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17th "Pavia" Infantry Division (view source)
Revision as of 13:42, November 11, 2016
, 13:42, November 11, 2016no edit summary
On 15 December, the ''Pavia'', ''Brescia'' and ''Trento'' Divisions covering the German withdrawal from the Gazala Line, successfully resist the advance of the 2nd New Zealand Division and supporting Polish Brigade, allowing Italian and German armoured forces to join and deliver a strong counterattack that overruns the 1st Battalion, Royal East Kent Regiment (''The Buffs'').<ref>"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</ref>
On 15 December, the ''Pavia'', ''Brescia'' and ''Trento'' Divisions covering the German withdrawal from the Gazala Line, successfully resist the advance of the 2nd New Zealand Division and supporting Polish Brigade, allowing Italian and German armoured forces to join and deliver a strong counterattack that overruns the 1st Battalion, Royal East Kent Regiment (''The Buffs'').<ref>"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</ref>
==Operation Venezia==
On 16 June 1942, the ''Pavia'' takes part in the mopping-up operations following the Battle of Knightsbridge, with 6,000 demoralized British Imperial troops falling into Italian hands.<ref>"The Italians finished mopping up the Gazala Line on June 16, 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, 2008</ref>
==El Alamein==
The division took part in the [[First Battle of El Alamein]] as part of the Italian 10th Corps. During the initial phase of the fighting the ''Pavia'' served as part of the rearguard for the ''Ariete'' Armoured Division where, according to US Army Colonel Conrad H. Lanza, the division repulsed the advance of the Maoris of the New Zealand 23rd Battalion with a night counterattack that overwhelmed the New Zealanders. Corporal Pasquale Franchi from the ''Pavia'' would posthumously win the [[Medaglia d'Argento al Valore Militare]] for his role in the counterattack.
==References==
==References==