In World War II, when it comes to paratroopers, everyone may think of the German paratroopers who have made great achievements in the early days of World War II, the American paratroopers who are under siege in Bastoni but still disdain the enemy's persuasion, and also think of the British paratroopers who have repeatedly gone deep behind enemy lines to fight, and for the Italian paratroopers, due to a series of confusing operations in World War II, little attention has been paid to, but in fact, the Italian paratroopers are also an elite force, and their combat history is no less than that of other countries. It even gained the respect of the British, an enemy who had always liked to laugh at Italy.
Italian paratroopers in the cabin
Although Italy was lagging behind in most aspects of World War II, it was the first of the Axis powers to study airborne tactics and form airborne troops, and as early as March 1938, the then Governor-General of Libya, Italo Balbo, formed Italy's first paratrooper unit, the 1st Libyan Aviation Infantry Battalion, which was staffed by volunteers from the army and air force, but most of them were local Libyan Arabs, and the air force also set up Italy's first parachute school in Fort Benneto.
Marshal Balbo Air Force
But mussolini did not know all this, so the position of the unit was very awkward, and they lacked some of the necessary equipment- such as steel helmets and jumping boots, which were the primary items to ensure the safety of skydiving, so it became difficult to persuade the inhabitants of the colony to jump from above with peace of mind, even more difficult than the average Italian soldier became braver, as was the case with the 1st Libyan National Parachute Battalion, which was formed on May 23, 1940. In January 1941, these units were deployed as infantry in the defense of Derna, only to be annihilated by the British pursuing all the way from Egypt.
Italian Paratroopers of Libyan origin
As the German paratroopers made a splash in the blitzkrieg against Western Europe, a wave of "paratrooper fever" came around the world, and the Italian Army also began to form its own paratrooper unit, all of which were from the Royal Gendarmerie of the Italian Royal Family, of which the 1st Royal Gendarmerie Paratrooper Battalion was formally established on July 1, 1940, which was put into the North African battlefield in 1941.
Italian paratroopers grew very quickly. Soon after, the Fort Benneto Paratrooper School opened a branch in Tarquinia, Italy, and its faculty became the cornerstone of the formation of the later famous "Lightning" division. The second paratrooper school was officially established in Viterbo in Italy, and on his basis another division, the "Rain Cloud" paratrooper division, was formed. A third paratrooper division, the Hurricane Division, was also in the making, but the plan was aborted due to Italy's surrender to the Allies in 1943.
Italian paratroopers trained at a paratrooper school
The first actual battle of the Italian paratroopers took place during Operation Compass, when about one battalion of paratroopers was airlifted to Cyrenaica to block the British pursuit and cover the retreat of the collapsed Libyan Army Group. They did an excellent job, but they also suffered heavy casualties.
Italian paratroopers in battle
In April 1941, before the Germans captured Crete, the Italian 1st Parachute Regiment (under the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Parachute Battalions) was tasked with capturing the Greek island of Kefalonia. On 30 April 1941, two companies of the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Parachute Regiment took off from Galatina Airport in SM-82 aircraft and landed directly on the island of Kefalonia.
Italian paratroopers successfully parachuted on the island of Kefalonia and disarmed a battalion of Greek garrisons and about 400 policemen on the island without bloodshed. The next day, the paratroopers boarded two other nearby islands in stolen Greek fishing boats. On 5 May, the Italian infantry replaced the 2nd Battalion into Kefalonia, and the first airborne battle of the Italian army ended successfully.
Italian soldiers parachute
On 1 September 1941, the italian army's first paratrooper division, the 1st Parachute Division, was formed, which initially consisted of the 1st Parachute Regiment (subordinate to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Parachute Battalions), the 2nd Parachute Regiment (5th, 6th and 7th Parachute Battalions) and the 8th Parachute Blasting Battalion. In 1942, the newly formed 3rd Parachute Regiment (under the 9th, 10th, and 11th Parachute Battalions) and the 1st Parachute Artillery Regiment also joined the division. The newly formed Italian Paratrooper Division had been training for the capture of malta, a crossroads in the Mediterranean, but as the war progressed, they were eventually transferred to the North African theater.
In August 1942, the 1st Parachute Division was transferred to North Africa to fight as a ground force, and this division was renamed the 185th "Lightning" Parachute Division, a name derived from the Latin proverb meaning "lightning that falls from the sky". Its subordinate regiments of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Parachute Regiments and 1st Parachute Artillery Regiments were renamed the 185th, 186th, 187th and 185th Parachute Artillery Regiments, respectively. In order to form a new paratrooper division, the 185th Parachute Regiment and the 185th Parachute Artillery Regiment were later transferred back to Italy, and the "Lightning" Division became a lightly armed paratrooper unit with only 2 regiments, with a total of only 5,000 men in the division, and the strength was equivalent to a reinforced regiment.
The "Lightning Division" holds a ceremony for the formation of the army
The first battle of the 185th Lightning Paratrooper Division after its arrival in Africa was the Battle of Alam Halfa, which served as a defensive task. In the face of the British attack, the Italian paratroopers showed extraordinary tenacity, not only holding their positions, but also launching a series of sneak attacks. During the sneak attack, the officers and men of the 185th Lightning Division not only captured a large amount of supplies, but even captured Brigadier General Clifton Herbert, the commander of the 6th New Zealand Brigade.
