6th Alpini Regiment

The 6th Alpini Regiment was formed on 1 November 1882. It consisted of the Val d'Orco, Val d'Aosta, and Val Tagliamento battalions, named after the valleys from which their soldiers were recruited. On 1 April 1885 the regiment ceded the Val d'Orco and Val d'Aosta battalions to the 4th Alpini Regiment and received the Val Schio battalion from the 2nd Alpini Regiment, the Monte Lessini battalion from the 3rd Alpini Regiment and the Val Brenta battalion from the 4th Alpini Regiment. In 1886 battalions were renamed, taking as new names the location of their main logistic depot: Verona, Vicenza, Bassano, Pieve di Cadore and Gemona. The same year the Feltre battalion was raised. By now the regiment had become to complex and so it was split on 1 August 1887: the regimental command and the battalions Feltre, Gemona, and Pieve di Cadore formed in Conegliano the 7th Alpini Regiment.

The 6th regiment saw its first action in the Italo-Turkish War 1911, fighting Ottoman forces in the Libyan desert. During World War I the regiment consisted of 10 battalions and saw heavy fighting in the Alps against Austria’s Kaiserjäger and Germany’s Alpenkorps. The battalions of the regiment in these days were (pre-war raised units in bold, followed by their first and second line reserve battalions):

• Verona, Val d'Adige, Monte Baldo
• Vicenza, Val Leogra, Monte Berico, Monte Pasubio
• Bassano, Val Brenta, Sette Comuni

On 10 September 1935, the 2nd Alpine Division “Tridentina” was formed and composed of the 5th Alpini and 6th Alpini Regiments and the 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment. In 1937 the battalions are reorganized and renamed: Vestone, Verona and Trento. The "Trento" battalion was placed under command of the newly formed 11th Alpini Regiment and participated in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.

On 21 June 1940 (one day before the French surrender) the “Tridentina” division began to advance with other Italian units into Southern France. The division was then sent to Albania, where it sustained heavy losses in the Italian attack on Greece. As the German Wehrmacht came to the aid of the beaten Italian armies in Albania in April 1941 through the invasion of Yugoslavia the “Tridentina” was sent repatriated for rest and refit.

In September 1942 the “Tridentina” under the command of General Luigi Reverberi was sent together with the Alpini divisions Julia and Cuneense and other Italian units to the Soviet Union to form the ARMIR (Armata Italiana in Russia or Italian Army in Russia) and fight alongside the Germans against the Red Army. The 6th regiment was augmented by the Val Chiese battalion before leaving Italy. Taking up positions along the Don River the Italian units covered part of the left flank of the German Sixth Army, which spearheaded the German summer offensive of 1942 into the city of Stalingrad.

After successfully encircling the German Sixth army in Stalingrad the Red Army’s attention turned to the Italian units along the Don. On 14 January 1943, the Soviet offensive Operation Little Saturn began and the three Alpini division found themselves quickly encircled by the rapidly advancing armoured Soviet Forces. After 12 days of heavy fighting the Julia and Cuneense divisions were completely annihilated. The remnants of the Tridentina were able to break the Soviet encirclement in the epic and desperate Battle of Nikolayevka on 26 January 1943, allowing the 4250 survivors (out of 15000 troops deployed) to reach German lines.

The few survivors of the 6th Regiment were repatriated and after the signing of the Italian armistice with the Allies on 8 September 1943, the regiment was dissolved on September 10, 1943, in the Italian village of Fortezza.

After World War II the 6th Alpini regiment was reformed on 16 April 1946, in the city of Meran with the battalions "Edolo", "Bolzano" and "Trento" and became the sole Alpini regiment of the reformed Alpine Brigade Tridentina. In 1951 the reformed "Bassano" battalion returned to the 6th Alpini and on January 1, 1953, it ceded the "Edolo" battalion to the reformed 5th Alpini Regiment. On 30 September 1975, as part of the Italian Army 1975 reform, the regiment was disbanded and its battalions came under direct command of the Tridentina Brigade. The regimental colours and traditions were given to the care of the "Bassano" battalion.

Before being disbanded in 1975 the structure of the 6th Alpini Regiment was as follows:

• 6th Alpini Regiment, in Bruneck[4]
  • Command and Services Company, in Bruneck
  • Alpini Battalion "Bolzano", in Brixen
    • 92nd Alpini Company
    • 141st Alpini Company
    • 142nd Alpini Company
    • 127th Mortar Company
  • Alpini Battalion "Trento", in Welsberg
    • 94th Alpini Company
    • 144th Alpini Company
    • 145th Alpini Company
    • 128th Mortar Company
  • Alpini Battalion "Bassano", in Innichen
    • 62nd Alpini Company
    • 63rd Alpini Company
    • 74th Alpini Company
    • 129th Mortar Company