The unit was reformed in 1975 as 20th Self-propelled Field Artillery Group "Piave" and assigned to the 132nd Armored Brigade "Manin". With the end of the Cold War the group was disbanded in 1991.[2][3] 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.[2]
In 1895-96 the regiment provided two officers and 54 troops to units deployed to Eritrea for the First Italo-Ethiopian War. In 1911-12 the regiment provided 19 officers and 199 troops for units deployed for the Italo-Turkish War. On 1 January 1915 the regiment ceded its III Group to help form the 29th Field Artillery Regiment.[2]
On 31 October 1934 the regiment transferred its I Motorized Group with 100/17 mod. 14 howitzers to the 11th Army Corps Artillery Regiment and replaced it with a group with horse-drawn 100/17 mod. 14 howitzers. In January 1935 the division was renamed 10th Infantry Division "Piave" and consequently the regiment changed its name to 20th Artillery Regiment "Piave". In 1935 the regiment provided 18 officers and 649 enlisted to augment units deployed for the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.[2]
On 4 September 1939 the regiment was fully motorized and on 4 November of the same year the regiment ceded its group with 75/13 mod. 15 mountain guns to help reform the 32nd Artillery Regiment "Marche" of the 32nd Infantry Division "Marche". On 10 June 1940, the day Italy entered World War II, the regiment consisted of a command, command unit, the I Group with 100/17 mod. 14 howitzers, the II and III groups with 75/27 mod. 11 field guns, and an anti-aircraft battery with 20/65 mod. 35 anti-aircraft guns. The regiment was assigned to the 10th Infantry Division "Piave", which also included the 57th Infantry Regiment "Piave" and 58th Infantry Regiment "Piave".[2]
In April 1941 the division participated in the Invasion of Yugoslavia. By 16 April 1941 the division had advanced to the Pivka area. Once hostilities ended the division moved in May 1941 to Liguria, where it was motorized. On 15 July 1941 the division was renamed 10th Motorized Division "Piave" and by 30 July the 20th Artillery Regiment "Piave" consisted of a command, command unit, the I and II groups with 100/17 mod. 14 howitzers, the III and IV groups with 75/27 mod. 11 field guns, the XII Mixed Anti-aircraft Group with two batteries equipped with 75/27 C.K. anti-aircraft guns on Lancia 1Z trucks and one battery with 20/65 mod. 35 anti-aircraft guns, and the 220th Anti-tank Battery with 47/32 mod. 35 anti-tank guns.[2][5]
On 15 August 1941 the regiment's depot in Padua formed the 120th Motorized Artillery Regiment. In October 1941 the XII Mixed Anti-aircraft Group was disbanded and only the battery with 20/65 mod. 35 anti-aircraft guns remained with the regiment. On 12 November 1942 the Piave moved to the area between Saint-Tropez and Grimaud in Southern France as part of the Axis occupation of France.[2][5]
After the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943 the division was tasked to defend Rome from invading German forces. The division defenders fought the Germans near Monterotondo until 10 September, but the flight of King Victor Emmanuel III to Apulia made further resistance senseless. On 10 September 1943 the Germans disbanded the division and its regiments.[2][5]
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 1 November 1975 the 132nd Armored Artillery Regiment's III Self-propelled Field Artillery Group in Maniago was renamed 20th Self-propelled Field Artillery Group "Piave" and assigned to the 132nd Armored Brigade "Manin". The group consisted of a command, a command and services battery, and three batteries equipped with M109G 155 mm self-propelled howitzers. At the time the group fielded 477 men (38 officers, 62 non-commissioned officers, and 377 soldiers).[2][3][6]
On 12 November 1976 the President of the Italian RepublicGiovanni Leone assigned with decree 846 the flag and traditions of the 20th Artillery Regiment "Piave" to the group.[2][3][7] For its conduct and work after the 1976 Friuli earthquake the group was awarded a Bronze Medal of Army Valor, which was affixed to the group's flag and added to the group's coat of arms.[2][1]
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 "Ariete" carried the traditions of the 132nd Armored Division "Ariete", which had distinguished itself in the Western Desert campaign of World War II, the army decided to retain the name of the division. On 30 September 1986 the Ariete's division command in Pordenone was disbanded and the next day the command of the 132nd Armored Brigade "Manin" moved from Aviano to Pordenone, where the command was renamed 132nd Armored Brigade "Ariete". The brigade retained the Manin's units, including the 20th Self-propelled Field Artillery Group "Piave".[2][8][9]
Recent times
On 30 January 1991 the 19th Self-propelled Field Artillery Group "Rialto" was transferred from the 8th Mechanized Brigade "Garibaldi" to the 132nd Armored Brigade "Ariete". The next day the 20th Self-propelled Field Artillery Group "Piave" was placed in reserve status. On 8 February of the same year the flag of the 20th Artillery Regiment "Piave" was transferred to the Shrine of the Flags in the Vittoriano in Rome and on 31 March the group was officially disbanded.[2][3]
^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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