The regiment was reformed in 1947 and assigned to the Infantry Division "Friuli". In 1956 the regiment was transferred to the V Army Corps and in 1963 the regiment was disbanded. In 1975 the unit was reformed in Vercelli as 9th Self-propelled Field Artillery Group "Brennero" and assigned to the 31st Armored Brigade "Curtatone". With the end of the Cold War the group was disbanded in 1992.[1][2] The regimental anniversary falls, as for all Italian Army artillery regiments, on June 15, the beginning of the Second Battle of the Piave River in 1918.[1]
This article is about the Royal Italian Army's 9th Field Artillery Regiment, which was a support unit assigned to a division-level command. This regiment is unrelated to the 9th Heavy Field Artillery Regiment, which was a support unit assigned to a corps-level command, and unrelated to the 9th Heavy Artillery Regiment, which was a support unit assigned to an army-level command.[1]
On 13 November 1870 the regiment was renamed 9th Artillery Regiment and on 1 January 1871 it ceded two batteries to help form a new 10th Artillery Regiment. On 30 September 1873 the regiment ceded its remaining four fortress companies to help form the 13th Fortress Artillery Regiment. On 29 June 1882 the regiment was renamed 9th Field Artillery Regiment. On 1 November 1884 the regiment ceded two batteries to help from the 11th Field Artillery Regiment and on 1 November 1888 the regiment ceded eight batteries and one train company to help form the 21st Field Artillery Regiment.[1][3]
On 1 March 1895 the regimed ceded one field battery to the 5th Field Artillery Regiment, which on the same date ceded its six mountain batteries to the Mountain Artillery Regiment. In 1895-96 the regiment provided two officers and 42 troops to augment units deployed to Eritrea for the First Italo-Ethiopian War. During the Italo-Turkish War in 1911-12 the regiment provided three officers and 48 troops to from one battery and provided 45 officers and 348 troops to augment units deployed for the war. On 1 January 1915 the regiment ceded its II Group to help form the 35th Field Artillery Regiment.[1][3]
World War I
The flanks of Monte Valbella are still today pockmarked by thousands and artillery craters
In January 1935 the 11th Territorial Division of Bolzano was renamed 11th Infantry Division "Brennero" and consequently the regiment was renamed 9th Artillery Regiment "Brennero". In 1935 the regiment provided six officers, 16 non-commissioned officers and 265 troops to augment units deployed for the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. In 1936 the regiment moved from Trento to Bolzano.[1]
On 4 September 1939 the depot of the regiment in Bolzano reformed the 33rd Artillery Regiment "Acqui" and afterwards transferred the regiment its I Group with 100/17 mod. 14 howitzers and III Group with 75/13 mod. 15mountain guns to the reformed regiment. At the same time the 9th Artillery Regiment "Brennero" ceded its II Group with 75/27 mod. 06 field guns to help reform the 55th Artillery Regiment, which was on the way to Libya, where it would join the 27th Infantry Division "Brescia". To help rebuild the 9th Artillery Regiment "Brennero" it received a group with 75/13 mod. 15 mountain guns from the 12th Artillery Regiment "Savona", when that regiment departed for Libya on 11 September of the same year.[1]
During the Greco-Italian War the division was sent as reinforcement to Albania in December 1940. On 9–12 February 1941 Brennero helped to defeat a Greek attack on Tepelenë, with about two-thirds of the division becoming casualties. After the German invasion of Greece the division was deployed to Athens and tasked with counter-insurgency and police duties. For its conduct and sacrifice during the Greco-Italian War regiment was awarded a Bronze Medal of Military Valor, which was affixed on the regiment's flag and is depicted on the regiment's coats of arms.[1]
On 1 November 1942 the regiment's three groups became autonomous and left the regiment, which received during the same month the XLVII Anti-aircraft Group with 75/46 C.A. mod. 34 anti-aircraft guns and the DLVIII Self-propelled Group with 75/18 M41self-propelled guns as replacements. In December 1942 the regiment received a group with 75/27 mod. 06 field guns and a group with 75/32 mod. 37 field guns. In January 1943 the regiment received a second group with 75/32 mod. 37 field guns. By early 1943 the regiment was organized as follows:[1]
On 1 May 1947 the 35th Field Artillery Regiment ceded its V Group and the newly formed V/bis Group, both equipped with QF 17-pounderanti-tank guns, to help reform the 9th Anti-tank Field Artillery Regiment in Brixen. The reformed regiment was assigned to the Infantry Division "Friuli" and consisted of a command, a command unit, the I and II groups with QF 17-pounder anti-tank guns, and the III and IV groups with QF 6-pounder anti-tank guns. In November 1947 the regiment moved from Brixen to Lucca. On 1 January 1951 the Infantry Division "Friuli" included the following artillery regiments:[1][2]
