The 17th Infantry Division "Pavia" (Italian: 17ª Divisione di fanteria "Pavia") was an infantrydivision of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The Pavia was formed in on 27 April 1939 and named after the city of Pavia. The Pavia was classified as an auto-transportable division, meaning it had some motorized transport, but not enough to move the entire division at once. The Pavia had its recruiting area and regimental depots in the Romagna and its headquarters in Ravenna. Its two infantry regiments were based in Cesena (27th) and Ravenna (28th), with the division's artillery regiment based in Ravenna. Shortly after its formation the division was sent to Sabratha in Italian Libya. It participated in the Western Desert campaign and was destroyed during the Second Battle of El Alamein.[2]
The brigade fought on the Italian front in World War I. On 20 October 1926 the brigade assumed the name of XVII Infantry Brigade with the 11th Infantry Regiment "Casale", 27th Infantry Regiment "Pavia", and 28th Infantry Regiment "Pavia". The brigade was the infantry component of the 17th Territorial Division of Ravenna, which also included the 26th Artillery Regiment. In 1934 the division changed its name to 17th Infantry Division "Rubicone". On 24 May 1939 the XVII Infantry Brigade was dissolved with the 27th and 28th infantry regiments coming under direct command of the division, which changed its name to 17th Infantry Division "Pavia". On 15 June 1939, the 11th Infantry Regiment "Casale" joined the newly activated 56th Infantry Division "Casale".[4][5][6]
The Pavia did not participate in the invasion of Egypt in September 1940 and remained in Tripolitania. When the British Operation Compass destroyed the Italian 10th Army in Egypt the Italians sent reinforcements to eastern Libya, including the Pavia's 26th Artillery Regiment. The regiment was destroyed in the Battle of Beda Fomm on 6–7 February 1941 and was replaced by the 3rd Fast Artillery Regiment "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta" of the 3rd Cavalry Division "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta". In March 1941 the Pavia left its bases to participate in the Axis Operation Sonnenblume offensive of March–April 1941. Under Major-General Pietro Zaglio it attacked on 31 March 1941 via the Via Balbia road from Ajdabiya, driving the Australian rearguards back to Mechili, which by 6 April was surrounded. Two Bersaglieri battalions came up in support, along with the advance elements of the German 5th Light Division. On 8 April British General Michael Gambier-Parry surrendered to Axis forces. In the aftermath of the counter-attack, elements of the Pavia were transferred to Sirte to defend an airfield near Wādī Thāmit. In May 1941, the reformed 26th Artillery Regiment "Pavia" arrived in Libya and joined the "Pavia" division, while the 3rd Fast Artillery Regiment "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta" was transferred to the 133rd Armored Division "Littorio". Meanwhile the bulk of Axis forces continued the advance reaching Derna and Martuba by 22 May 1941. In June, the Pavia returned to the front to participate in the Siege of Tobruk and was engaged repeatedly in intense probing attacks carried out by the 9th Australian Division.
Operation Crusader
On 18 November 1941 the British Operation Crusader commenced and on 19 November a column of British tanks tried to move westwards towards the track that ran up from Bi’r al Ghabī to Al Adm but encountered infantry of the Pavia and were forced to turn back.[7] On 23 November 1941 the British 70th Infantry Division, supported by 60 tanks[8] broke through the line of the nearby 25th Infantry Division "Bologna". The Pavia helped to contain the breakthrough. On 27 November, the 19th New Zealand Battalion leading the 6th New Zealand Brigade, finally linked up with the British 70th Infantry Division at El Duda.,[9] weakening the position of the Pavia. Further British attacks were launched on the positions of the Pavia from 3 to 4 December 1941. On 4 December, Rommel ordered a withdrawal to the Gazala Line, which entailed giving up Tobruk. During the withdrawal, the Pavia served as a rearguard at El Adem where it managed a brief but competent defense.[10] The rearguard action continued from 7 until 16 December 1941. The Pavia's rearguard was annihilated on 14 December 1941, when the 22nd New Zealand Battalion encountering weak resistance, apart from two brief counterattacks, and under the cover of darkness took the rearguard's position and 382 Italian prisoners at a cost of 3 killed and 27 wounded.[11] On 15 December, the bulk of the Pavia fought on the Gazala Line against the 2nd New Zealand Division and Polish Carpathian Rifle Brigade, managing to hold its line after a poor initial beginning (with the loss of some hundreds of prisoners),[12] allowing a strong Italian and German armored force to counter-attack and overrun the 1st Battalion, The Buffs, (Royal East Kent Regiment).[13]
From this point on the retreat of the Axis forces quickened. On 17 December 1941 the Pavia fought at Timimi 70 km west of Tobruk, then on the Mechili–Derna, Libya line. The retreat route passed through Marj, Benghazi, and Ajdabiya, finally reaching El Agheila on 24 December, south-west of which the Pavia began to fortify at Bir es Suera on the southern bank of Al Wādī al Fārigh. At this point, the British advance was halted due to logistic problems following the rapid advance, giving the Axis forces a quiet time.
