155th Artillery Regiment "Emilia"

The 155th Artillery Regiment "Emilia" (Italian: 155° Reggimento Artiglieria "Emilia") is an inactive field artillery regiment of the Italian Army, which was based in Udine in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

After the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile the division and regiment battled Wehrmacht forces near Kotor and then escaped over the Adriatic Sea to Apulia in Southern Italy, where the survivors joined the Italian Co-belligerent Army.

In October 1944 the regiment joined the Combat Group "Mantova", which was earmarked to join the British Eighth Army, but the war ended before the Combat Group "Mantova" reached the front.

After the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943 the division concentrated its forces around the Bay of Kotor and formed with units of the Royal Italian Navy a defense perimeter.

On 15 September the Germans were reinforced and began an intense aerial bombardment of the Emilia's positions.

On 16 September the division's commander Ugo Buttà ordered the Emilia's units to requisition every vessel in Kotor harbor and sail for Apulia in Southern Italy, where British and Italian forces had driven out the Germans.

Consequently, all groups of the 155th Artillery Regiment "Emilia" were equipped with British artillery pieces:[2] By spring 1945 the combat group was ready to join the British Eighth Army, but it arrived at the front just as the German forces had surrendered.

On 1 August of the same year the regiment received from the 33rd Field Artillery Regiment the 3rd Self-propelled Anti-tank Sub-grouping, which consisted of the CXIII e CXIV self-propelled anti-tank groups with M36 tank destroyers.

The same year the CI and CII self-propelled anti-tank groups replaced their M18 Hellcats with M36 tank destroyers.

[2][5] On 12 November 1976 the group was assigned the flag and traditions of the 155th Artillery Regiment "Emilia" by decree 846 of the President of the Italian Republic Giovanni Leone.

[1][2] In 1986 the Italian Army abolished the divisional level and so on 30 September 1986 the Mechanized Division "Mantova" was disbanded.

On 1 December 1991 the group entered the 5th Heavy Field Artillery Regiment.

Half a year later, on 30 June 1992, the 155th Heavy Field Artillery Group "Emilia" was disbanded and on 24 November of the same year the flag of the 155th Artillery Regiment "Emilia" was returned to the Shrine of the Flags in the Vittoriano in Rome.