Formation The 133rd Armored Division "Littorio" was formed on 6 November 1939 in
Parma by reorganizing parts of the
4th Infantry Division "Littorio", which had been made up of regular army "volunteer" and taken part in the
Spanish Civil War. The Littorio was the third Italian armored division, after the
131st Armored Division "Centauro" and the
132nd Armored Division "Ariete". Initially the Littorio fielded four
tankette battalions, three
Bersaglieri battalions, and two motorized
artillery groups.
Invasion of France On 10 June 1940 Italy entered World War II and began to
invade France. The Littorio and the
101st Motorized Division "Trieste" were sent to the
Aosta Valley to exploit a planned breakthrough at the
Little St Bernard Pass, which was to be achieved by the
1st Alpine Division "Taurinense" on the left flank and the
2nd Alpine Division "Tridentina" on the right flank, with the Trieste taking the pass itself. After the initial attacks had failed a tank battalion from the
33rd Tank Infantry Regiment was sent forward on 24 June 1940, but the Italian tankettes became bogged down in the rugged and snowy terrain. French anti-tank gunners then destroyed a number of Italian tankettes and the battalion withdrew. The same day the
Franco-Italian Armistice came into effect and the war ended.
Invasion of Yugoslavia In late March 1941 the Littorio was transferred to the border with
Yugoslavia for the
Invasion of Yugoslavia. On 11 April 1941 the division crossed the border and advanced to
Postojna. On 12 April the division reached
Ogulin and on the 14
Šibenik on the
Dalmatian Coast. The first units to arrive were the DLI and DLII self-propelled artillery battalion, which were immediately transferred to the
132nd Armored Division "Ariete" at the front. Meanwhile one transport carrying the tanks for one of the companies of the XII Tank Battalion was sunk by British warplanes in the Mediterranean and the ship carrying the XXXVI Bersaglieri Battalion was torpedoed by a British submarine and lost 2/3 of its men in the waters of the Mediterranean. On 27 January 1942 the Littorio had to cede its just debarked
X Tank Battalion "M" to the
132nd Armored Division "Ariete", while the XII Tank Battalion had to cede all its remaining tanks to the divisions at the front. When the
XI Tank Battalion "M" arrived in Tripolis it was immediately attached to the
101st Motorized Division "Trieste". The Littorio also lost part of its air defense, transport and artillery units to other divisions. By 31 May 1942 the Littorio had been sufficiently rebuild to be transferred to the front, where it was assigned to
XX Army Corps. The battalions of the Littorio were heavily engaged during the First Battle of El Alamein, with the XII Tank Battalion down to seven tanks by the end of the battle. Meanwhile the Littorio and Ariete had moved up on the left of the
Afrika Korps and the 90th Light Division and elements of Italian
X Army Corps had drawn up to face the southern flank of the New Zealand box. Under constant air raids throughout the day and night and on the morning of 2 September, Rommel realized that his offensive had failed and that staying in the salient would only add to his losses and ordered his forces to withdraw.
Second Battle of El Alamein The
Second Battle of El Alamein is usually divided into five phases, consisting of the break-in (23 to 24 October), the crumbling (24 to 25 October), the counter (26 to 28 October),
Operation Supercharge (1 to 2 November) and the breakout (3 to 7 November). No name is given to the period from 29 to 31 October when the battle was at a standstill.
25 October 1942 Initially the Littorio was held in reserve behind the infantry divisions to the rear of
Miteirya Ridge. On the 25 October the Axis forces launched a series of attacks using the 15th Panzer and Littorio divisions. The Panzer Group Africa was probing for a weakness, but found none. When the sun set the Allied infantry went on the attack and around midnight the British
51st (Highland) Division launched three attacks, but lost its way in the dark. The 15th Panzer and Littorio divisions held off the Allied armored units, but this proved costly and most units were severely depleted. Rommel was convinced that the main assault would be in the north and was determined to retake Point 29. He ordered a counterattack against Point 29 by 15th Panzer, 164th Light Africa Divisions and elements of XX Army Corps to begin at 1500 Hrs but under heavy artillery and air attack this came to nothing. During the day he also started to draw his reserves to what was becoming the focal point of the battle: 21st Panzer and part of the Ariete moved north during the night to reinforce the 15th Panzer and Littorio and 90th Light Division at El Daba were ordered forward, while the Trieste division was ordered to move from Fuka to the front to replace them. 21st Panzer and the Ariete made slow progress during the night as they were heavily bombed. German records from 28 October 1942 reveal that the three divisions most affected were the 15th Panzer, 21st Panzer and Littorio divisions, which had lost 271 tanks since the start of the battle on the 23 October. This figure includes tanks out of action through mechanical failure as well as through mines or other battle damage, but by this time repairs and replacements were hardly keeping pace with daily losses. The surviving enemy tank states indicate that from the 28th to the 31st the two German divisions found it difficult to muster 100 tanks in running order between them, while Littorio had between 30 and 40.
2 November 1942 At 1100Hrs on 2 November the remains of 15th Panzer, 21st Panzer and Littorio counterattacked the British
1st Armoured Division and the remains of British
9th Armoured Brigade, which were dug in with a screen of anti-tank guns and artillery, and had intensive air support. The counter-attack failed under a blanket of shells and bombs, resulting in a loss of some 100 tanks. Fighting continued throughout 3 November and the British
2nd Armoured Brigade was stopped by the remnants of the
Afrika Korps and last few tanks of the Littorio.
4 November 1942 On 4 November the Littorio, Ariete and
Trieste were destroyed in an attack by the British 1st Armoured Division and
10th Armoured Division. When it became obvious to Rommel that there would be little chance to hold anything between El Daba and the frontier he ordered a retreat, with the Italian units left behind to fight a rear-guard action. The Littorio division was declared lost due to wartime events on 25 November 1942 and its remaining personnel was assigned to the
Tactical Group "Ariete". == Organization ==