From Libya to Egypt
The Pavia started to advance gradually from late January 1942, returning to its initial positions of 1941 west of Tobruk on 26 May 1942. On 28–29 May 1942, the Pavia helped to encircle residual British forces at Tobruk and Gazala. During the Battle of Gazala, the Pavia was used to mop up British units, taking charge of 6,000 Allied prisoners by 16 June 1942.[14] On 27 June 1942, the division reached Bardia and continued to advance to Sollum and ultimately Sidi Barrani. On 1 July 1942 the Pavia division reached Dayr al Abyaḑ, south of El Alamein. The Pavia fought in the First battle of El Alamein as part of the X Army Corps. During the initial phase of the fighting the Pavia served as rearguard for the 132nd Armored Division "Ariete", where it had an isolated, limited defensive success.[15] A few elements of the Pavia along with the 27th Infantry Division "Brescia" put up a stubborn defense on Ruweisat Ridge on the night of 14–15 July,[16] allowing a German armored force to arrive in time the next day to deliver a counterattack against the attacking New Zealand infantry and British armor.[17] Captain Amalio Stagni and Corporal Ugo Vaia of the Pavia were both awarded a Silver Medal of Military Valor for their leadership during the action on Ruweisat Ridge. The Axis' advance then stalled until 30 August 1942 and attempts to advance were hampered by the Italian units' dwindling supplies and by stiffened British resistance.
During the Second Battle of El Alamein, one battalion of the Pavia fought alongside the 185th Infantry Division "Folgore". The battalion commenced to attack on 24 October 1942, on Qārat al Ḩumaymāt, taking over Naqb al Ralah over the steep El Diffa plateau edge, but failed to hold the majority of the plateau after Allied counterattacks. The British attacks intensified and on 3 November 1942 the Pavia was ordered to retreat from the plateau to the Qattara Depression. At the end of the battle, the Pavia and the other two divisions of X Army Corps were abandoned without transport (mostly useless anyway because of the harsh landscape on the division retreat route) by the rest of the retreating Axis forces on their way to Fūkah and Mersa Matruh on 4 November 1942. The Pavia tried to follow suit, but lost its rearguard at Deir el Nuss to Allied armored units. As a result the Pavia suffered heavy losses while on the march to the Fūkah. At Mersa Matruh, where several of the survivors of the Pavia had regrouped, including its commander, the remnants of the division had no option but to surrender on 7 November 1942.[18] The Pavia division was officially dissolved 25 November 1942.
