6th Army (Italy)

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The 6th Army (Italian: 6ª Armata) was a World War I and World War II field army of the Royal Italian Army.

World War I[]

The 6th Army was activated on 1st December 1916 for service on the Italian front. The army served on the Asiago plateau. With the end of the war the army was deactivated on 1 July 1919.

World War II[]

The army was reactivated as "Army of the Po" (Italian: Armata del Po) on 3 October 1938 under the command of General Ettore Bastico, it comprised three corps: the Auto-transportable Corps, consisting of three divisions; the Fast Corps, consisting of three cavalry divisions; and the Armored Corps, consisting of two motorized and two armored divisions in the process of formation. These were the 131st Armored Division "Centauro" and 132nd Armored Division "Ariete"[a] and the 101st Motorized Division "Trieste" and 102nd Motorized Division "Trento".[b][1] This formation was the brainchild of General Alberto Pariani, then Chief of the General Staff, who desired to combine armored and motorized 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.[2]

In 1939, six Blackshirt battalions took part in the field manoeuvres of the Army of the Po.[3] 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.[1] During the Italian invasion of France (10–25 June 1940), the Army of the Po (minus the Centauro) was held in reserve.[4]

On 15 February 1941 the army changed its name to 6th Army and moved to southern Italy. On 1 March, the Armored Corps became the XVII Corps and deployed to Albania as an infantry command. All three of the former corps of the 6th Army took part in the invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. In July 1943, the headquarters of the 6th 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.[1]

Order of battle on 10 June 1940[]

Commanders[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ They officially came into being on 1 February and 20 April 1939, respectively.
  2. ^ They officially came into being on 2 January and 4 April 1939, respectively.

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Crociani & Battistelli 2011, pp. 5–6.
  2. ^ Gooch 2007, p. 413.
  3. ^ Crociani & Battistelli 2010, p. 35.
  4. ^ Nafziger 1997, pp. 12–18.
  5. ^ Axis History

Sources[]

  • Crociani, P.; Battistelli, P. P. (2010). Italian Blackshirt, 1935–45. Osprey Publishing.
  • Crociani, P.; Battistelli, P. P. (2011). Italian Army Elite Units and Special Forces, 1940–43. Osprey Publishing.
  • Gooch, John (2007). Mussolini and His Generals: The Armed Forces and Fascist Foreign Policy, 1922–1940. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Nafziger, George Francis (1997). "Italian Army, 10 June 1940" (PDF). United States Army Combined Arms Center. G. F. Nafziger. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
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