| Unit Name: | 50th Maneuver Logistic Battalion "Carnia" |
| Native Name: | Italian: 50° Battaglione Logistico di Manovra "Carnia" |
| Dates: | 1 Sept. 1976 — 31 Oct. 1991 |
| Branch: | Italian Army |
| Role: | Military logistics |
| Command Structure: | 5th Army Corps |
| Garrison: | Casarsa della Delizia |
| Motto: | "In acie confirmo" |
| Anniversaries: | 22 May 1916 - Battle of Asiago |
| Identification Symbol Label: | Unit gorget patches |
The 50th Maneuver Logistic Battalion "Carnia" (Italian: 50° Battaglione Logistico di Manovra "Carnia") is an inactive logistics unit of the Italian Army. The battalion was formed in 1975 as Logistic Battalion "Ariete" and assigned to the Armored Division "Ariete". After the division was disbanded in 1986 the battalion was reorganized as a corps logistic battalion, renamed 50th Maneuver Logistic Battalion "Carnia" and assigned to the 5th Army Corps. The battalion was disbanded in 1991.[1] 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.[2]
The battalion is the spiritual successor of the logistic units of the Royal Italian Army's II Armored Brigade formed in July 1937, which on 1 February 1939 was expanded to 132nd Armored Division "Ariete". The division participated in the Western Desert campaign and was destroyed in November 1942 during the Second Battle of El Alamein. The battalion is also the spiritual successor of the logistic units of the 135th Armored Cavalry Division "Ariete", which was active from April to September 1943.[1]
On 23 May 1948 the Armored Brigade "Ariete" was formed at Forte Pietralata in Rome. The brigade inherited the traditions of the two preceding divisions. The same year the brigade was transferred to Pordenone in the Friuli region in Northern Italy and assigned to V Army Corps. On 1 October 1952 the brigade was expanded to Armored Division "Ariete".[1]
On 31 August 1956 the logistic units of the division were assigned to the newly formed Service Units Command "Ariete" in Casarsa della Delizia. The command consisted of a medical section, a provisions section, a mobile vehicle park, a mobile workshop, and a auto unit. On 1 November 1961 the mobile vehicle park and mobile workshop merged to form the Resupply, Repairs, Recovery Unit "Ariete".[1]
In 1963 the Italian Army reorganized its divisions along NATO standards and added a brigade level to the divisions' structure. On 1 January 1963 the Service Units Command "Ariete" in Casarsa della Delizia was reorganized as Services Grouping Command "Ariete". On 1 June 1963 the command of the I Services Battalion "Ariete" was activated in Pordenone and assigned to the I Mechanized Brigade "Ariete". On the same date the III Services Battalion "Ariete" was activated in Maniago and assigned to the III Armored Brigade "Ariete". On 1 April 1964 the command of the II Services Battalion "Ariete" was activated in Cordenons and assigned to the II Armored Brigade "Ariete".[1]
Initially the three battalions consisted of a command, a command platoon, a auto unit, a mobile workshop, a mixed services platoon, and provisions team, while the Services Grouping Command "Ariete" consisted of a command, a command platoon, the Auto Unit "Ariete", the Medical Company "Ariete", the Resupply, Repairs, Recovery Unit "Ariete", and the Provisions Company "Ariete", which was disbanded in 1964. On 1 January 1966 the three service battalions of the brigades were reorganized and consisted now of a command, a command company, a auto unit, a medical company, and a Resupply, Repairs, Recovery Unit. On 16 May of the same year the Services Grouping Command "Ariete" expanded the command platoon to command company.[1]
In 1968 the army disbanded the divisional brigades and the three service battalions were assigned to the division's Services Grouping Command "Ariete" on 1 October 1968.[1] The command now consisted of a command, a command company, the Auto Unit "Ariete", the Resupply, Repairs, Recovery Unit "Ariete", the Medical Company "Ariete", and the three service battalions.[1]
As part of the 1975 army reform the Armored Division "Ariete" was reorganized and three brigades were formed with the division's units: on 1 October 1975 the 32nd Armored Brigade "Mameli", and on 1 November 1975 the 8th Mechanized Brigade "Garibaldi" and 132nd Armored Brigade "Manin". On 1 October 1975 the II Services Battalion "Ariete" was renamed Logistic Battalion "Mameli" and assigned to the 32nd Armored Brigade "Mameli". On 27 October 1975 the Medical Company "Ariete" was disbanded. On 1 November 1975 the I Services Battalion "Ariete" was renamed Logistic Battalion "Garibaldi" and assigned to the 8th Mechanized Brigade "Garibaldi", while the III Services Battalion "Ariete" was renamed Logistic Battalion "Manin" and assigned to the 132nd Armored Brigade "Manin".[1]
On 1 September 1976 the division's services grouping command in Casarsa della Delizia was reduced to Logistic Battalion "Ariete", which received all the traditions of the preceding logistic, transport, medical, maintenance, and supply units of the Ariete units.[1] The battalion consisted of a command, a command platoon, a supply and transport company, a medium workshop, and a vehicle park. At the time the battalion fielded 472 men (21 officers, 66 non-commissioned officers, and 385 soldiers).[3]
On 12 November 1976 the battalion was granted a flag by decree 846 of the President of the Italian Republic Giovanni Leone.[1] [4]
On 1 December 1981 the battalion was reorganized and renamed Maneuver Logistic Battalion "Ariete". It consisted now of the following units:[1]
In 1986 the Italian Army abolished the divisional level and brigades, which until then had been under one of the Army's four divisions, came under direct command of the Army's 3rd Army Corps or 5th Army Corps. As the Armored Division "Ariete" carried the traditions of the 132nd Armored Division "Ariete", which had distinguished itself in the Western Desert campaign of World War II, the army decided to retain the name of the division. On 30 September 1986 the Ariete's division command in Pordenone was disbanded and the next day the command of the Armored Brigade "Manin" moved from Aviano to Pordenone, where the command was renamed 132nd Armored Brigade "Ariete". The brigade retained the Manin's units, which changed their names from Manin to Ariete.[1] [5] [6]
On the same date, 1 October 1986, the Maneuver Logistic Battalion "Ariete" was assigned to the Support Units Command of the 5th Army Corps. As there existed now the brigade's Logistic Battalion "Ariete" and the former division's Maneuver Logistic Battalion "Ariete" the latter was renamed 50th Maneuver Logistic Battalion "Carnia" on 1 November 1986. As per army naming convention for logistic units supporting corps-level commands the battalion was named for a geographic feature in the corps' area of operations; in case of the 50th battalion for the Carnia region.[1]
On 31 October 1991 the 50th Maneuver Logistic Battalion "Carnia" was disbanded and shortly thereafter battalion's flag was transferred to the Shrine of the Flags in the Vittoriano in Rome.[1]