17th Infantry Division Pavia

17th Infantry Division "Pavia" (Italian: 17° Divisione Autotrasportabile "Pavia") was an Infantry Division of the Italian Army during World War II. The Pavia was formed in October 1939 and sent to Libya. It was never completely motorised but despite this limitation, it was considered to have fought well in North Africa. It was almost completely destroyed during the Second Battle of El Alamein.

History
The Pavia Brigade was born during the Risorgimento on 1 March 1860, and was formed of two Infantry Regiments (the 27th and 28th). The Brigade participated in the Third Italian Independence War (1866), the First Italo-Ethiopian War (1896) and the First World War, when it was awarded the Ordine Militare d'Italia. In 1926 it become the XVII Pavia Infantry Brigade and in August 1939 was transformed into the 17th Pavia Division (reinforced with the 26th Artillery Regiment Artiglieria a Cavallo). Until 1939, the headquarters of the Division were in Ravenna, while the 27th Regiment had its barracks in Cesena. In 1940 the Division was deployed in Tripolitania and moved to Cyrenaica belonging to the Italian XX Corps. It participated in the final phases of Operation Compass, retreating from Sabratha to Agedabia. In 1941 – 1942 it fought in North Africa until it surrendered at El Alamein. After the Second World War the 28th Infantry Regiment was reorganized with its headquarters in Pesaro. The Regiment is still in existence and is now specialized in PsyOps.

The North Africa Campaign
The Pavia Division took part in the Axis counterattack of March–April 1941. Under Major-General Pietro Zaglio it attacked via the Balbia coast road from Agedabia on 31 March 1941, driving the Australian rearguards back to Mechili; on the 6th the town was surrounded. The "Fabris" and "Montemurro" Bersaglieri Motorised Battalions came up in support, along with the advance elements of the German 5th Light Division. On 8 April General Gambier-Parry surrendered to General Zaglio, commanding the Pavia, after an unsuccessful breakout attempt that was largely broken up by the Bersaglieri. Some 3,000 British, Indian and Australian soldiers were captured.

The division continued to advance and helped to isolate the garrison in Tobruk. It then took part in the siege of Tobruk, stationed in the southern sector of the lines.

On the night of 11/12 July, two Australian night-fighting-patrols from the 2/12th Battalion attacked the forward elements of the Pavia in the form of a reinforced rifle platoon, dug-in near El Adem Road. Under the cover of artillery fire, one patrol marched off into the night, but soon came under machine-gun fire and seeking cover suffered three casualties due to Italian booby-traps before being able to resume their advance and capture three and kill or wound a number of Italians, but at the cost of another three casualties. In the meantime, the other patrol managed to reach the other part of the Italian platoon at grid reference 40934185 with the help of artillery fire, killing or wounding, according to 2/12th Battalion's war diary, "between 30 and 40" Italians and capturing two, but at the cost of seven more Australian casualties. During the action, Second Lieutenant Cesare Giacobbe, the Italian platoon commander from the 27th Pavia Infantry Regiment, won posthumously the Medaglia d'Oro. Despite being wounded, the young officer personally fired an automatic rifle and employed hand grenades, helping cover the retreat of the remainder of his platoon, before being shot a second time and killed.

As casualties increased among the Australian night-fighting-patrols, some soldiers were court-martialled and there was a near-mutiny in a platoon and other platoons simply did not properly carry out their missions or falsified the reports of their incursions.

Half of the Tobruk garrison was evacuated in August, the rest in September and October because the Australian 9th Division was suffering "to the point where it was not longer capable of resisting attack."

