Comando Truppe Alpine


The Comando Truppe Alpine or COMTA commands the Mountain Troops of the Italian Army, called Alpini and various support and training units. It is the successor to the 4º Corpo d'Armata Alpino of the Cold War. The Alpini are light Infantry units specializing in Mountain Combat. The subordinate units of the COMTA distinguished themselves during combat in World War I and World War II.

History

Origins

The history of the COMTA begins after the second Italian war of independence. Following the Italian-French victory over the Austrian Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia annexed the Papal Legations in present-day Emilia Romagna. Thus on 25 March 1860 the 4th Higher Military Command was activated as a territorial command in Bologna and tasked to defend the newly acquired territory between the Panaro river and the Adriatic Sea. The command consisted of the 4th, 7th and 13th division of the Line.
At the outbreak of the third Italian war of independence the command covered the right flank of the main army and remained static along the river Po. The command under General Enrico Cialdini consisted of the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th, 18th and 20th division of the line. However, when the main Italian army failed to break through the Austrian Quadrilatero fortress system south of Lake Garda the V Army Corps marched six divisions over the Apennine Mountains, joined up with the IV Army Corps in the Romagna and crossed the lower Po and Adige rivers in force on 15 July 1866. Cialdini bypassed the Austrian fortresses and main army on his left flank and marched his army all through the Veneto, dispatching one division under Giacomo Medici to invade Trentino and cut the Austrian line of retreat and three divisions under Raffaele Cadorna to march at speed to the city of Trieste. Cialdinis army finally reached the Isonzo river on 24 July 1866.
After the Kingdom of Sardinia extended its borders northward following the war by annexing the territory of Veneto the 4th Higher Military Command was disbanded in spring of 1867. On 15 August 1870 the IV Army Corps was activated for the short campaign to capture of Rome. After the troops of the corps had entered Rome the corps was turned into the General Army Command, which was tasked with garrison duties in Rome. During the campaign the corps commanded the 2nd, 9th, 11th, 12th and 13th division of the line.
In 1873 the command was renamed as 4th General Command and transferred to Florence to act as territorial command for Tuscany. On 22 January 1877 the corps was renamed as IV Army Corps and transferred to Piacenza. In 1888 the corps moved to Genoa.

World War I

In spring 1915, the corps under general Mario Nicolis di Robilant was moved towards the Austrian border and saw its first combat during the battle for Monte Nero in the Julian Alps. At the outbreak of the war the corps consisted of the 7th and 8th Division of the Line, the 33rd Territorial Division, the elite Bersaglieri Division and two division sized Alpini formations:
For the rest of the war the corps fought on the Isonzo front. In the twelfth battle of the Isonzo the corps was covering the northern flank of the Italian 2nd Army between Mount Rombon and Dolje. The main Austro-German attack was aimed at the Italian IV and XXVII Corps. The Italian defences were quickly overcome and the rapid advance cut the IV Corps' line of retreat. Most of the men and material of the IV Corps were captured by the Central Powers troops and the corps was not raised again until the end of the war.