I Group with 100/17 mod. 14 howitzers (replaced with M101 105 mm howitzers in the second half of 1952)
II Group with 100/17 mod. 14 howitzers (replaced with M101 105 mm howitzers in the second half of 1952)
III Light Anti-aircraft Group with 40/56 anti-aircraft autocannons
Anti-tank Sub-grouping
IV Anti-tank Group with QF 17-pounder anti-tank guns
V Anti-tank Group with QF 17-pounder anti-tank guns
On 1 December 1953 the regiment was once again reorganized and renamed 9th Army Corps Self-propelled Artillery Regiment. The regiment now consisted of a command, a command unit, the II Self-propelled Group with M7 Priest self-propelled guns, and two anti-tank groups with QF 17-pounder anti-tank guns. The two anti-tank groups were equipped with M36 tank destroyers and then renamed CIII and CIV self-propelled anti-tank groups. On 30 September 1956 the II Self-propelled Group with M7 Priest self-propelled guns left the regiment and moved to Banne, where it joined the Artillery Command of the V Army Corps. On 1 January 1957 the regiment received the CXI and CXII self-propelled anti-tank groups with M36 tank destroyers from the 13th Field Artillery Regiment. On the same date the regiment was renamed 9th Self-propelled Anti-tank Artillery Regiment.[1][2]
On 1 September 1962 the CIII Self-propelled Anti-tank Group with M36 tank destroyers left the regiment and became an autonomous unit. The group moved to Meran, where it was assigned to IV Army Corps. On 15 May 1963 the 9th Self-propelled Anti-tank Artillery Regiment and its remaining groups were disbanded.[1][2]
During the 1975 army reform the army disbanded the regimental level and newly independent battalions and groups were granted for the first time their own flags. On 21 October 1975 the IV Self-propelled Group of the 131st Armored Artillery Regiment in Vercelli was reorganized and renamed 9th Self-propelled Field Artillery Group "Brennero" and assigned to the 31st Armored Brigade "Curtatone". The group consisted of a command, a command and services battery, and three batteries equipped with M44 155 mm self-propelled howitzers, which were quickly replaced by M109G 155 mm self-propelled howitzers. At the time the group fielded 477 men (38 officers, 62 non-commissioned officers, and 377 soldiers).[1][2][4] On 12 November 1976 the President of the Italian RepublicGiovanni Leone assigned with decree 846 the flag and traditions of the 9th Artillery Regiment "Brennero" to the group.[1][2][5]
In 1986 the Italian Army abolished the divisional level and brigades, which until then had been under one of the Army's four divisions, came under direct command of the Army's 3rd Army Corps or 5th Army Corps. As the Armored Division "Centauro" carried the traditions of the 131st Armored Division "Centauro", which had distinguished itself in the Tunisian campaign of World War II, the army decided to retain the name of the division. On 31 October 1986 the Centauro's division command in Novara was disbanded and the next day the command of the 31st Armored Brigade "Curtatone" moved from Bellinzago Novarese to Novara, where the command was renamed 31st Armored Brigade "Centauro". The brigade retained the Curtatone's units, including the 9th Self-propelled Field Artillery Group "Brennero".[2][6]
Recent times
With the end of the Cold War the Italian Army began to draw down its forces. On 29 July 1992 the 9th Self-propelled Field Artillery Group "Brennero" in Vercelli was disbanded and the next day the 131st Heavy Field Artillery Group "Vercelli", which was also based in Vercelli, exited the Horse Artillery Regiment and entered the reformed 131st Self-propelled Field Artillery Regiment "Centauro", which incorporated the personnel and M109L self-propelled howitzers of the disbanded Brennero group. On 9 October of the same year the flag of the 9th Artillery Regiment "Brennero" was transferred to the Shrine of the Flags in the Vittoriano in Rome.[1][2]
References
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaF. dell'Uomo, R. di Rosa (1998). L'Esercito Italiano verso il 2000 - Vol. Secondo - Tomo II. Rome: SME - Ufficio Storico. p. 76.
^ abcAnnuario militare del regno d'Italia - Volume I. Rome: Enrico Voghera. 1909. p. 542.
^Stefani, Filippo (1989). La storia della dottrina e degli ordinamenti dell'Esercito Italiano - Vol. III - Tomo 2°. Rome: Ufficio Storico - Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito. p. 1189.
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