10th Engineer Regiment (Italy)

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10th Engineer Regiment
10° Reggimento Genio Guastatori
CoA mil ITA rgt genio 10.png
Regimental coat of arms
Active5 November 1926 - 8 September 1943
10 October 1975 - 15 August 1993
16 August 1993 - present[1]
Country Italy
BranchItalian Army
RoleCombat engineers
Part of132nd Armored Brigade "Ariete"
Garrison/HQCremona
Motto(s)"Al mio valor l'aspro cimento è sprone"
Anniversaries24 June 1918 - Second Battle of the Piave River
DecorationsCroce di guerra al valor militare BAR.svg Croce al merito dell'esercito silver medal BAR.svg Croce al merito dell'esercito bronze medal BAR.svg Medaglia di bronzo al merito CRI BAR.svg
1x War Cross of Military Valour
1x Silver Cross of Army Merit
1x Bronze Cross of Army Merit
1x Bronze Medal of Red Cross Merit[2]
Insignia
Sappers gorget patches
Mostrina - Genio Guastatori.png
Mostrina - Genio Guastatori.png

The 10th Engineer Regiment (Italian: 10° Reggimento Genio Guastatori) is a military engineer regiment of the Italian Army based in Cremona in Lombardy. Today the regiment is the engineer unit of the 132nd Armored Brigade "Ariete".[3]

History[]

The Regiment originates from the Sappers Battalion and the Telegraphists Battalion established on 1 April 1920, respectively in Capua and Santa Maria Capua Vetere, for the X Army Corps of Naples.[1]

Kingdom of Italy[]

On 13 July 1922, the 18th Army Corps Engineers Group was formed with the two Battalions. The Depot, in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, was aggregated on 1 October of the same year. The new unit included Command, the Sappers-Miners Battalion, in turn with an engine-telegraph section and a fire brigade section, the Telegraph Battalion, in turn with dovecote section and two dovecotes (Gaeta and Catanzaro), Photoelectric Company and Depot. On March 1, 1923, the motor-telefer, Dovecotes and fire brigade sections were disestablished.[1]

In implementation of the 11 March 1926 Army reform, on 5 November 1926 the 18th Group became the 10th Engineers Regiment and the dovecote of Catanzaro was disestablished. The 10th Engineers Regiment was organized as follows:[1]

  • Command;
  • Sappers-Miners Battalion;
  • Telegraph Battalion
  • Dovecote of Gaeta.

The Sappers-Miners Battalion in February 1934 became a Sappers-Craftsmen Battalion of 5 Companies. The Battalion was dissolved on 15 January 1936. In January 1937 the Telegraph and Radiotelegraph units changed their name to Signals units.[1]

During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, the 10th Engineers Regiment mobilized and sent nine Battalions, fourteen Companies and ten minor units of various specialties to Italian East Africa.[4]

Second World War[]

During the Second World War, the Regiment did not participate directly in the operations, but became a mobilization center and through the Depot set up and mobilized various Engineers units in Albania, in North Africa and on the Eastern Front.[1][4]

The regiment was disestablished in September 1943 following the Armistice of Cassibile.[1]

1953 - 1975[]

On 1 April 1953, the 3rd Pioneers Engineers Battalion of the Army Corps was established in Pavia, through the transformation of the pre-existing 3rd Territorial Pioneer Company. On 1 June 1953, the Command Platoon and the 1st Pioneer Company were added. In September 1953, the staff was completed with the formation of the Field Fleet Company.[1]

1975 - 1993[]

As part of the Italian Army 1975 reform, on 10 October 1975 the unit assumed the name of 3rd Pioneers Engineers Battalion "Lario" with Command, Company Command and Field Fleet, 3 Pioneer Companies. On this occasion, the Battalion was declared heir to the military traditions of the 10th Engineers Regiment.[1][4]

On November 12, 1976, the Battalion received the War Flag of the 10th Engineer Regiment.[1]

On 1 January 1987 the Battalion underwent a new reorganization, being organized with the Command, the Command and Services Company, 3 Pioneer Companies, the Special Equipment Company.[1]

1993 - present[]

The Battalion was disestablished on 15 August 1993 and the following day the 10th Pioneers Engineers Regiment was formed, which also included the personnel of the dissolved 131st Engineers Battalion "Ticino".[1]

On 20 September 1996, the 10th Pioneers Engineers Regiment was reorganized as Combat Engineers Regiment with the current name. It was placed under the command of the Projection Forces Command.[1]

The Regiment has been employed several times in missions abroad.[1] In June 1999 the Regiment was relocated almost completely to Kosovo, thus participating in its first multinational peace-keeping mission, the Operation Joint Guardian.[4]

On 1 September 2000 the Regiment joined the 132nd Armoured Brigade "Ariete".[1][4]

Also in the following years the "Ticino" Battalion, operational arm of the Regiment, was employed in the Balkans, with the exception of 2002 when the Regiment was simultaneously employed in Kosovo and Afghanistan. In North Macedonia, on 8 May 2002, Captain Stefano Rugge died following the explosion of an anti-tank mine. Captain Rugge was posthumously promoted to Major and awarded a Silver Medal of Military Valor.[4]

Missions abroad[]

The Regiment participated in the following peacekeeping missions abroad:[5]

  • Operation "Joint Forge" (Bosnia), in 1999 with a unit at company level and in 2000 with a unit at platoon level;
  • Operation “Joint Guarantor” (North Macedonia), in 1999 with a unit at company level;
  • Operation Joint Guardian (Kosovo), in 1999 and 2002 at regimental level and in 2000 and 2001 at battalion level;
  • operation "ISAF" (Afghanistan), in 2002, initially with a unit at company level and, later, with two companies and a Multinational Engineers Group;
  • Operation "Nibbio" (Afghanistan), in 2003 with an EOD platoon;
  • Operation “Decisive Endeavor” (Kosovo), in 2003 at battalion level;
  • Operation Ancient Babylon (Iraq), in 2004 at regimental level.

Current structure[]

A VTMM "Orso" Route Clearing vehicle of the Italian engineer corps

As of 2019 the 10th Engineer Regiment consists of:[6]

  • CoA mil ITA rgt genio 10.png Regimental Command, in Cremona
    • Command and Logistic Support Company
    • Sappers Battalion "Ticino"
      • 1st Sappers Company
      • 4th Sappers Company
      • 5th Mobility Support Company
      • 6th Deployment Support Company

The Command and Logistic Support Company fields the following platoons: C3 Platoon, Transport and Materiel Platoon, Medical Platoon, Commissariat Platoon, and EOD Platoon. Each of the two sapper companies fields a Command Platoon, an Advanced Combat Reconnaissance Teams Platoon, and two sapper platoons. The Deployment Support Company and Mobility Support Company field the battalion's heavy military engineering vehicles: Biber bridgelayers, Dachs armored engineer vehicles, cranes, excavators, Medium Girder Bridges etc. The sapper companies and Command and Logistic Support Company are equipped with VTLM "Lince" and VTMM "Orso" vehicles.

See also[]

External links[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "10° Reggimento Genio Guastatori - La Storia". Italian Army. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  2. ^ "10° Reggimento Genio Guastatori - Il Medagliere". Italian Army. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  3. ^ "10° Reggimento Genio Guastatori". Italian Army. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "10° Rgt Genio Guastatori". www.anget.it (in Italian). ANGET - Associazione Nazionale Genieri e Trasmettitori d'Italia. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  5. ^ "10 Reggimento Genio Guastatori". gruppoguastatori (in Italian). Gruppo Nazionale Guastatori. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  6. ^ "10° Reggimento Genio Guastatori". Ministero della Difesa. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
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