| Folgore Division | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Duilio Coletti |
| Cinematography | Luciano Trasatti |
| Music by | Nino Rota |
Release date |
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| Language | Italian |
Folgore Division (Italian : Divisione Folgore) is a 1955 Italian war film directed by Duilio Coletti. It is based on actual events and depicts the 185th Airborne Division Folgore during the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942. [1] The screenwriter and military advisor was Marcantonio Bragadin.
In the summer of 1942, during the Second World War, a group of young paratroopers from the Folgore Division, after having undergone long and tiring training in Italy, are transported by air to the Libyan desert to cover the Italian-German front. The young soldiers believe that their destination is the island of Malta (operation C3) or the vicinity of Alexandria: instead they find themselves thrown into a desert region where they are forced to live in fox-holes dug in the sand, and to face with insufficient means the British armoured units. They will sadly leave their parachutes piled up inside a warehouse in the desert. Thus develops that epic fight, which takes the name of the Second Battle of El Alamein, in which a handful of heroic fighters try with every effort to stop or at least delay the advance of Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery’s British tanks. Once the Italian defensive line has been penetrated, the survivors resist for several days an unequal struggle against the preponderant English forces, even being mentioned, for their heroism, by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who called them "The lions of the Thunderbolt". [2]
The Second Battle of El Alamein was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa had prevented the Axis from advancing further into Egypt.
The Paratroopers Brigade "Folgore" is an airborne brigade of the Italian Army. Its core units are three battalions of paratroopers (paracadutisti). The name "Folgore" is Italian for lightning. The Folgore is one of three light infantry brigades of the Italian Army. While the Folgore specializes in parachute operations its sister brigade in the Division "Vittorio Veneto" the Airmobile Brigade Friuli specializes in helicopter assault operations. The Folgore and its units are based in Tuscany, Veneto and Lazio.
The Paracadutisti are a speciality of the Italian army's infantry corps.
The 102nd Motorized Division "Trento" was a motorized infantry division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The division was formed in 1935 and named for the city of Trento, where its infantry and artillery regiments were based. The Trento served in the Western Desert Campaign and was destroyed in the Second Battle of El Alamein in November 1942.
101st Motorized Division "Trieste" was a motorized infantry division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The Trieste was formed in 1939 and named for the city of Trieste. The division and its infantry and artillery regiments were based in Piacenza, while the 9th Bersaglieri Regiment was based until 1940 in Treviso and then moved to Cremona to be closer to the division. In September 1941 the Trieste was transferred to Libya for the Western Desert Campaign. The division was decimated in the Second Battle of El Alamein, but was rebuilt with the survivors of destroyed divisions. The Trieste then participated in the Tunisian Campaign until Axis forces in Tunisia surrendered to allied forces on 13 May 1943.
The 25th Infantry Division "Bologna" was an infantry division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The Bologna was named after the city of Bologna and classified as an auto-transportable division, meaning it had some motorized transport, but not enough to move the entire division at once.
The 17th Infantry Division "Pavia" was an infantry division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The Pavia was formed in on 27 April 1939 and named after the city of Pavia. The Pavia was classified as an auto-transportable division, meaning it had some motorized transport, but not enough to move the entire division at once. The Pavia had its recruiting area and regimental depots in the Romagna and its headquarters in Ravenna. Its two infantry regiments were based in Cesena (27th) and Ravenna (28th), with the division's artillery regiment based in Ravenna. Shortly after its formation the division was sent to Sabratha in Italian Libya. It participated in the Western Desert campaign and was destroyed during the Second Battle of El Alamein.
Operation Braganza was launched on the night of 29 September 1942 by Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks, commanding British XIII Corps. It was intended as a preliminary to Operation Lightfoot, part of the Second Battle of El Alamein. The objective was to capture an area of ground near Deir el Munassib in Egypt, to be used for extra artillery deployment. This would involve the 131st (Queen's) Infantry Brigade from the 44th Division, supporting armour from the 4th Armoured Brigade, nine field regiments and one medium battery of artillery.
185th Paratroopers Division "Folgore" was an airborne division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The division was formed in Tarquinia near Rome on 1 September 1941. In July 1942 the division was sent to Libya to fight in the Western Desert Campaign and was destroyed during the Second Battle of El Alamein in early November 1942.
The 184th Paratroopers Division "Nembo" was an airborne division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. After the Armistice of Cassibile the division joined the Italian Co-belligerent Army's Italian Liberation Corps and together with the Polish II Corps liberated Ancona in the Battle of Ancona.
Duilio Coletti was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He directed 29 films between 1934 and 1977.
The 8th Paratroopers Engineer Regiment "Folgore" is the Italian Army's airborne combat engineer unit. The regiment provides close combat support to the Paratroopers Brigade "Folgore".
The Battle of El Alamein is a 1969 war film directed in 1969 by Giorgio Ferroni. It was an international co-production between Italy and France. The film depicts the Second Battle of El Alamein.
The 185th Paratroopers Artillery Regiment "Folgore is an artillery regiment of the Italian Army, specializing in airborne operations. Originally an artillery regiment of the Royal Italian Army, the regiment was assigned in World War II to the 185th Infantry Division "Folgore", with which the regiment was deployed to North Africa for the Western Desert campaign, during which division and regiment were destroyed in the Second Battle of El Alamein. Reformed in 1975 the regiment is today based in Bracciano near Rome and assigned to the Paratroopers Brigade "Folgore". The regimental anniversary falls, as for all Italian Army artillery regiments, on June 15, the beginning of the Second Battle of the Piave River in 1918.
The 185th Paratroopers Reconnaissance Target Acquisition Regiment "Folgore" is an Italian Army special forces unit. The regiment is part of the Italian Army's infantry arm's Paracadutisti speciality and assigned to the Army Special Forces Command.
The 186th Paratroopers Regiment "Folgore" is an active unit of the Italian Army based in Siena in Tuscany. The regiment is part of the Italian Army's infantry arm's Paracadutisti speciality and assigned to the Paratroopers Brigade "Folgore".
The 187th Paratroopers Regiment "Folgore" is an active unit of the Italian Army based in Livorno in Tuscany. The regiment is part of the Italian Army's infantry arm's Paracadutisti speciality and assigned to the Paratroopers Brigade "Folgore".
The Logistic Regiment "Folgore" is a military logistics regiment of the Italian Army based in Pisa in Tuscany. Today the regiment is the logistic unit of the Paratroopers Brigade "Folgore". The regimental anniversary falls, as for all units of the Transport and Materiel Corps, on 22 May, the anniversary of the Italian Army's first major automobile use to transport reinforcements to counter the Austro-Hungarian Offensive at Asiago in 1916.
The Italian X Army Corps was a formation of the Italian army in World War II.
Enrico Frattini was an Italian general during World War II, most notable for commanding the 185th Paratroopers Division "Folgore" during the second battle of El Alamein, and the second commander of Allied Land Forces Southern Europe in the 1950s.
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