Alpini Battalion "Tirano"

The Alpini Battalion "Tirano" (Battaglione Alpini "Tirano") was light Infantry battalion of the Italian Army, specializing in mountain combat. The Alpini are a mountain infantry corps of the Italian Army, that distinguished itself in combat during World War I and World War II.

History
The battalion was raised on 1 November 1886 by renaming Alpini Battalion "Valtellina" of the 5th Alpini Regiment. The battalion's name, like the names of all Alpini battalions raised before World War I, was the name of the location where the battalion was based; in the Tirano battalion's case the village of Tirano in the Valtellina valley. As with all Alpini battalions the recruits for the battalions were drafted exclusively from the area surrounding the battalions base. The battalion consisted of the 46th, 48th and 49th Alpini companies.



The Tirano battalion's history is intertwined with the history of the 5th Alpini Regiment, with which it served in World War I and in World War II. During the latter the regiment was part of the 2nd Alpine Division "Tridentina" and served in the Greco-Italian War and as part of the Italian Army in Russia on the Eastern Front, where regiment and battalion barely escaped annihilation during the Battle of Nikolayevka in January 1943. For its conduct during the two campaigns the 5th Alpini Regiment was awarded two Gold Medals of Military Valour.

The 150 survivors of the Tirano battalion were repatriated in spring 1943 and garrisoned in the village of Mühlbach in South Tyrol. After Italy changed sides with the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943, regiment and battalion were disbanded by the Germans.

Cold War
After World War II the 5th Alpini Regiment was reformed on 1 January 1953, in the city of Meran with the battalions "Tirano" and "Edolo", and was the infantry component of the Alpine Brigade "Orobica". During the 1975 army reform the 5th Alpini was disbanded on 30 November 1975 and its battalions came under the direct command of the Orobica brigade. The traditions and war flag of the 5th Alpini were given to the "Morbegno" battalion, while the Tirano for the first received its own war flag and coat of arms. The battalions structure on 1 December 1975 was as follows:


 * CoA mil ITA btg alpini tirano.png Alpini Battalion "Tirano", in Mals
 * Nappina rossa.png 46th Alpini Company, in Glurns
 * Nappina rossa.png 48th Alpini Company, in Mals
 * Nappina rossa.png 49th Alpini Company, in Glurns
 * Nappina rossa.png 109th Mortar Company, in Mals

The battalion's task in case of war with the Warsaw Pact was to defend the Reschen Pass.

With the end of the Cold War the Italian Army began to downsize its forces and on 27 March 1991 the Tirano was disbanded and its flag transferred to the shrine of the flags at the Vittoriano in Rome.

War flag and coat of arms
The two Gold Medals of Military Valour displayed on the regiment's coat of arms and carried on the regiment's war flag were originally awarded to the 5th Alpini Regiment and duplicated during the 1975 reform for the flag of the "Tirano" battalion.

Source

 * Franco dell'Uomo, Rodolfo Puletti: "L'Esercito Italiano verso il 2000 - Volume Secondo - Tomo I", Rome 2001, Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito - Ufficio Storico, page: 512