The 2nd Army ( it, 2ª Armata) was a
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
field army of the
Royal Italian Army.
World War I
Commanders
*General
Pietro Frugoni (May 1915 - June 1916)
*General
Settimio Piacentini
Settimio Piacentini (6 January 1859 – 2 November 1921) was an Italian General of the Kingdom of Italy who actively participated in the World War I, especially in the Sixth and Seventh Battle of the Isonzo.
In 1916 he commanded the XVI Italian ...
(July 1916 - June 1917)
*General
Luigi Capello
Luigi Capello (14 April 1859, in Intra – 25 June 1941, in Rome) was an Italian general, distinguished in both the Italo-Turkish War (1911–12) and World War I.
During the Italo-Turkish War he served in Cyrenaica and took part in operations ...
(June 1917 - October 1917)
*General
Luca Montuori, ad interim (October 1917)
*General
Luigi Capello
Luigi Capello (14 April 1859, in Intra – 25 June 1941, in Rome) was an Italian general, distinguished in both the Italo-Turkish War (1911–12) and World War I.
During the Italo-Turkish War he served in Cyrenaica and took part in operations ...
(October - November 1917)
World War II
During World War II the 2nd Army was the Italian (Complex Major) Great Unit charged, from 1940 to 1943, of the activities of control and garrison of the occupied or annexed territories of the former
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...
.
2nd Army ORBAT, depending units:
* "Comando Superiore Forze Armate (FF.AA.) di Slovenia e Dalmazia" - "Supersloda"
*
V Corps 5th Corps, Fifth Corps, or V Corps may refer to:
France
* 5th Army Corps (France)
* V Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars
* V Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Ar ...
, in
Lika
*
VI Corps 6 Corps, 6th Corps, Sixth Corps, or VI Corps may refer to:
France
* VI Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry formation of the Imperial French army during the Napoleonic Wars
* VI Corps (Grande Armée), a formation of the Imperial French army du ...
, in
Herzegovina
*
XI Corps 11 Corps, 11th Corps, Eleventh Corps, or XI Corps may refer to:
* 11th Army Corps (France)
* XI Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars
* XI Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Army
* ...
, in Southern
Dalmatia and
Herzegovina
*
XVIII Corps, from 18 February 1942; General
Quirino Armellini
Quirino Armellini (31 January 1889 in Legnaro – 13 January 1975 in Rome) was an Italian military officer, who served as a general in both the Royal Italian Army and the Italian Army.
Biography
Armellini was commissioned into the Royal It ...
then
Umberto Spigo
Umberto Spigo ( Patti, 4 June 1883 – Turin, 26 August 1954) was an Italian general during World War II.
Biography
Born in the province of Messina in 1883, he joined the Academy of Artillery and Engineers of Turin, graduating as artillery seco ...
around
Zara and
Spalato
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responsible for the territories from
Graciaz to the
Narenta river
* Comando Truppe Montenegro:
XIV Corps 14 Corps, 14th Corps, Fourteenth Corps, or XIV Corps may refer to:
* XIV Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars
* XIV Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Army prior to and during World ...
, in
Montenegro
)
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(a functionally dependent Command and Great Unit but not a constituent part of the 2nd Army)
Initially 250,000 men strong in 15 divisions, the 4 immediately dependent Corps were then reduced to 230,000 men in 13 divisions. The 2nd Army was a second line force with most of the men in their late 30s and early 40s, the only really largely combat ready and effective (Simple Major) Great Unit was the assigned component of the
Alpine Division Julia only partially deployed in the yugoslav theatre of operations as a whole unit.
After the
armistice of Cassibile on September 8, 1943 and the announcement by Italy of war on Germany, all activities ceased and the 2nd Army was dissolved in
Mali Lošinj
Mali Lošinj ( it, Lussinpiccolo, vec, Lusinpicolo) is a town in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, on the island of Lošinj, in western Croatia. At the time of the 2011 census, there were 8,116 inhabitants, of whom 86% were Croats.
The favourab ...
on 11 September.
Parts of the 2nd Italian army were withdrawn into the mountains of Dalmatia and joined the
Yugoslav Partisans
The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...
, under command of
Josip Broz Tito, which formed the Italian
Partisan Division "Garibaldi". Other parts of the 2nd Army also keep fighting against the Germans along with the Yugoslav partisans in
Division Italia (Yugoslavia), during 1944-1945. They helped the Soviet and Bulgarian army fighting against the German army in Croatia, Hungary and Austria.
Commanders
* General
Vittorio Ambrosio
Vittorio Ambrosio (28 July 1879 – 19 November 1958) was an Italian general who served in the Italo-Turkish War, World War I, and World War II. During the last phase of World War II Ambrosio supported the fall of Benito Mussolini and Italy's ...
(December 10, 1938 – January 20, 1942)
* General
Mario Roatta
Mario Roatta (2 February 1887 – 7 January 1968) was an Italian general. After serving in World War I he rose to command the Corpo Truppe Volontarie which assisted Francisco Franco's force during the Spanish Civil War. He was the Deputy Chief o ...
(January 20, 1942 – February 5, 1943)
* General
Mario Robotti
Mario Robotti (25 November 1882–1955) was a general in the Royal Italian Army who commanded the XI Corps during the World War II Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941.
He then became military commander in the province of Ljubljana, the Ita ...
(February 5, 1943 – September 8, 1943)
See also
*
V.A.C.
Footnotes
{{Large formations of Italy in World War II
Field armies of Italy in World War I
Field armies of Italy in World War II
Yugoslavia in World War II