9th March 1943
Cartolina Postale
CARTOLINA POSTALE PER LE FORZE ARMATE. Italian propaganda postcard sent from ''POSTA MILITARE 132', (indicting that it originates from the Divisione 'ARIETE'), to an address in Busto Arsizio. Ref: 09.03.1943
'Gli atti di valore compiuti da ufficiali e da soldati italiani dell'Esercito sui fonti terrestri sono tali da inorgoglire legittimamente la Nazione.' MUSSOLINI
(The acts of valour performed by Italian officers and soldiers of the Army on land are such that they legitimately honour the Nation)
132nd Armored Division 'Ariete'
From Wikipedia:
Only part of the Ariete had reached El Alamein on 3rd July 1942 during the initial stage of the First Battle of El Alamein. The division's artillery was caught on the move by British forces engaged in a flanking attack and suffered heavy casualties in the ensuing clash.
On 30th August 1942 the Ariete participated in the Battle of Alam el Halfa, but the Axis plan to outflank and encircle the British forces at El Alamein failed.
On 4th November 1942 during the Second Battle of El Alamein the Ariete was surrounded by advancing enemy forces and the division's commander General Francesco Antonio Arena broadcast the division's last message.
Of the division's units only the XIII Tank Battalion "M" and about 200 Bersaglieri with six 75/18 self-propelled guns escaped, but were overtaken and destroyed by British forces on the coastal road near Fuka on 5th–6th November 1942. Rommel mourned the loss of the division, writing that its final action had been conducted with exemplary courage and that 'in the Ariete we lost our oldest Italian comrades, from whom we had probably always demanded more than they, with their poor armament, had been capable of performing'. The 132nd Armored Division 'Ariete' was declared lost due to wartime events on 8th December 1942.
On 21st November 1942, the Ariete's remaining personnel and the remnants of the 101st Motorized Division 'Trieste' and 133rd Armored Division 'Littorio' were organized as Tactical Group 'Ariete', which kept fighting throughout the retreat, including a successful rearguard action at the Battle of El Agheila.
During the Tunisian Campaign the Tactical Group 'Ariete' was reorganized as the 132nd Anti-tank Regiment, which joined the 131st Armored Division 'Centauro'. The last survivors of the Ariete surrendered with the rest of the Axis forces in North Africa on 13 May 1943.
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