On October 23, 1942, the famous Battle of El Alamein began, and the 185th "Lightning" Paratrooper Division was deployed on the southern flank of the front line as part of the German-Italian Panzer Army, withstanding the onslaught of the British Army, and on a 15-kilometer-long position the division had only 80 artillery pieces, one-fifth of the British army in front of it. The division was only one-thirteenth the size of the British army, and the number of armored vehicles was only one-thirtieth of that of the British army.
British tanks
Despite this absolute disadvantage, the "Lightning" paratrooper division still met the incoming British army with high morale, engaged in hand-to-hand combat with British tanks such as Molotov cocktails and grenades, destroyed nearly a hundred British tanks, and killed and wounded thousands of enemy troops. The resistance of the remnants of the Lightning Division has exceeded the limits of what every man can reach. ”
Officers and men of the "Blitzkrieg" division were in combat
On November 3, with the final defeat of the German and Italian armies, the "Lightning" paratrooper division was forced to begin to retreat west on foot, because there was no means of transport, weapons, ammunition, drinking water and other supplies were also exhausted, the "Lightning" division could not escape the encirclement of the British army with much higher mobility than its own, the British army had great admiration for this Completely different Italian army it had encountered before, and had persuaded the officers and men of the "Lightning" division several times, but the answer was that we were the "Lightning" division!
On 6 November, the remnants of the "Lightning" division were chased and surrounded by British tanks, and after the bullets were fired, the officers ordered the destruction of all weapons and waited for the arrival of the British, who were finally all captured, and some isolated small units of the division resisted until November 11, and some sporadic personnel were lucky enough to withdraw with the German Afrika Korps, but these people added up to only 306 people, less than a battalion in peacetime.
Hand-drawn by Italian paratroopers on the battlefields of North Africa
The shock to the British of this battle with the Italian paratroopers was enormous, and General Hughes, commander of the British 44th Infantry Division, who fought against the Lightning Division, said: "I have never encountered an opponent like the Lightning Division in my military career. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill specifically mentioned the 185th Lightning Paratrooper Division in a speech in London after the victory at the Battle of El Alamein and praised it as the "Desert Division".
The remnants of the "Lightning" division withdrew to Tunis with a large force, and after receiving some reserve reinforcements from Italy, the unit was reorganized into a battle group, the "Lightning-Tunis" battle group, to continue fighting in North Africa. In April 1943, these units were completely annihilated at the Battle of Mount Teclonay in Tunisia. In addition, part of the division was absorbed by the German 4th Paratrooper Division and fought until the end of the war. The "Lightning" paratrooper division was rebuilt after World War II and remains one of the most elite Italian units today.
Italian paratroopers fighting in Tunisia
After the "Lightning" division, the Italian Army formed a second paratrooper division in 1943, the 184th "Rain Cloud" Division, which was a new unit based on the 185th Regiment of the "Lightning" Division transferred from North Africa. The paratrooper division was sent to Sardinia, where malaria had almost destroyed the force.
The Southern Italian Army, which had joined the Allies, rebuilt the "Rain Cloud" Parachute Division (named the 183rd "Rain Cloud" Paratrooper Division) and sent it to fight against the German and Northern Italian Armies. However, a "Rain Cloud" independent paratrooper battalion also joined the Axis camp and continued to fight the Allies under the command of the German 4th Parachute Division.
Officers and men of the "Rain Cloud" paratrooper division
On September 23, 1943, Mussolini, who had been rescued from the Grand Sasso Mountains by Skolzner, announced the establishment of the Italian Social Republic (hereinafter referred to as Northern Italy) in the small town of Salò in northern Italy, and appointed himself head of state and foreign minister, competing against the Government of the Kingdom of Italy in the south. The regular armies of Northern Italy, including the Army, Air Force, Navy, and The Republican National Guard (formerly the notorious Blackshirts), all had their own paratrooper units.
The "Raincloud" independent paratrooper battalion of more than three hundred and fifty men under the northern Italian army was actually subordinate to the German 4th Paratrooper Division, which was thrown into the battle against the Allied forces landing from Anzio in January 1944, and in February 1944, the fighting south of Rome became more and more intense, and the Italian paratroopers on the Nettuno Front infiltrated the ruins of the town along the coast and counterattacked fiercely with MG42 machine guns and grenades obtained from the Germans, causing heavy casualties to the American landing forces and forcing them to temporarily retreat. Despite the success of this counterattack, it also suffered as many as 70% of casualties.
Italian paratroopers fighting in Anzio
The Northern Italian Air Force formed the "Lightning" Parachute Regiment composed of 3 battalions, and the Northern Italian Navy formed a "Parachute Frogman Battalion", which consisted of volunteers with Marine Corps experience, and due to the influx of volunteers, the Parachute Frogman Battalion had more than 1400 troops. These paratroopers in northern Italy would fight alongside the Germans until the end of the Italian campaign.
The National Guard of the Republic of Northern Italy had a 300-man paratrooper battalion of "Mazarini", which had been carrying out the task of eliminating Italian partisans on the Padua plains from August 1944 to April 1945, and finally surrendered to the Allies together with the Germans.
For their outstanding performance, the Northern Italian paratroopers were awarded the order along with the Germans