Italian Co-Belligerent Army
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The Italian Co-Belligerent Army (Esercito Cobelligerante del Sud) was the army of the Italian royalist forces fighting on the side of the Allies in southerm Italy after the Allied armistice with Italy in September 1943. The Italians soldiers fighting for this army no longer fought for Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Their allegiance was to King Victor Emmanuel and to Marshal of Italy (Maresciallo d'Italia) Pietro Badoglio, the men who ousted Mussolini.
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[edit] Formation
On 28 September 1943, the Italian Co-Belligerent Army began when the first military unit was constituted as the Italian First Motorized Combat Group (Raggruppamento Motorizzato). The First Motorized Combat Group had a strength of 295 officers and 5,387 men. Its first action was in the Cassino sector at Monte Lungo. This action did much to remove the Allied distrust of the Italian soldiers fighting on their side.
Following service with the American 5th Army and re-organization, the First Motorized Combat Group was transferred to the Polish II Corps on the extreme left of the British 8th Army.
[edit] Italian liberation corps
On 17 April 1944, the formation (now 22,000 men strong) assumed the name Italian Liberation Corps (Corpo Italiano di Liberazione). The continuous influx of volunteers made it necessary to form further formations. [1]
[edit] Order of battle
By early 1945, there were five separate brigades and combat groups attached to various American and British formations. The following is the "order of battle" of the Italian Co-Belligerent Army as at April 1945[2]
Cremona Combat Group (of British V Corps, 9 Apr 1945)
- 7th Italian Artillery Regiment [-1bty]
- 21st Italian Infantry Regiment [3btn]
- 22nd Italian Infantry Regiment [3btn]
- 144th Italian Engineer Battalion
Folgore Combat Group (of XIII Corps, 9 Apr 1945)
- Nembo Regiment [3btn]
- San Marco Regiment [3btn]
- 57th Italian Field Regiment [-1bty,1trp]
- 154th Italian Field Regiment
- 184th Italian Artillery Regiment
- 184th Italian Engineer Battalion
Friuli Combat Group (of British X Corps, 9 Apr 1945)
- 35th Italian Artillery Regiment
- 87th Italian Infantry Regiment [3btn]
- 88th Italian Infantry Regiment [3btn]
- 120th Italian Engineer Battalion
Legnano Combat Group (of U S II Corps), 9 Apr 1945)
- 11th Italian Artillery Regiment
- 51st Italian Engineer Battalion
- 68th Italian Regiment Infantry
- 69th Italian Regiment Infantry
Legnano Combat Group (enlarged and reassigned to U S Fifth Army, 23 Apr 1945)
- Headquarters, Legnano Combat Group
- Legnano Ordnance Field Park
- Legnano Mechanical workshop
- 34th Carabinieri Section
- 51st Carabinieri Section
- 51st Supply and Transport Company
- 51st Medical Section
- 51st Italian Engineer Battalion
- 52nd British Liaison Unit
- 244th Field Hospital
- 332nd Field Hospital
- 11th Italian Artillery Regiment
- 68th Italian Infantry Regiment
-
- 1st Infantry Battalion
- 2nd Infantry Battalion
- 3rd Infantry Battalion
- 405th Mortar Company (3-inch)
- 56th Antitank Company (6-pounder)
- 69th Italian Speciale Infantry Regiment
-
- 1st Bersaglieri Battalion
- 2nd Alpini Battalion
- 3rd Alpini Battalion
- 15th Mortar Company (3-inch)
- 16th Antitank Company (6-pounder)
[edit] See also
- Military history of Italy during World War II
- Regio Esercito (World War II)
- Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force
- Italian Co-Belligerent Navy
- Co-belligerence
- Giovanni Messe
[edit] References
- ^ Mollo, Andrew, The Armed Forces of World War II, Crown Publishing, New York, ISBN 0-517-54478-4, p. 100
- ^ Order of Battle: Italian Co-Belligerent Forces. Military History Network (11 March 2004). Retrieved on 2007-12-21.
