The 5th Cosseria Infantry Division was mobilized in October 1939 and took part in the invasion of France. It was sent to the Eastern front in July 1942 and suffered heavy losses in the winter of 1942-43. It was reforming in Italy when Rome surrendered to the Allies in September 1943.
On 23 June 1940, the Cosseria Division captured Menton, on the French-Italian border, in house-to-house combat.[1]
Order of Battle (October 1942)[]
89th Salerno Infantry Regiment 90th Salerno Infantry Regiment 108th Artillery Regiment 72nd Anti-Tank Battery 135th Anti-Tank Battery 355th Anti-Tank Battery 87th Anti-Aircraft Company 305th Anti-Aircraft Company 13th Mixed Carabinieri Section 14th Motorized Carabinieri Section CV Mortar Battalion 5th Transportation Unit 42nd Field Post Office 23rd Pioneer Company 5th Radio Company 53rd Searchlight Platoon 47th Medical Section 48th Supply Company 5th Transportation Section
References[]
- ↑ "On 23 June units from the Cosseria Division, shielded by the foggy night, entered Menton. After furious street combat, the French withdrew from the “City of Lemons,” except for the one impregnable fortified casemate at Saint-Louis Bridge." Mussolini's Army in the French Riviera: Italy's Occupation of France, Emanuele Sica, pg. 24, University of Illinois Press, 2016