131st Armoured Division Centauro

This article is about the historic Italian 131st Armoured Division Centauro. For the Italian World War II division, see 136th Armoured Division Centauro II. For the historic Italian Army brigade, see Centauro Armored Brigade.
131st Armoured Division Centauro

Insignia of 131st Armoured Division Centauro
Active 1939–1943
1 November 1952 - 31 October 1986
Country Italy
Branch Italian Armoured Corps
Type Armoured
Size Division
Nickname Centauro
Engagements Italian invasion of Albania
World War II
Greco-Italian War
Invasion of Yugoslavia
Battle of the Kasserine Pass

The 131st Armoured Division Centauro (in Italian: 131ª Divisione Corazzata "Centauro") was an armoured division of the Italian Army during World War II. It was formed in February 1939, by upgrading the 1st Armoured Brigade (1ª Brigata Corazzata). It took part in operations in Albania, Greece and Yugoslavia before returning to Italy. Sent to North Africa in August 1942, it surrendered in Tunisia on 13 May 1943.[1]

History

The 1st Armoured Brigade was formed in April 1937, and, along with the 132nd Armoured Division Ariete, formed the Italian Armoured Corps. The two divisions took part in the first corps-level exercises in the Po Valley in the late 1930s. In February 1939, Centauro was re-designated a division.[2]

World War II

Balkans

When Italy invaded Albania in April 1939, the Centauro was equipped with L3/33 and L3/35 tankettes. The division also participated in the Greco-Italian War in 1940, just before it received its first M13/40 tanks in December 1940, and deployed with them at Këlcyrë in January 1941, losing many of them to the Greek artillery fire.[2] The following year the Centauro was deployed into Yugoslavia, together with the 4th Division "Littorio", where they performed well despite their outdated equipment. In June 1941 they were recalled to Italy to be re-equipped.[2]

Restructure

With the experience they had obtained fighting in the Western Desert the Italian Armoured Divisions were now re organized into a three tank, three infantry battalion structure, combined with a large Artillery regiment which included two battalions of self propelled guns and one anti aircraft battalion and organic reconnaissance and engineer battalions.[2]
In August 1942 they were ordered to prepare to move to Libya.[2]

North Africa

The Centauro missed both the 1st and 2nd Battles of El Alamein, and arrived during the retreat from Egypt back into Libya in late 1942. On 13 December, during the Battle of El Agheila, the Centauro along with a strong formation from the 132nd Armoured Division Ariete forced the British 7th Armoured Division to retreat. Rommel wrote admirably:

Late in the morning, a superior enemy force launched an attack on Combat Group Ariete, which was located south-west of El Agheila, with its right flank resting on the Sebcha Chebira and its left linking up with 90th Light Division. Bitter fighting ensued against 80 British tanks and lasted for nearly ten hours. The Italians put up a magnificent fight, for which they deserved the utmost credit. Finally, in the evening, the British were thrown back by a counter attack of the Centauro's armoured regiment, leaving 22 tanks and 2 amoured cars burnt out or damaged on the battlefield. The British intention of cutting off the 90th Light Division had been foiled".[3]

They were involved in several actions in Tunisia and, according to US historian Brian John Murphy, overran a good part of the US forces defending Highway 13 during the Battle of the Kasserine Pass:

Axis forces also made a breakthrough on Highway 13, where the Italians of the Centauro Division spearheaded the attack. In the early morning hours, the Italians pressed their offensive, broke through the remains of the American line, and continued up Highway 13.[4]

Tanks from the Centauro supported by the 5th Bersaglieri Regiment overran Colonel Anderson Moore's 19th Combat Engineers Regiment during this action.[5]The American newspaper Victoria Advocate reported

Of the 1,200 men in the battalion on Feb. 18, 1943, only 125 remained the next day. The rest were killed, wounded, captured or scattered, as a battle-hardened war machine gave the untested U.S. Army a bloody baptism.[6]

The Centauro remained in Tunisia as part of the Italian 1st Army until the end of the campaign, surrendering in May 1943.[2] The German divisions surrendered en masse in the last week of the Tunisia Campaign, and, although Italian resistance hardened around the defensive line north of Takrouna, by 9 May the Allies had captured the entire 5th Panzer Army without a fight, and the remaining 80,000 Italians under Marshal Giovanni Messe had no option but to lay down their arms on 13 May 1943.

Order of Battle

Post War

Reconstitution

The division was raised again after World War II on 1 April 1951. At first named Centauro Armored Brigade the division reached its full complement of troops in fall of 1952 and became the Centauro Armored Division on 1 November 1952. The division was based around Milan with the headquarters in the city of Verona. The division was initially part of the 4th Army Corps and consisted of the following units:

In fall of 1955 the division moved its headquarters to Novara and joined 3rd Army Corps. The units of the Centauro moved to Milan and Bellinzago Novarese.

Cold War

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 Centauro Armored Division was part of the 3rd Army Corps based in North-Western Italy. The 3rd Army Corps was tasked with defending Lombardy and Piedmont in case the 4th Alpine Army Corps and 5th Army Corps would have failed to stop attacking Warsaw Pact forces east of the Adige river.

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 regimental level was abolished and battalions came under direct command of newly formed brigades, which combined units from different arms. Thus on 21 October 1975 the Centauro took command of the following brigades, which were formed from the division's disbanded regiments:

Additional troops were added to bring the division up to full strength:

On 31 October 1986 the Italian Army abolished the divisional level and brigades came under direct command of the Army Corps. As the Centauro Armored Division carried a historically significant name, the division ceased to exist on 31 October in Novara, but the next day in the same location the Centauro Armored Brigade was activated as part of 3rd Army Corps. The new brigade took command of the units of the Curtatone Armored Brigade, whose name was stricken from the roll of active units of the Italian Army.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wendal, Marcus. "Italian Army". Axis History. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Bennighof, Mike (2009). "Centauro at Gazala". Avalanche Press.
  3. ↑ The Rommel Papers, US version, p. 373
  4. ↑ "Murphy in America". WWII Magazine. Archived from the original on January 31, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
  5. ↑ "The American collapse began in earnest by late morning. At 11:22 the 19th Engineers' commander, Colonel A.T.W. Moore, warned Stark by radio that enemy infantry and tanks were forcing the pass along Highway 13. An engineer major bellowed: "Forget about our equipment and just save your life." Artillery observers fled, explaining plausibly if ingloriously: "This place is too hot. "Companies disintegrated into platoons, platoons into squads, squads into solitary foot soldiers chased to the rear by screaming meemies. Half an hour later, Moore radioed, "Enemy overrunning our C.P.," and bolted for high ground. He soon arrived at Stark's tent to announce that the 19th Engineers no longer existed." An Army At Dawn: The War in North Africa, Rick Atkinson, p.?, Henry Holt and Company, 2007
  6. ↑ Kasserine Pass: A baptism of fire for U.S. Army in World War II, Victoria Advocate, February 7, 1993

Further reading