On 19 November a British column of tanks tried to move westwards towards the track that ran up from Bir el Gubi to El Adem, but encountered determined infantry of the Pavia Division and were forced to turn back. On 23 November 1941, during Operation Crusader, the British 70th Infantry Division, supported by 60 tanks broke through part of the 25 Semi-Motorised Division Bologna. The Italians rallied and the Pavia went over to the counterattack, containing the enemy breakthrough. On the night of 25–26 November, the British 70th Division attacked again, but the 9th Bersaglieri Regiment of the Trieste Division counterattacked and checked this British advance. However, on the 27th, the 19th Battalion spearheading the 6th New Zealand Brigade, finally linked up with part of the British 70th Division at El Duda. On 1 December, the 101 Motorised Division Trieste retaliated and severed the link with Tobruk. But despite this Italian success, on 4 December, Rommel ordered a withdrawal to the Gazala Line which entailed giving up Tobruk. During the withdrawal, the Pavia served as a rearguard at El Adem where, according to Australian historian Barton Maughan, the Pavia put up a tenacious defence on 5 December before being overcome, delaying the advance for over three hours and allowing Axis forces (including the bulk of the Pavia) to withdraw. On 14 December, the New Zealand 22 Battalion encountered stiff resistance from the Pavia Division that counterattacked twice, but under the cover of darkness took the rearguard position and 382 prisoners at a cost of 3 killed and 27 wounded. On 15 December, the bulk of the Pavia on the Gazala Line fought against the attacking 2nd New Zealand Division and Independent Polish Brigade, containing their advances, allowing a strong Italo-German armoured force to counterattack and overrun the 1st Battalion, The Buffs, (Royal East Kent Regiment).

During the Battle of Gazala, the Pavia played an important role in the capture of 6,000 Allied prisoners on 16 June 1942.

The division was also at the First battle of El Alamein as part of the Italian X Corps. During the initial phase of the fighting Pavia served as a rearguard for the Ariete Division where, according to US historian Conrad H. Lanza, the division repulsed the advance of the New Zealand 23rd Battalion with a night counter-attack. Corporal Pasquale Franchi of the Pavia would win the Medaglia d'Argento al Valore Militare for his role in the counterattack. The Pavia along with the Brescia put up a stubborn defence on Ruweisat Ridge on the night of 14–15 July, allowing a German armoured force to arrive in time the next day to deliver a devastating counterattack against the attacking New Zealand infantry and British armour. Captain Amalio Stagni and Corporal Ugo Vaia of the Pavia would each win the Medaglia d'Argento al Valore Militare for their leadership during the action on Ruweisat Ridge.

During the Second Battle of El Alamein, one battalion of the Pavia Division fought alongside the Folgore Parachute Division. At the end of the battle, the Pavia along with the other two divisions of the Italian X Corps were abandoned without transport by the rest of the Axis forces as they retreated from Alamein to Fuka and Mersa Matruh on 4 November 1942. At Mersa Matruh, where several of the survivors of the Pavia had regrouped, including its commander, the remnants of the division had no option but to surrender.

Harry Zinder of Time magazine noted that the Italians fought well and commented that for the Italians:"It was a terrific letdown by their German allies. They had fought a good fight. In the south, the famed Folgore parachute division fought to the last round of ammunition. Two armoured divisions and a motorised division, which had been interspersed among the German formations, thought they would be allowed to retire gracefully with Rommel's 21st, 15th and 19th [sic] light. But even that was denied them. When it became obvious to Rommel that there would be little chance to hold anything between El Daba and the frontier, his Panzers dissolved, disintegrated and turned tail, leaving the Italians to fight a rear-guard action."

Order of battle
As of May 1941


 * 27th Infantry Regiment Pavia
 * Command Coy
 * Rifle Bn
 * Rifle Bn
 * Rifle Bn
 * 81 mm Mortar Coy
 * 65/17 Artillery Battery


 * 28th Infantry Regiment Pavia
 * Command Coy
 * Rifle Bn
 * Rifle Bn
 * Rifle Bn
 * 81 mm Mortar Coy
 * 65/17 Artillery Battery
 * 6th Armoured Battalion
 * 5th Armoured Car Battalion
 * 26th Artillery (Artiglieria a Cavallo) Regiment Rubicone
 * 77th Anti Aircraft Battalion
 * 679th Carabinieri Platoon
 * 207th Motorized Transport Section
 * 135th Motorized Transport Company
 * 21st Medical Section
 * 66th Field Hospital
 * 84th Field Hospital
 * 71st Field Bakery
 * 54th Field Post

from June 1942, the 17th Mixed Engineer Battalion was added.