The Italian XXI Army Corps was a formation of the

Italian army The Italian Army ( []) is the Army, land force branch of the Italian Armed Forces. The army's history dates back to the Italian unification in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China and Italo-Turkish War, Libya. It ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

History

The Corps fought in Northern Africa and took part in the

Western Desert Campaign The Western Desert campaign (Desert War) took place in the Sahara Desert, deserts of Egypt and Libya and was the main Theater (warfare), theatre in the North African campaign of the Second World War. Military operations began in June 1940 with ...

and

Tunisian campaign The Tunisian campaign (also known as the battle of Tunisia) was a series of battles that took place in Tunisia during the North African campaign of the Second World War, between Axis and Allied forces from 17 November 1942 to 13 May 1943. Th ...

between 1940 and 1943.
It surrendered to the allies in Tunisia in May 1943, with the rest of

Army Group Africa The Panzer Army Africa ( German: ''Panzerarmee Afrika''; Italian: ''Gruppo Corazzato Africa'') was a joint German-Italian field army that fought in the North African campaign during World War II. It consisted of one German corps and three Itali ...

Composition

in 1940

* 61st Infantry Division Sirte * 64th Infantry Division Catanzaro * 2nd CC.NN. Division "28 Ottobre"

in July 1941

* 27th Infantry Division Brescia *

17th Infantry Division Pavia 17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. It is a prime number. 17 was described at MIT as "the least random number", according to the Jargon File. This is supposedly because, in a study where respondents were asked to ...

102nd Motorised Division Trento 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

in May 1942

* 132nd Armoured Division Ariete * 101st Motorised Division Trieste

in October 1942

25th Infantry Division Bologna Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth Avenue * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a conta ...

in 1943

* 80th Infantry Division La Spezia * 16th Infantry Division Pistoia

Commanders

* Gen. C.A.

Mario Caracciolo di Feroleto Mario Caracciolo, Baron of Feroleto (Naples, 26 February 1880 – Rome, 21 December 1954) was an Italian general during World War II. Biography Caracciolo began his military career as an artillery Second Lieutenant in 1899, attending the W ...

(1 October 1937 – 1 December 1939) * Gen. C.A. Lorenzo Dalmazzo (1 December 1939 – 26 September 1940) * Gen. D.

Carlo Spatocco Carlo Spatocco (31 May 1883 – 28 January 1945) was an Italian general during World War II. Biography Spatocco was born in Chieti on 31 May 1883, the son of Francesco Spatocco, and after enlisting in the Royal Italian Army he participated i ...

(26 September – 20 December 1940) * Gen. D. Enea Navarini (1 August 1941 – 14 October 1942) * Gen. D. Alessandro Gloria (interim : 14–26 October 1942) * Gen. C.A. Enea Navarini (26 October 1942 – 21 February 1943) * Gen. C.A.

Paolo Berardi Paolo Berardi (21 June 1885 – 13 December 1953) was an Italian general who served in the Italo-Turkish War, World War I, and World War II. He was Chief of Staff of the Italian Co-Belligerent Army from November 1943 to February 1945. Biogra ...

(21 February – 12 May 1943)

Sources

Regio Esercito
{{DEFAULTSORT:Army Corps 21 Italian Army corps of Italy in World War II Western Desert campaign Tunisian campaign