he XII Army Corps ( it, XII Corpo d'Armata) was a corps of the
Royal Italian Army
The Royal Italian Army ( it, Regio Esercito, , Royal Army) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfre ...
between 1883 and 1943.
History
The XII Corps was created in
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
, Sicily on 8 July 1883, with mainly administrative and territorial tasks. Dissolved in 1919, it was reformed on 11 March 1926, again in Palermo.
At the beginning of World War II, the Corps was responsible for the defense of all of Sicily and the islands of
Lampedusa
Lampedusa ( , , ; scn, Lampidusa ; grc, Λοπαδοῦσσα and Λοπαδοῦσα and Λοπαδυῦσσα, Lopadoûssa; mt, Lampeduża) is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.
The ''comune'' of L ...
and
Pantelleria.
In July 1943, the Corps was composed of :
*
26th Infantry Division "Assietta"
*
28th Infantry Division "Aosta"
*
202nd Coastal Division
*
207th Coastal Division
*
208th Coastal Division
*
230th Coastal Division
*XXIX Coastal Brigade
Together with the
XVI Army Corps, the XII Corps was engaged in intense fighting during the
Allied invasion of Sicily (9 July – 17 August 1943) and suffered heavy casualties.
The remnants of the Corps were withdrawn to
Campania
Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...
to be reorganized. On 13 September the Corps was dissolved in
Avellino
Avellino () is a town and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...
, following the Armistice with the allied forces.
Regio Esercito
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Commanders
* Army Corps General Adriano Alberti (1934 - 1935)
* Army Corps General Vittorio Ambrosio (30 October 1935 - 10 December 1938)
* Army Corps General Angelo Rossi (10 December 1938 - 30 June 1941)
* Army Corps General Mario Arisio
Mario Arisio (Turin, 5 July 1885 – Rome, 7 July 1950) was an Italian general who served in the Italo-Turkish War, World War I, the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and World War II.
Biography
Arisio was born in Turin on July 5, 1885, and attend ...
(1 July 1941 - 12 July 1943)
* Army Corps General Francesco Zingales (12 July 1943 - 13 September 1943)
References
{{Large formations of Italy in World War II
Army corps of Italy in World War II