Army of the Po


The Army of the Po, numbered the Sixth Army, was a field army of the Royal Italian Army during World War II.

History

When it was initially formed on 10 November 1938 under the command of General Ettore Bastico, it comprised three corps:
  • the Corpo d'Armata Autotrasportabile, consisting of three divisions;
  • the Corpo d'Armata Celere, consisting of three celeri divisions;
  • the Corpo d'Armata Corazzato, consisting of two motorised and two armoured divisions in the process of formation. These were the Ariete and Centauro armoured divisions and the Trento and Trieste motorised divisions.
This formation was the brainchild of General Alberto Pariani, then Chief of the General Staff, who desired to combine armoured and motorised divisions into a potent force based in the Po Valley and ready to move towards any of Italy's land borders at a moment's notice. By December 1938, Bastico had drawn up plans for concentrating the force around Tarvisio in the event of war with Austria or on a line from Udine to Trieste in the event of war with Yugoslavia.
In 1939, six Blackshirt battalions took part in the field manoeuvres of the Army of the Po. In the first half of 1940 the Centauro division was moved to Albania, where it took part in the Italian invasion of Greece later that year. During the Italian invasion of France, the Army of the Po was held in reserve.
In February 1941, the headquarters of the Army of the Po was transferred to southern Italy. On 1 March, the Armoured Corps became the XVII Corps and deployed to Albania as an infantry command. All three of the former corps of the Sixth Army took part in the invasion of Yugoslavia in April. In July 1943, the headquarters of the Sixth Army took charge of the defence of Sicily. The 6th Army suffered heavy losses against the Allies in July–August 1943 and withdrew to northern Italy for reorganization. It capitulated to the Germans upon the surrender of Italy in September 1943.

Order of battle on 10 June 1940