Special Armored Brigade

Brigata Corazzata Speciale (Raggruppamento Babini)

M13/40 tanks on the streets of Tripoli, March 1941
Country Italy
Branch Army
Type Armoured brigade
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 General Valentino Babini

The Special Armored Brigade (Brigata Corazzata Speciale), also known as "Babini Group", or Raggruppamento Babini) was an ad hoc armored unit formed by the Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito Italia) in Italian North Africa during the initial stages of the Western Desert Campaign of World War II. The group was formed in late 1940 and was destroyed at the Battle of Beda Fomm in February 1941.

History

In late 1940, the Italian Comando Supremo (General staff) moved quickly to organize the Brigata Corazzata Speciale (BCS). In hardly more than a month, the Italians dispatched this volunteer force to North Africa under the command of General Valentino Babini. The BCS included M13/40s, the most modern Italian medium tanks, which were a vast improvement over the M11/39s used as part of the Maletti Group (Raggruppamento Maletti). M13s had a superior turret-mounted 47 mm tank gun, which was more than able to pierce the armour of the British light and cruiser tanks. The BCS included M13 tanks supported by three Bersaglieri battalions, one motorcycle battalion, one artillery regiment, two anti-tank gun companies, one engineering company and several supply units. Other than command vehicles, the M13s of the BCS were not equipped with radios and communication by most Italian tanks required the use of signal flags.[1]

At Derna and Mechili, the BCS included fifty-five M13/40 tanks of the 3rd Battalion and the 5th Battalion from the 132 Armoured Division Ariete. This should have amounted to at least 120 × M13s but 82 tanks had just arrived at Benghazi and required ten days of "acclimazation" before becoming operational. At Benghazi and Beda Fomm, the BCS had almost 100 × M13/40s.[2] The Italians tried to evacuate Cyrenecia in the face of the British advance but a flying column got behind them and blocked the Via Balbia south of Benghazi. The BCS and the rest of the 10th Army was destroyed or captured, attempting to break through during the battle of Beda Fomm. The last armoured attack by around 30 × M13s, broke through the forward British lines and were then knocked one after the other, by a battery of twelve Swedish Bofors 37 mm anti-tank guns portée (carried on the back of a lorry). The last operational Bofors guns knocked out the last five M13s.[3]

Order of battle

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The reorganization incorporated the III Medium Tank Battalion, equipped with 37 × M13/40 tanks. The Brigata Corazzata Speciale (Babini Armoured Brigade or Babini Group) was formed west of Bardia, near Mersa Lucch. At the start of Operation Compass, the only armoured units in Egypt were the IX light tank battalion (L3) attached to the 2nd Libyan Infantry Division Pescatori, the II Medium Tank Battalion (M11/39) with the Maletti Group and the LXIII and XX Light Tank battalions (L3) with the XXI Corps HQ. This gave the 10th Army about 125 × L3 and M11/39 tanks in Egypt.[4]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Walker 2003, p. 63.
  2. ↑ Walker 2003, pp. 63, 65.
  3. ↑ Guglielmi 2005, pp. 32–33.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Christie 1999, p. 91.

References

Further reading

External links

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