3rd Infantry Division "Ravenna"

The brigade fought on the Italian front in World War I. On 13 October 1926 the brigade was disbanded and its two regiments were reassigned: the 37th Infantry Regiment "Ravenna" to the III Infantry Brigade and the 38th Infantry Regiment "Ravenna" to the IV Infantry Brigade. The III Infantry Brigade, the former Brigade "Forlì", also included the 43rd Infantry Regiment "Forlì" and the 44th Infantry Regiment "Forlì". The brigade was the infantry component of the 3rd Territorial Division of Alessandria, which also included the 11th Artillery Regiment.[3][4][5]

In 1930 the division exchanged the 44th Infantry Regiment "Forlì" for the 38th Infantry Regiment "Ravenna" with the 4th Territorial Division of Cuneo. In 1935 the division changed its name to 3rd Infantry Division "Monferrato". On 1 April 1934 the division exchanged the 38th Infantry Regiment "Ravenna" for 30th Infantry Regiment "Pisa" with the 26th Infantry Division "Assietta". On 25 March 1939 the 38th Infantry Regiment "Ravenna" returned to the division and the 30th Infantry Regiment "Pisa" was transferred back to the Assietta division. On 31 March 1939 the 43rd Infantry Regiment "Forlì" was transferred to the newly activated 36th Infantry Division "Forlì" and on the same date the III Infantry Brigade was dissolved and the two remaining infantry regiments came under direct command of the division, which changed its name to 3rd Infantry Division "Ravenna".[3]

During the Italian invasion of France in June 1940 the Ravenna was part of III Army Corps of 1st Army.[6] At the campaigns conclusions on 24 June 1940 it had reached the village of Fontan.

In preparation for the Invasion of Yugoslavia the Ravenna was assigned to XI Army Corps and transferred to the Italian-Yugoslav border near Kobarid and Most na Soči in early April 1941.[7] After the Yugoslav surrender the division performed mop-up operations in Škofja Loka from 14 April 1941 until 17 April 1941, before handing the city over to German forces. Next mop-up operations were undertaken near Mirna village. In early May 1941 the Ravenna was transferred to Pivka and then returned to Alessandria, where it remained until 1942. On 15 March 1942 the division transferred the 11th Artillery Regiment to the 104th Infantry Division "Mantova" and received the 121st Motorized Artillery Regiment instead.[3]

The division was one of ten divisions that served on the Eastern Front as part of the Italian Army in Russia. The Ravenna division received orders to move from Piedmont to Eastern Ukraine in June 1942. Before leaving Italy the Ravenna exchanged artillery regiments with the 104th Infantry Division "Mantova", as the Mantova's 121st Motorized Artillery Regiment was equipped with modern 75/18 Mod. 34 howitzers, which were considered to be of better use in the Soviet Union than the World War I vintage 75/27 Mod. 06 field guns of the Ravenna's 11th Artillery Regiment. The Ravenna arrived in Stalino (today Donetsk) in Eastern Ukraine in July 1942 and was assigned to the Italian XXXV Army Corps. The moved from Stalino to Voroshilovgrad (today Luhansk) on 25 July and then proceeded to the Don river, where the division took up defensive positions between Verhny Mamon and Boguchar. In this sector the Ravenna defeated series of Soviet assault between 20 August and 1 September 1942. On 11 September the Soviet forces renewed their attacks focusing on Solonets, south of Voronezh. Afterwards the front calmed until by mid-November 1942, German intelligence spotted the massing of the Soviet 5th Tank Army across the Don. A German officer attached to the 5th Infantry Division "Cosseria" wrote, that the morale of the division and the neighbouring Ravenna was confident considering all the difficulties.[8]

On 11 December 1942 Soviet forces began Operation Little Saturn. The Ravenna division was attacked from either end of the 'pocket' below the Don river held by the Soviets since their August offensive. The division's commander, Major general Francesco Du Pont, asked for a diversionary attack by the nearest Alpini division. General Italo Gariboldi, Commander of the 8th Army, refused because he thought the enemy facing it was too strong and there was too little time. Nor did he deploy the German 27th Panzer Division, which was under his command. The Ravenna destroyed 70 of the 200 Soviet tanks that attacked it, and Du Pont was awarded an Iron Cross First Class in the field by the Germans.

In the following days, however, the intense enemy pressure led to some units of the Ravenna near Verhny Mamon to fall back, thus opening a gap in the Axis' frontline.

By 17 December 1942 Soviet forces reached Chertkovo in the rear of Axis forces. The Soviet 1st Guards Army and the 3rd Guards Army attacked from the north, attempting to encircle 130,000 soldiers of the Italian Army in Russia and advancing to Millerovo.[3]

On 17 December the bulk of the Ravenna had retreated to Voroshilovgrad, where the division reorganized itself and then returned to the front defending the bridges over the Donets river at Veselaya Gora-Stanytsia Luhanska 22-30 December. During the retreat elements of the Ravenna had been separated from the division and been surrounded on 23 December 1942 at Chertkovo, where they, together with other German and Italian units, resisted repeated Soviet attacks. From 1-6 January 1943 the Ravenna was subordinated the German Armeegruppe Fretter-Pico and was defending the western bank of the Donets river. On 15 January the Ravenna tried and succeed to break open the encirclement at Chertkovo.[3]

After Soviet forces had pierced the Donets front on 24 January the Ravenna was forced to retreat under pressure from Soviet armored spearheads. On 17 January the division's remnants reached Bilovodsk and were taken out of the frontline. In April 1943 the remnants of the division were transferred back to Italy, where the division was being reformed in Tuscany. After the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943 the division was disbanded by the invading German forces.[3]