The division's lineage begins with the Brigade "Pinerolo" established on 21 December 1821, which on 19 December 1831 split to form the 1st and 2nd infantry regiments under the brigade's command. On 4 May 1839 the two regiments were re-numbered as 13th Regiment Brigade "Pinerolo" and 14th Regiment Brigade "Pinerolo".[3]
The division participated in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, where it operated in the Tigray Region and fought in the Battle of Shire. After the war the division returned to Italy. On 1 March 1937 the 225th Infantry Regiment "Arezzo" was transferred to the 63rd Infantry Division "Cirene" in Libya. On 1 March 1938 the 225th Infantry Regiment "Arezzo" was renamed 158th Infantry Regiment "Liguria" and on the same day the 225th Infantry Regiment "Arezzo" was raised anew in Ascoli Piceno.[1]
On 24 May 1939 the division ceded 225th Infantry Regiment "Arezzo" to the newly activated 53rd Infantry Division "Arezzo". On the same day the XXIV Infantry Brigade was dissolved, with the two remaining infantry regiments coming under direct command of the division, and the 18th Artillery Regiment was given the name "Pinerolo".[1]
In January 1941 the division was sent to Albania to reinforce the crumbling Italian front during the Greek offensive in the Greco-Italian War. On 18 January 1941 the division was in Berat and entered the front near Këlcyrë. The division fought defensive battles for the next month ending with the defense of Tepelenë. From 9 March 1941 the division participated in the Italian Spring Offensive and advanced after strenuous combat to Çarshovë on the Greek-Albanian border.[1]
The division continued on anti-partisan duty until the Armistice of Cassibile was announced on 8 September 1943. In the confusion after the armistice the division was the only Italian division in continental Greece to refuse German demands to surrender.[1] While the 29th Infantry Division "Piemonte", 36th Infantry Division "Forlì", 37th Infantry Division "Modena", 56th Infantry Division "Casale", and 59th Infantry Division "Cagliari" surrendered to the inferior German forces the Pinerolo defended Larissa against German attacks. On 15 September the division moved into the Pindus mountain range, where the commander of the division Adolfo Infante struck with the mediation of a British military mission a collaboration agreement with the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS). However, by October the ELAS forced the remaining troops of the Pinerolo to surrender their supplies and weapons, and used the Italian soldiers as forced labor for the rest of the war.[8] The remnants of the division were repatriated to Italy in March 1945.
On 15 April 1952 the Italian Army raised the Infantry Division "Pinerolo" anew. On 1 September 1962 the division was reduced to brigade and it has been active as such since then as Mechanized Brigade "Pinerolo").[1]
Royal Italian Army divisions in the Ethiopian Campaign had a Pack-Mules unit of 3,000 mules and three regimental truck units with 20 light trucks each.
World War II 1940
Coat of Arms of the 14th Infantry Regiment "Pinerolo", 1939
Generale di Divisione Licurgo Zannini (19 April 1941 - 16 October 1941)
Generale di Divisione Cesare Benelli (17 October 1941 - 9 July 1943)
Generale di Divisione Adolfo Infante (10 July 1943 - 1 June 1944)
War crimes
The names of five Italian officers attached to the division were included in the Central Registry of War Criminals and Security Suspects, a database set up by the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in 1945 to try war criminals from the Axis powers, including Italy. In addition to perpetrating the Domenikon massacre, soldiers from the division also tortured Greek prisoners and committed several rapes while stationed in Greece. One member of the division who was involved in these war crimes, Giovanni Ravalli, was convicted after the war's end, though he was subsequently pardoned.[11]