Organization
Coat of Arms of the 27th Infantry Regiment "Pavia", 1939
^Operation Crusader 1941: Rommel in Retreat, Ken Ford, p. 40, Osprey Publishing, 2010
^Das Afrika Korps: Erwin Rommel and the Germans in Africa, 1941–43, By Franz Kurowski, pg. 111, Stackpole Books (March 2010)
^Combat: The War with Germany, World War II, By Don Congdon, Page 131, Dell Pub. Co., 1963
^"The operation proceeded without opposition until the 1/Durham Light Infantry had advanced some 5,000 yards. Here the Pavia Division had established a rearguard position which was tenaciously defended but overcome after midnight by an attack made in conjunction with tanks of the 32nd Army Tank Brigade". Australia in the War of 1939–1945, Volume 3, Barton Maughan, p. 509, Australian War Memorial, 1966
^"At 3:00 a.m. on 14 December the guns opened a 15-minute concentration and the Maoris closed in with bayonets fixed, meeting mortar, MG and anti-tank fire and using grenades freely to overcome it. In little more than an hour resistance ended and C and D Companies began to dig in just west of the foremost defenses, while A Company extended the position on lower ground to the east-north-east. B Company, which had advanced farthest, struck trouble, however, from another enemy position on the escarpment to the west and was twice counter-attacked." The Relief of Tobruk, W. E. Murphy, p. 496, War History Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, 1961
^"The Poles and New Zealanders made good initial progress, taking several hundred Italian prisoners; but the Italians rallied well, and by noon it was clear to [General Alfred] Godwin-Austen that his two brigades lacked the weight to achieve a breakthrough on the right flank. It was the same story in the centre, where the Italians of 'Trieste' continued to repulse 5th Indian Brigade’s attack on Point 208. By mid-afternoon the III Corps attack had been fought to a halt all along the line."Crusader: Eighth Army’s Forgotten Victory, November 1941–January 1942, Richard Humble, p. 187, Leo Cooper, 1987
^"The Italians finished mopping up the Gazala Line on 16 June, capturing 6,000 prisoners, thousands of tons of supplies, and entire convoys of undamaged vehicles in the process" The Rise of the Wehrmacht: The German Armed Forces and World War, 2 Volumes, p.564, Samuel W. Mitcham, Praeger (30 June 2008)
^"One of the night attacks was made by New Zealand troops, a Maori unit which entered and held an enemy strong point in a bayonet attack. They were later counterattacked by the Pavia Division and lost a part of their gains during a severe fight under a fading moon". Aldea, David. "First Battle of El Alamein". Commando Supremo: Italy at War. Archived from the original on 4 March 2010. Retrieved 26 April 2009.
^'"While the attacking brigades had been able to cut large gaps through the defenses held by the Italian infantry, they had not been able to subdue all the resistance. Not surprisingly, most of the smaller outposts and defended localities had fallen easily but some of the larger posts had been bypassed during the night. The outposts which remained contained substantial number of anti-tank guns, machine guns and infantry. When daylight came, these posts were able to cover the area south of the ridge by fire and shot up any trucks foolhardy enough to drive forward."' Pendulum of War: Three Battles at El Alamein, Niall Barr, p. 131, Random House, 2010
^'"On the right, Indian 5th Division (XXX Corps) attacked Point 64 on the centre of the feature, the New Zealand Division (XIII Corps) was on the left attacking Point 63 at the western end of the ridge and the 1st Armoured Division gave support along the line of the inter-corps boundary. The night attack was preceded by Albacore aircraft dropping flares and fighter-bombers strafing the enemy lines. At first both divisions made good progress as they fought their way through the Italian Brescia and Pavia Divisions who were holding the ridge. The advance slowed down when they met extensive minefields and there was some loss of cohesion when the New Zealanders were attacked by tanks from 8th Panzer Regiment of 15th Panzer Division and lost 350 prisoners."' El Alamein 1942: The Turning of the Tide, Ken Ford, p. 42, Osprey Publishing, 2005
^"Axis Runs". Ottawa Citizen. 7 November 1942. pp. 1 & 10.
^ abF. dell'Uomo, R. di Rosa (1998). L'Esercito Italiano verso il 2000 - Vol. Secondo - Tomo II. Rome: SME - Ufficio Storico. p. 111.
^F. dell'Uomo, R. Puletti (1998). L'Esercito Italiano verso il 2000 - Vol. Primo - Tomo II. Rome: SME - Ufficio Storico. p. 235.
Paoletti, Ciro (2008). A Military History of Italy. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN978-0-275-98505-9.
Montanari, Mario (1985–1993). Le operazioni in Africa Settentrionale. Roma, Italy: Ufficio Storico SME.
