Bersaglieri

Discussions on all aspects of Italy under Fascism from the March on Rome to the end of the war.
Post Reply
mfy4444
Member
Posts: 98
Joined: 29 Aug 2012, 22:43

Bersaglieri

#1

Post by mfy4444 » 23 Nov 2016, 19:09

Hello all. And to those in the US, happy Thanksgiving holiday!

This is a two-part question.

First, some years ago I read on the now largely dormant "Italianisti" discussion group someone posting about a relative, might have been his father, who had been a bersaglieri officer during the war. This person had told the story that the bersaglieri officer training school he attended-- I think it might have been mentioned that it was in or near Milan-- was a building of three stories. However, there was a regulation for the cadets that all the stairs in the building-- including the ones leading up to the entrance-- were to be used for going down only. To get into the building, the trainees had to climb ropes that dangled down the side of the building, up to the roof, from where they could go down the stairs to the appropriate classroom.

I've always wanted to verify that story, it's a great one and I hope it's true. It certainly seems to fit the bersaglieri mind-set perfectly. The bersaglieri's almost fanatical devotion to extreme physical fitness is well documented. The historian and military pundit Basil Liddell Hart wrote, after watching bersaglieri train pre-war, that the Italians were training "an army of human panthers," and that the physical training of their soldiers was "far superior to anything seen." So an arrangement like that at the officers' school described above seems completely in line with the bersaglieri "ethos." Does anyone have any insight if that story about having to climb three stories on a rope just to get into class could be true?

My second question(s): Bersaglieri regiments, before the conversion of their third battalion into a heavy weapons battalion, normally included a regimental antitank company, correct? At least on the t/o's that I've seen. Would that company have been the normal type, i.e., six 47mm 47/32? Or were they furnished with the 20mm Solothurn antitank rifles instead? (and if so, how many: if not, the second part of question two, were there then normally 20mm AT rifles in the individual battalions, and how many? The bersaglieri seem to have been better-supplied with this expensive-- and hence relatively rare-- imported weapon than normal infantry units...)

Regards, and as usual, thanks for all thoughts on these two bersaglieri-related subjects.

Mike Yaklich

User avatar
jwsleser
Member
Posts: 1363
Joined: 13 Jun 2005, 15:02
Location: Leavenworth, KS
Contact:

Re: Bersaglieri

#2

Post by jwsleser » 27 Nov 2016, 23:52

Mike

I can't help with the first part. I am not that familiar with the officer's school system.

As for the second, please note that Italian organizational structures were rapidly changing. it is difficult to pin down exactly when things changed and what changed. As important, bersgalieri units in motorized formations were treated differently from corps/separate bersaglieri regiments. To say that all the regiments had a uniform organization is a false position to adopt.

Everything I have indicate that the reggimenti bersaglieri lacked any type of A/T armament at the start of the war (1939). Each battalion had a MG company, but didn't have a compagnia armi d'accompgnamento (nor did the regiment). The original regimental organization was a cp. comando, two-three battaglioni (bicycle), and a cp. motociclisti. The regiments assigned to the armoured and motorized divisions had one motociclisti btg, two btg. autoporto, and a cp. controcarro by June 1940. The regiments assigned to the celere had three btg. (bicycle), one cp. motociclisti, and one cp. controcarro. The cp. controcarro was always equipped with 47/32 guns. I am not sure what the separate regiments had.

The following is from Cappellano's book on artillery pages 240-243. While ordered in 1939, the first Solothurns weren't delivered until late 1940 (I assume due to the need to redesign the weapon for the Italian 20mm round). It appears that the original concept was an A/T company as part of a divisional A/T battalion. The company would consist of a plotone comando (with a squadra comando and a autocarreggio section), three plotone fuciloni Solothurn (each with two squadre of two Solothurn each). The dvisione Friuli received the first company. However the need to provide A/T assets in A.S. lead to all 100 weapons being shipped to that theater.

It was until 1942 that more Solothurns were acquired. These were purchased in order to equip the infantry/bersaglieri companies with A/T weapons under the A.S. 42 divisional reorganization.

Pista! Jeff
Jeff Leser

Infantrymen of the Air


Post Reply

Return to “Italy under Fascism 1922-1945”