The 3rd Cavalry Division "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta" () was a Cavalry or "Celere" (Fast) division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The division was formed in 1934, and during World War II was mobilized in June 1940. As a cavalry division it took part in the Invasion of Yugoslavia and was part of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia. Annihilated during the Red Army's Operation Little Saturn in December 1942, the survivors returned to Italy in spring 1943.
History
The division was formed on 1 November 1934 as 3rd Cavalry Division "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta" in Milan. Although not officially sanctioned the division is considered to be the heir of the 3rd Cavalry Division of Lombardy, which fought in World War I and consisted of the V and VI cavalry brigades and was based in Milan. The division consisted of the III Cavalry Brigade "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta" and the 3rd Cavalry Artillery Regiment. The cavalry brigade consisted of the cavalry regiments Regiment "Savoia Cavalleria" (3rd) and Regiment "Lancieri di Novara" (5th), the 8th Bersaglieri Regiment, and the III Light Tank Group "San Giorgio". On 1 February 1938 the III Cavalry Brigade "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta" was dissolved and its units came under direct command of the division.
World War II
In March 1941 the division had to transfer its 3rd Fast Artillery Regiment with the II and III motorized groups to Libya, where they were used to reform the 17th Infantry Division "Pavia"'s 26th Artillery Regiment, which had been destroyed by British forces during the Battle of Beda Fomm on 6-7 February 1941. The division participated in the Invasion of Yugoslavia and returned to Milan on 31 May 1941. There the division received on 23 June the two remaining artillery groups of its two sister divisions 1st Cavalry Division "Eugenio di Savoia" and 2nd Cavalry Division "Emanuele Filiberto Testa di Ferro", which allowed the "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta" to raise the 3rd Horse Artillery Regiment for the division's upcoming deployment to the Eastern front.
Eastern Front
On 13 August 1941 the division reached Dniprodzerzhynsk (today Kamianske on the Dnieper river in central Ukraine, where the division took up position to the right of the 9th Infantry Division "Pasubio". On 28 September the Pasubio forced the river and the division's of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia went on the offensive, which brought them to Stalino (today Donetsk) by 13 October. After a month of fierce combat Stalino and nearby Horlivka were taken. The divisions continued their slowing offensive until 25th December, when the Soviets launched a determined counterattack in the Christmas Battle. The Italians repulsed the attack and the front stabilized afterwards for January.
On 15 March 1942 the division was radically reorganized: it received the 6th Bersaglieri Regiment from the 2nd Cavalry Division "Emanuele Filiberto Testa di Ferro", the 120th Motorized Artillery Regiment, the LXVII Armored Bersaglieri Battalion (two companies of L6/40 light tanks), the IX Mortar Battalion, the XIII Squadrons Group/ Regiment "Cavalleggeri di Alessandria" (14th), with two squadrons of Semovente 47/32 self-propelled guns, and an expanded complement of mortars and anti-tank weapons. The division's two cavalry regiments, the horse artillery regiment and the III Light Tanks Group "San Giorgio" were removed from the division and formed the independent Horse Troops Grouping under direct command of the 8th Italian Army. With the new units and equipment the 3rd Cavalry Division was now structured similar to Italian motorized divisions.
In April 1942, the division was further reinforced when the Croatian Light Transport Brigade arrived at the front and was attached to the "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta". From 30 July to 9 August the two Bersaglieri regiments eliminated the Soviet bridgehead at Serafimovich and later that month, with the support of German tanks, the Bersaglieri repelled a Soviet attack during the first defensive battle of the Don.
By late autumn 1942, the 8th Italian Army was placed on the left flank of the German 6th Army between the Hungarian and Romanian forces. The German 6th Army was then investing Soviet General Vasily Chuikov's 62nd Army in Stalingrad. The Italian front line stretched along the Don river for more than from the positions of the Hungarian 2nd Army in Kalmiskowa to the positions of the Romanian 3rd Army in Veshenskaya.