Eleventh Army (Italy)

The Eleventh Army was one of the field armies of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. It was formed in November 1940 for service in the Greco-Italian War, and after the German invasion of Greece and the capitulation of that country in April 1941, assumed occupation duties in the Greek mainland. It remained on station in Greece until the Italian armistice in 1943, when it was forcibly disbanded by the Germans.

Eleventh Army
11ª Armata
Active9 November 1940 – September 1943
Country Kingdom of Italy
TypeField army
EngagementsGreco-Italian War, Italian occupation of Greece

History

It was formed on 9 November 1940 out of the 11th Army Corps, then based in Italian-occupied Albania and engaged in operations against Greece alongside the 9th Army. Its engagement against the Greeks lasted until the fall of Greece in April 1941.

Occupation of Greece

Thereafter, the Eleventh Army assumed duties of occupation in Greece, headquartered in Athens. Its command also doubled as the Higher Armed Forces Command Greece (Comando Superiore Forze Armate Grecia, abbrev. C.S. FF. AA. Grecia), with responsibility over mainland Greece (apart from the German and Bulgarian zones in northern Greece and the German zone in eastern and southern Attica), as well as the island of Euboea, the Northern Sporades and Skyros, and Kythera.[1] The remainder of the Ionian Islands came under the Higher Armed Forces Command Albania (Ninth Army), while the Italian Dodecanese, the Italian-occupied Lasithi Prefecture on Crete and the bulk of the Cyclades came under the Higher Armed Forces Command of the Italian Islands of the Aegean at Rhodes.[1] Apart from the units of the Eleventh Army, the Higher Armed Forces Command Greece also included the Air Force Command Greece (Comando Aeronautica Grecia), and the Western Greece Naval Military Command (Comando Militare Marittimo della Grecia Occidentale) at Patras.[2]

In April 1943, an assessment of the combat readiness of the Eleventh Army's eight remaining divisions in terms of armament and means of transport found only one—the 11th Infantry Division Brennero—as "complete", with three more "effective" (over 70% of pack animals and 70% to 90% of vehicles from the table of organization and equipment) and the rest "incomplete" (with figures of completeness around 60%).[3] In a similar evaluation of their completeness in personnel a fortnight later, only Brennero and the 33rd Infantry Division Acqui were classed as "complete", with the remainder as "effective".[4] The situation remained largely the same during another review of their combat readiness in June.[5]

It was forcibly disbanded by the German Army in September 1943, after the Italian capitulation.

Orders of battle

August 1941
VIII
29
51
59
3
XXVI
33
56
37
III
11
24
36
Order of battle of the Eleventh Army in August 1941, coloured by Army Corps. The distribution of units would remain essentially unchanged for the duration of the Italian occupation, except for the departure of the 3rd Julia Alpine Division in 1942 and 51st Siena Division's transfer to Crete.[6]

During the first months of its occupation of Greece, Eleventh Army comprised the following units:[7]

Spring 1943

In spring 1943, Eleventh Army comprised the following units:[10]

Commanders

References
  1. Bregantin 2010, p. 97.
  2. Bregantin 2010, pp. 111–113.
  3. Bregantin 2010, pp. 266–267.
  4. Bregantin 2010, p. 267.
  5. Bregantin 2010, pp. 267–268.
  6. Bregantin 2010, p. 266 (note 351).
  7. Bregantin 2010, pp. 108–109, 118.
  8. Bregantin 2010, p. 108.
  9. Bregantin 2010, pp. 108–109.
  10. Bregantin 2010, p. 266.

Sources
  • Bregantin, Lisa (2010). L’occupazione dimenticata. Gli italiani in Grecia 1941-1943 (PhD) (in Italian). Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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