The Guardia alla Frontiera (GaF) (transl. "border guard"), was an

Regio Esercito The Royal Italian Army () (RE) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfredo Fanti signed a decree c ...

border guard A border guard of a country is a national security agency that ensures border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In diff ...

created in 1937 who defended the 1,851 km of northern Italian frontiers with the "Vallo Alpino Occidentale" (487 km with

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

), "Vallo Alpino Settentrionale" (724 km with

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and 420 km with

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

) and "Vallo Alpino Orientale" (220 km with

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

). In 1940, the GaF had 21,000 military personnel, deployed in eight commands, 27 sectors, and seven regiments of artillery. It manned 1,000 fortifications, 6,000 machine guns, 1,000 mortars, 100 Cannone da 47/32 M35, and another thousand other medium and small-caliber cannons ( 75/27 and 149/35). By 10 June 1940 (Italy's entry into the war) the GaF (not counting colonies in Libya and Albania) contained 23 sectors, 50,000 men, 28 battalions "Vallo Alpino", and 22 battalions of fascist militia.

Organization

Each command of the army of GaF could be divided into "sectors" (27 areas of coverage, from I to XXVII, along the border; sectors XVIII, XIX and XX were never realized), which could be broken down into subsectors and so on for ever smaller units. Each command in the field had two or more subsectors which controlled the fortifications. These works were manned by infantry, artillery, engineers, etc. Despite the GaF being predominantly static it also received five light tank (carristi) companies, equipped with Fiat 3000 tanks that over time, due to their age and lack of spare parts, ended largely abandoned in Sector armories or buried to use the turrets as a fort. The Guardia alla Frontiera disappeared after 1943, but nominally was active until 1953.Detailed information on "Guardia alla Frontiera" (in Italian)
/ref>

In Italy

Vallo alpino occidentale

Three artillery regiments supported the sectors of the Vallo alpino occidentale: * 7th Guardia alla Frontiera Artillery Regiment, in

Cuneo Cuneo (; ; ; ) is a city and in Piedmont, Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in the south-west of Piedmont, at the confluence of the ri ...

* 8th Guardia alla Frontiera Artillery Regiment, in

Venaria Reale Venaria Reale () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northwest of Turin. Venaria Reale borders the municipalities of Robassomero, Caselle Torinese, Druento, Borgaro T ...

* 11th Guardia alla Frontiera Artillery Regiment, in

Savona Savona (; ) is a seaport and (municipality) in the west part of the northern Italian region of Liguria, and the capital of the Province of Savona. Facing the Ligurian Sea, Savona is the main center of the Riviera di Ponente (the western se ...

Vallo alpino settentrionale

One artillery regiment and one autonomous

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

group supported the sectors of the Vallo alpino settentrionale: * 6th Guardia alla Frontiera Artillery Regiment, in

Bolzano Bolzano ( ; ; or ) is the capital city of South Tyrol (officially the province of Bolzano), Northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third largest in historical Tyrol. The ...

* Guardia alla Frontiera Autonomous Artillery Group, in

Sondrio Sondrio (; ; ; archaic or ; ) is an Italian city, ''comune'' and administrative centre for the province of Sondrio, located in the heart of the Valtellina. , Sondrio counted approximately 21,876 inhabitants. In 2007, Sondrio was named the Alpine ...

Vallo alpino orientale

Three artillery regiments supported the sectors of the Vallo alpino orientale: * 9th Guardia alla Frontiera Artillery Regiment, in

Gorizia Gorizia (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, Region ...

* 10th Guardia alla Frontiera Artillery Regiment, in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

* 12th Guardia alla Frontiera Artillery Regiment, in Osoppo

In Albania

One artillery regiment supported the 26th Command in Albania: * 13th Guardia alla Frontiera Artillery Regiment, in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

In Libya

Libyan-Tunisian border

One artillery regiment supported the units arrayed on the Libyan-Tunisian border: * 14th Guardia alla Frontiera Artillery Regiment, in Tripoli

Organization

In Italy

Vallo alpino occidentale

Vallo alpino settentrionale

Vallo alpino orientale

In Albania

In Libya

Libyan-Tunisian border

Libyan-Egyptian border

Libyan Sahara

Notes

See also