132nd Armoured Division Ariete


The Ariete Armoured Division was an armoured division of the Italian Army during World War II. It was formed in 1939 as the second armoured division in the Italian Army after the 131 Armoured Division Centauro. The division fought in the North African Campaign until being destroyed during the Second Battle of El Alamein. After World War II the division was reformed as part of the Italian Army.

World War II

France

The 132nd Armoured Division Ariete was formed in Milan in February 1939, it was initially made up of the 8th Bersaglieri Regiment, the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment, equipped with L3/35 tankettes, the 132nd Armored Artillery Regiment, and additional divisional support units. The division was moved to the French border at the outbreak of World War II, but was kept in reserve during the short campaign on that front. It was part of the Army of the Po, the strategic reserve. By that time the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment had grown to eight battalions: three light ones with L3/35 tankettes, two medium ones with M11/39 tanks, and three medium ones with M13/40 tanks.

Libya

In 1940 the I, II, III, and V medium battalions of the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment were sent to Italian Libya piecemeal. The I and II medium tank battalions with M11/39 tanks were sent in summer and entered the Maletti Group, while the III and V medium tank battalions with M13/40 tanks arrived in October and November and entered the Special Armored Brigade. Both the Maletti Group and the Special Armored Brigade were part of the ill-fated 10th Army.

Operation Compass

From December 1940 to February 1941, during Operation Compass, the British Western Desert Force overran the 10th Army and occupied Cyrenaica. The I battalion was destroyed in Egypt during the Attack on Nibeiwa, while the II battalion was lost in the fall of Tobruk. The III and V battalions were sacrificed during the failed break out attempt at the Battle of Beda Fomm. After this defeat it was decided to employ the whole Ariete Division in North Africa. On 24 January 1941, the first echelons of the division disembarked at Tripoli. From February 1941 to November 1942, the Ariete Division fought alongside the Deutsches Afrika Korps in the North Africa Campaign. Initially the Ariete was attached to the Italian Mobile Corps, which later became the Italian XX Motorised Corps.

Siege of Tobruk

In particular, reinforced in 1941 with the 132nd Tank Infantry Regiment, which would replace the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment,, the division took part in the first Axis counter-offensive to retake Cyrenaica, and the following siege of Tobruk. With the 132nd Tank Infantry Regiment, equipped with M13/40 and M14/41 tanks the division fought in the Western Desert of Libya and Egypt during 1941.
On 1 May 1941 the Germans and Italians attacked Tobruk in considerable strength. Their attack pierced the Australian defences; the Ariete and 8th Bersaglieri captured the R3, R4, R5, R6 and R7 strongpoints, On 3 May the Australians launched a counter-attack with the 18th Brigade. The counter-attack only recaptured one strong point from what Australian historian Mark Johnston reported to be Italian defenders. This action is later known as the Battle of the Salient.
During Operation Crusader, the division fought against the British 22nd Armoured Brigade at Bir el Gubi, inflicting heavy losses on the inexperienced British forces. On 23 November, the 15th Panzer Division moved on to attack the 5th South African Brigade defending Sidi Rezegh and that evening, Ariete with the 8th Bersaglieri Regiment, came up in support and the ridge was taken along with 3,400 prisoners. During 29–30 November, the Ariete and supporting Italian infantry and motorcycle units were responsible for capturing a considerable number of New Zealand, Indian and British troops during the Italo-German counter-attacks. Recalling the loss of the 21st Battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel Howard Kippenberger, who later rose to command the 2nd New Zealand Division, wrote that,
When the battle led to the retreat of the Axis forces to the Gazala Line, the Ariete went on the attack, augmented by 23 tanks of the 15th Panzer Division and supported by Bersaglieri motorcycle troops, lost no time in assaulting the pursuing Commonwealth forces. Between them, they overran the 1st Battalion, The Buffs and part of the 5th Indian Brigade, taking according to one estimate 1,000 prisoners in the counter-attack. The British were able to recover from this setback and the Ariete retreated through the Djebel Mountain towards el Agheila; by this time the division had lost almost all its tanks.
Reinforced again with replacement tanks and M40 75/18 mm semoventi assault guns in the V and VI battalions of the 132nd Artillery Regiment, it took part in the second counter-offensive of January 1942, the Gazala battles of May 1942 and the invasion of Egypt that followed.

