Railway Engineer Regiment (Italy)

During the American Civil War Union railway troops built 641 mi (1,032 km) of railroad and 26 mi (42 km) of railroad bridges. The usefulness of these troops was noted in the Kingdom of Italy and on 30 September 1873 the Italian defense minister Cesare Ricotti-Magnani ordered that each of the two engineer regiments of the Royal Italian Army was to form two railway construction companies and three railroad operations companies. On 2 July 1895 these railway companies were combined in the battalion-sized Railway Brigade, which consisted of four railway construction companies and two railroad operations companies. In October 1910 the brigade was elevated to regiment with the following structure:[4][1]

• Railway Engineer Regiment , in Turin
  • I Railway Engineer Battalion
  • II Railway Engineer Battalion
  • Transport Battalion
  • Railway Operations Section
  • Turin Depot
  • Rome Depot

One of the companies assigned to the new regiment, the 6th Diggers Company of the 2nd Engineer Regiment, had distinguished itself during crossing of the Macerone pass on 20 October 1860 during the Third Italian War of Independence and arrived with a Bronze Medal of Military Valour, which was affixed to the flag of the newly raised regiment.[2]

During World War I the regiment mobilized two more railway engineer battalions, twelve railway construction companies, one railway operations battalion, four decauville companies, and 177 photoelectric sections, which operated searchlights along the Italian Front. During the conflict the regiment's units built 91 mi (147 km) of railway, 373 mi (600 km) of decauville trench railways and 144 bridges.[4][1] The regiment began to operate the Chivasso–Ivrea–Aosta railway in 1915 and after World War I it also began to operate the Bolzano-Meran-Mals railway in the newly annexed province of South Tyrol.

During World War II the regiment mobilized 13 railway engineer battalions and three railroad operation battalions. The battalions saw service in Libya and Tunisia during the Western Desert Campaign and Tunisian Campaign, in Southern Ukraine as part of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia, in Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece and France. In 1941 the 9th Company of the IV Railway Engineer Battalion built a combined road and rail bridge over the Corinth Canal, using an Austrian Roth-Waagner-Brückengerät. The same battalion repaired the bridge over the Gorgopotamos river after the British-Greek Operation Harling had successfully destroyed the bridge on 25 November 1942.[5] Another bridge repaired by the regiment's troops was the Stampetta Bridge in Slovenia. The regiment's I Railway Engineer Battalion served in Ukraine and Russia, where during the Battle of Arbuzovka the battalion fought in the frontline as infantry, earning a War Cross of Military Valour.[2] After Italy changed sides with the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943 and the regiment and its battalions were disbanded by the Germans.[4][1]

On 15 December 1949 the I Railway Engineer Battalion was reformed as part of the 2nd Bridge Engineer Regiment. On 1 January 1954 the I Railway Battalion became an autonomous unit and the process of reforming the Railway Engineer Regiment began. On 1 October 1957 the regiment was officially reformed with the following structure:[4][1]

• Railway Engineer Regiment , in Turin
  • Command Company
  • I Railway Engineer Battalion, in Castel Maggiore
  • II Bridge Engineer Battalion, in Legnago
  • Railway Operations Company

On 1 January 1962 the regiment received the VI Army Corps Engineer Battalion in Bologna and on 1 February 1964 the II Bridge Engineer Battalion returned to the 2nd Bridge Engineer Regiment. On 1 July 1965 the Railway Operations Company was elevated to II Railway Engineer Battalion (Operations). The battalion returned to operate the Chivasso–Ivrea–Aosta railway in 1949. With the 1975 army reform the VI Army Corps Engineer Battalion was disbanded on 31 October 1975.[4][1]

On 8 October 1977 floodwaters of the Toce river swept the railway bridge of the Domodossola–Milan railway between Fondotoce and Feriolo away and the Railway Engineer Regiment was called up to rebuild the 120 m (131 yd) bridge. On 27 May 1978 the new bridge was opened and traffic between Milan and the Simplon Railway could resume. For its work the regiment was awarded a Bronze Cross of Army Merit.[2]

After the Bosnian War the regiment was deployed from 1996 to 1998 to Bosnia-Herzegovina to repair the 186 mi (300 km) long Novi Grad–Bosanska Otoka–Martin Brod–Strmica railway in Northern Bosnia, which was heavily damaged during the war. For its service in Bosnia-Herzegovina the regiment was awarded a Silver Medal of Army Valour.[2] On 1 December 1997 the regiment passed from the Tuscan-Emilian Military Region to the army's Engineer Grouping, which on 10 September 2010 became the Engineer Command.

In July 1999 after the Kosovo War the regiment was deployed to Kosovo, where the regiment operated the Skopje–Kosovo Polje–Pristina railway, and repaired/operated the Kosovo Polje–Peć and Klina–Prizren railways. The regiment returned to Italy in December 1999.[6][4][1] For its service in Kosovo the regiment was awarded a Gold Cross of Army Merit.[2]

In 2001 the regiment ceded the operation of the Chivasso–Ivrea–Aosta railway to the Ferrovie dello Stato and on 1 February 2002 the regiment activated the Operations Battalion in Ozzano Emilia, which received some of the troops and equipment of the 2nd Railway Engineer Battalion (Operations) in Turin, before the latter disbanded on 31 August of the same year and reformed as 32nd Engineer Battalion the next day. The new Operations Battalion was disbanded on 31 October 2017 and its functions and personnel merged into the 1st Railway Engineer Battalion.[4][1]