World War II

After World War I the corps was moved once again to Bologna until it moved to Verona in 1927 and tasked with territorial and defence duties along the valley of the Adige. The corps consisted of the 9th Infantry Division "Pasubio" in Verona and the 11th Infantry Division "Brennero" in Bolzano. In 1935 the corps was moved to Bolzano, but quickly dispatched to reinforce the Italian troops that faced stiffer than expected resistance during the Italian invasion of Abyssinia. The corps commanded the 5th Infantry Division "Cosseria", 1st Blackshirt Division "23 March" and 5th Blackshirt Division "1° Febbraio". During the campaign in Abyssinia the IV Army Corps participated in the Battle of Shire.
After the return from Abyssinia the corps was tasked with defending the Northern borders of Italy. Specifically in the case of war with Hitler's Third Reich the corps was tasked with manning the Alpine Wall in South Tyrol and delaying the advancing enemy for as long as possible. Although Germany and Italy signed the Pact of Steel in 1939 the construction of the fortifications along the Alpine Wall continued unabated.
When Italy declared war on France on 10 June 1940 the corps was near the French-Italian border. The Italian Army only performed limited patrols and remained in its positions until after France had asked for an armistice on 20 June 1940. The next day the Italian divisions crossed the border in force, but stiff French resistance stopped them along the entire front after a few kilometres. During the campaign the corps commanded the 2nd Mountain Infantry Division "Sforzesca", 26th Mountain Infantry Division "Assietta" and 3rd Alpini Regiment.
After the Italian invasion of Greece in October 1940 bogged down under stiff Greek resistance the IV Army Corps was dispatched to Albania to augment the Italian forces along the Epirus front. The corps commanded the 5th Alpine Division "Pusteria" and the 22nd Infantry Division "Cacciatori delle Alpi". After the war the corps returned to Bolzano.
In July 1942 Benito Mussolini decided to scale up the Italian war effort in the Soviet Union. Seven fresh divisions were sent to Southern Russia to augment the existing Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia. The 2nd Alpine Division "Tridentina", 3rd Alpine Division "Julia" and 4th Alpine Division "Cuneense" were sent to Russia and came under a newly raised corps, which was named Alpine Army Corps; the first time an Italian corps carried the name "Alpine". The three Alpini divisions were joined by the 156th Infantry Division "Vicenza", which performed garrison duties in the corps' rear area.
The corps and most of its troops were annihilated in January 1943 during the Soviet Operation Little Saturn. The Italian front along the Don was broken by Soviet armoured and mechanized forces on 16 December 1942, but as the Soviet forces turned South towards Rostov-on-Don on the Black Sea to cut off the German Army Group A fighting in the Caucasus and the German 4th Panzer Army, which was in the midst of Operation Wintergewitter — the attempt to relieve the 6th Army in Stalingrad — the Italian Alpine Corps continued to hold the front along the Don. But on 13 January 1943, the Soviets began the second stage of Operation Saturn and launched the four armies of General Filipp Golikov's Voronezh Front against the Hungarian Second Army on the left flank of the Alpine Corps. Within three days the Alpini found themselves flanked on both sides by Soviet armoured and mechanized units and 200 km away from the new Axis lines. On 17 January the commanding general of the corps Lieutenant General Gabriele Nasci finally ordered a full retreat. About 40,000 men formed two columns that followed the Tridentina division which, supported by a handful of German armoured vehicles, led the way westwards to the new Axis front. The Soviets had already occupied every village and bitter battles were fought by the soldiers of the Tridentina to clear the way. On 26 January 1943 the corps' remnants finally broke free from the Soviet encirclement at the Battle of Nikolayevka and reached Axis lines on 1 February 1943. In fifteen days the soldiers covered 200 km on foot, fought twenty-two battles and spent fourteen nights camped in the middle of the Russian steppe. Temperatures during the night fell between and.
The losses were staggering: the "Cuneense" and "Julia" had been annihilated: the Cuneense counted 1,607 survivors out of 17,460 men deployed, the Julia counted less than 1,200 survivors of 17,460 men deployed. The "Tridentina" was somewhat in better shape having managed to bring 4,250 men through the Russian lines. The "Vicenza" hat counted 10,466 men at the beginning of the Soviet offensive, 7,760 of which were killed or missing after the division's remnants reached Axis lines. The worst hit unit was the 2nd Alpini Regiment which saw 208 men survive out of 5,206 deployed. In total the corps suffered 34,170 killed in action and 9,400 wounded in action out of 57,000 men at the beginning of the battle.
The remnants of the divisions were repatriated and, along with the IV Corps, which was at this point on garrison duty in Durrës, disbanded in September 1943 after Germany invaded Italy following the Italian-Allied armistice. For the remainder of the war the headquarters of the IV Corps in Bolzano became the headquarters of the Gestapo for the Operationszone Alpenvorland.