2nd Cavalry Division "Emanuele Filiberto Testa di Ferro"
Italian Army during World War II
The 2nd Cavalry Division "Emanuele Filiberto Testa di Ferro" (Italian: 2ª Divisione celere "Emanuele Filiberto Testa di Ferro") was a cavalry or "Celere" (Fast) division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The division was mobilised in 1940. It did not take part in the Italian invasion of France, but did serve in the Invasion of Yugoslavia and remained in Yugoslavia as part of the occupying forces. In March 1942 the division's 6th Bersaglieri Regiment was sent to the Soviet Union attached to the 3rd Cavalry Division "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta". In May 1942 the division started converting to an armored division, however, the conversion was cancelled and it returned to the cavalry format. In December 1942, the division moved to France as part of the Italian occupying forces where it was based in Toulon. The division remained in France until the Armistice of Cassibile was announced on 8 September 1943 and was then disbanded by the invading Germans.
History
The division was formed on 17 April 1930 as 2nd Fast Division in the city of Bologna. Although not officially sanctioned the division is considered to be the heir of the 2nd Cavalry Division of Veneto, which fought in World War I and consisted of the III and IV cavalry brigades. On 15 June 1930 the II Cavalry Brigade, with the regiments Regiment "Genova Cavalleria", Regiment "Cavalleggeri di Aosta", and Regiment "Cavalleggeri Guide" entered the division. On 1 October 1934 the 2nd Artillery Regiment for Cavalry Division was formed and assigned to the division.
The public source identifies “2nd Cavalry Division "Emanuele Filiberto Testa di Ferro"” as italian Army during World War II. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Cavalry, Division and Emanuele.
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This entry incorporates text from “2nd Cavalry Division "Emanuele Filiberto Testa di Ferro"” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.