group "Conegliano" fought in 1915 and 1916 on the Pal Grande and on Pal Piccolo, as well as on the Freikofel and the Zellonkofel. In 1917 the group fought on Monte Kuk, on Monte Vodice, and the Banjšice plateau. In 1918 the group was in combat on Montello and then in the area of Sernaglia. In 1919 the group was deployed to Italian Libya to help subdue the local population.
The Mountain Artillery Group "Udine" was deployed in 1915 at Tolmin and fought for control of the hills of Bučenica and Mengore. In 1916 the group was initially on Sabotin, but sent in May 1916 to Monte Cengio on the Asiago plateau during the Battle of Asiago. Afterwards the group was on Monte Novegno and then deployed to the Veliki Hribach. In 1917 the group fought at Kostanjevica na Krasu and then on the Banjšice plateau, before being sent to Monte Tomba. In 1918 the group was deployed on the Monte Asolone.
The Mountain Artillery Group "Vicenza" fought in 1915 on Monte Matassone, Monte Pozzacchio and on Monte Coston. In 1916 the group was deployed on Monte Maronia and Monte Majo. The group was then deployed on the Sabotin, the Škabrijel, the Pečinka, and finally on the Veliki Hribach. In 1917 the group was once more on the Pečinka and Veliki Hribach, before being sent to fight on the Monte Vodice and the Banjšice plateau.
The Mountain Artillery Group "Belluno" was in 1915–16 deployed at the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, on Monte Piana, in the Sexten valley, and at the Kreuzberg Pass. In 1916 the group remained in the Dolomites and was deployed towards the Passo della Sentinella. In 1917 the group was on the Cima Forame, then returned to Monte Piana. During the same year the group was at the Stretta di Quero and on Monte Solarolo. In 1918 the group was in the Val Calcino and then on Monte Grappa.

Interwar years

In 1919 the regiment moved from Vicenza to Belluno and was reduced to the groups "Belluno", XXI and XXVI, each with three batteries with 75/13 mod. 15 mountain guns. On 21 February 1921 the mountain groups lost their names and the regiment consisted of the I, II, and III groups. On 1 July 1923 the regiment formed the IV Group with 100/17 mod. 14 howitzers.
On 11 March 1926 the Royal Italian Army reorganized its artillery. As Alpini units were traditionally numbered from West to East the army decided that the 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment and 3rd Mountain Artillery Regiment should swap numbers. Furthermore, the army decided that mountain artillery groups should again be named and not numbered and that the groups with 100/17 mod. 14 howitzers should be transferred to the field artillery. The two regiments also redistributed their groups and so the new 3rd Mountain Artillery Regiment consisted after the swap of the groups "Conegliano" and "Udine", while the regiment's former III Group was transferred to the new 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment and became the Group "Belluno". The regiment's IV Group with 100/17 mod. 14 howitzers was transferred to the 6th Field Artillery Regiment. After the reform the regiment moved from Belluno to Gorizia. On 1 December 1929 the regiment received the Group "Belluno" from the 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment. Afterwards the 3rd Mountain Artillery Regiment consisted of the Group "Conegliano", with the 13th, 14th, and 15th batteries, the Group "Udine", with the 16th and 17th batteries, and the Group "Belluno", with the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th batteries. The regiment was assigned to the III Alpine Brigade, which also included the 8th Alpini Regiment and 9th Alpini Regiment.
In 1934 the regiment formed the 18th Battery for the Group "Udine". On 27 October 1934 the III Alpine Brigade changed its name to III Superior Alpine Command and the regiment was renamed 3rd Alpine Artillery Regiment. In December of the same year the command was given the name "Julia". On 10 September 1935 the III Superior Alpine Command "Julia" was renamed 3rd Alpine Division "Julia" and consequently the regiment was renamed 3rd Alpine Artillery Regiment "Julia". On 31 December 1935 the regiment ceded the Group "Belluno" to help form the 5th Alpine Artillery Regiment "Pusteria". To ready the new regiment quickly for the Second Italo-Ethiopian War the other alpine artillery regiments transferred existing batteries temporarily to the new regiment. In case of the 3rd Alpine Artillery Regiment "Julia" the 13th Battery of the Group "Conegliano" was transferred to the newly formed Alpine Artillery Group "Lanzo", but returned to the regiment, when the Group "Lanzo" was disbanded after the war on 12 April 1937. On 25 September 1937 the regiment's Group "Udine" ceded its 16th Battery permanently to the reformed the Group "Lanzo".