Battle of Gazala

The Ariete met early success during the Battle of Gazala, when it overran the British-officered 3rd Indian Motor Brigade at Rugbet Al Atasc on 27 May 1942, capturing 1,000 troops. The Ariete then repelled strong British armoured counterattacks on 29 May and went on to repeat the same feat on 5 June 1942.

El Alamein

During the initial phase of the First Battle of El Alamein the Ariete, which had just six or eight tanks and 1,000 men, having just arrived in the positions assigned to it at dawn on 3 July 1942 and due to the disorganization caused by enemy air attacks, had been compelled to withdraw after losing 531 men, several artillery batteries and a number of tanks. Rommel's report of the division having been decimated with the loss of 100 tanks was greatly exaggerated.
During the Second Battle of El Alamein the Ariete sacrificed struggled to counter the Allied offensive and cover the withdrawal of the army. On 4 November at about 15:30, the few surviving tanks were surrounded by an overwhelmingly superior enemy, and general Arena, the division's commander, broadcast this message:
Of three medium tank battalions, a Bersaglieri regiment, two artillery battalions and a self-propelled gun battalion that composed the division at the time, only the XIII Medium Tank battalion and 200 bersaglieri with 6 semoventi survived long enough to be destroyed along the coastal road or near Fuka on 5 and 6 November. Rommel mourned the loss of the division, writing that its final action had been conducted with exemplary courage and that "in the Ariete we lost our oldest Italian comrades, from whom we had probably always demanded more than they, with their poor armament, had been capable of performing".

135th Armoured Cavalry Division ''Ariete II''

On 21 November 1942, the division was disbanded, and its name kept by a task force gathering up its remnants, which kept fighting throughout the retreat and subsequent campaign in Tunisia. It was forced to surrender along with the rest of the Axis army in North Africa.

On 1 April 1943, as a tribute it was reconstituted as 135 Ariete II Armoured Cavalry Division, made up of cavalry regiments. The division was located in north eastern Italy, with the following order of battle;
It comprised the following armoured fighting vehicles:
for a total of 247 tank and semoventi plus 42 armoured cars.
The division was moved to central Italy following the fall of Benito Mussolini's government and took part to the defence of Rome from 9 to 10 September 1943, counter-attacking German Panzergrenadiers and Paratroopers. Because the Headquarters decided to avoid unnecessary sacrifices and losses, the division was ordered to surrender and was then disbanded.

Reconstitution

132nd Armored Division ''Ariete'' - 1952

On 23 May 1948 its reconstitution as a brigade sized unit begins at Forte Pietralata in Rome. The same year it was transferred to Pordenone in the Friuli region in Northern Italy. On 1 October 1952, the brigade had completed its increase to full division and commanded now the same regiments as during the African campaign:

132nd Armored Division "Ariete" - 1963

In 1963 all Italian divisions adapted their organization to NATO standards and thus added a brigade level to the divisions structure. In the same year the reconstitution of the 32nd Tank Regiment began:
On 1 October 1968 the brigade headquarters were disbanded and the divisions returned to its former structure. The "Ariete" Armored Division was part of the 5th Army Corps based in North-Eastern Italy. The 5th Army Corps was tasked with defending the Yugoslav-Italian border against possible attacks by either the Warsaw Pact, or Yugoslavia or both. The "Ariete" Armored Division was based in the corps' armored reserve.
Before the major reorganization of 1975 the division consisted of the following units:
In 1975 the Italian Army undertook a major reorganization of it forces: the regiment level was abolished and battalions came under direct command of newly formed brigades, which combined units from different arms. Thus on 1 October 1975 the "Ariete" took command of the following brigades, which were formed from its disbanded regiments:
Additional troops were added to bring the division up to full strength:
When the Italian Army abolished the divisional level on 10 October 1986 the 132nd Armored Brigade "Manin" was renamed as 132nd Armored Brigade "Ariete".

Citations