The Babini Group (, also known as the Special Armoured Brigade/) was an armoured unit. The group was formed by the Italian Royal Army () in Italian North Africa (Libya) at the start of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The group was formed in Libya, to be part of an armoured division assembled from tanks in the colony and from units sent from Italy. The new division was incomplete when the British began Operation Compass in December but the Babini Group fought in defence of the area between Mechili and Derna in late January.
On 23 January, the group managed to inflict tank losses during a counter-attack on the 11th Hussars and force a delay in the Australian advance on Derna. The group then formed a rearguard for the 10th Army as it retreated from Derna and Mechili round the Jebel Akhdar towards the port of Benghazi. The Babini Group was destroyed south of the port at the Battle of Beda Fomm when the () was cut by Combeforce. The Italians failed to concentrate their remaining tanks at the head of the column before Combeforce was reinforced and were defeated in detail, with possibly only nine tanks escaping to the south.
Background
32nd Tank Infantry Regiment The 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment was formed on 1 December 1938 and on 1 February 1939 became part of the 132nd Armored Division "Ariete", the second armoured division of the Royal Italian Army (). After the Italian declaration of war on 11 June 1940, the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment moved with the Ariete Division from Veneto to the border with France, as part of the Army of the Po (), ready to exploit a breakthrough but the war ended so quickly that the division did not participate. On 28 July 1939, the I and II tank battalions M11/39 received 96 Fiat M11/39 tanks to replace their Fiat 3000s. The inadequacies of the M11/39 tanks led to a decision on 26 October 1939, to replace them with M13/40 tanks and the first batch, built by Ansaldo at Genoa in October 1940, were used to equip the III Tank Battalion M13/40 with 37 new M13/40s.
Libyan Tank Command
In 1940, the Italian army had three armoured divisions in Europe, which were needed for the occupation of Albania and the invasion of Greece. The I Tank Battalion M11/39 (Major Victor Ceva) and the II Tank Battalion M11/39 (Major Eugenio Campanile) landed their M11/39 tanks in Libya on 8 July 1940 and transferred from the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment to the command of the 4th Tank Infantry Regiment. The two battalions had an establishment of and The medium tanks reinforced the three hundred and twenty-four L3/35 tankettes already in Libya.
On 29 August 1940 the commander of the Northern Africa High Command, Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, ordered, on the advice of General Valentino Babini, that the Libyan Tank Command () be entrusted to General Valentino Babini,. All tanks in Italian Libya were to come under the new arrangement laid down in Graziani's .
Libyan Tank Command, General Valentino Babini 1st Tank Group (), Colonel Pietro Aresca (4th Tank Infantry Regiment), destined to operate with the XXIII Corps Command of the 4th Tank Infantry Regiment I Tank Battalion M11/39 (M11/39 tanks) XXI Tank Battalion L (L3/35 tankettes) LXII Tank Battalion L (L3/35 tankettes) LXIII Tank Battalion L (L3/35 tankettes) 2nd Tank Group (), Colonel Antonio Trivioli, destined to operate with the Libyan Divisions Group II Tank Battalion M11/39 (minus one company; M11/39 tanks) IX Tank Battalion L (L3/35 tankettes) XX Tank Battalion L (L3/35 tankettes) LXI Tank Battalion L (L3/35 tankettes) Mixed Tank Battalion, destined to operate with the Maletti Group 1x Medium Company (from the II Tank Battalion M11/39) 1x Light Company (from the LX Tank Battalion L) LX Tank Battalion L (minus one company; L3/35 tankettes), destined to operate with the XXI Corps
When Operation Compass began on 9 December 1940, the IX Tank Battalion L was still with the 2nd Libyan Division, the II Tank Battalion M11/39 was with the Maletti Group and the LXIII and XX Tank Battalion Ls were in reserve with the XXI Corps HQ east of the Frontier Wire in Egypt.
The III Tank Battalion M13/40 (Lieutenant-Colonel Carlo Ghioldi) from the 1st Tank Infantry Regiment, equipped with thirty-seven M13/40 tanks in two companies, arrived in Benghazi in late September and joined the of various types in the Libyan Tank Command to begin training. In November, the III Tank Battalion M13/40 was sent to Mechili and on 9 December, Operation Compass began to push back the 10th Army from Sidi Barrani, inside Egypt. The III Tank Battalion M13/40 was sent forward to Sollum and the Halfaya Pass. On 22 January, the VI Tank Battalion M13/40 arrived at Benghazi, with thirty-seven M13/40s and another thirty-six M13/40s for the XXI Tank Battalion L, which was waiting at Benghazi to convert to the new vehicle, having lost its L3/35 tankettes in the fall of Tobruk. Neither battalion had time to acclimatise or train but were sent to reinforce the Bignami Group () of General Mario Bignami near Solluch.
Prelude
Maletti Group
The Maletti Group ( General Pietro Maletti) was formed at Derna the same day as the main motorised unit of the 10th Army and the first Italian combined arms unit in North Africa. The group comprised the LX Tank Battalion L, the remaining M11/39 company from the II Tank Battalion M11/39, seven Libyan motorised infantry battalions, motorised artillery and supply units. After the invasion of Egypt in September 1940, the 10th Army began to prepare an advance to Mersa Matruh for 16 December but was forestalled by Operation Compass. Only the IX Tank Battalion L, the II Tank Battalion M11/39, with the Maletti Group at Nibeiwa camp and the LXIII and XX Tank Battalion Ls were still in Egypt. The camp at Nibeiwa was a rectangle about , with a bank and an anti-tank ditch. A minefield had been laid but at the north-west corner, there was a gap for delivery lorries and a British night reconnaissance found the entrance.
The British attacked the rear of the camp from the north-west at on 9 December, with infantry and Matilda infantry tanks leading and Bren carriers on the flanks, all firing on the move. About twenty of the Maletti Group M11/39s outside the camp, were destroyed in the first rush. By the camp had been overrun and and Libyan prisoners captured, along with a large quantity of supplies and water, for a British loss of After the battle an Australian war correspondent, Alan Moorehead, visited Nibeiwa and saw tanks inside the camp facing in all directions and light tank wrecks at the west wall where the Maletti Group had made its last stand. In his history of the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment, Maurizio Parri wrote that a company of the II Tank Battalion M11/39s had tried to counter-attack the British Matildas but the crews misunderstood flag signals, which caused delays and the attack failed. Maletti was wounded while rallying his men, then retreated to his tent with a machine-gun where he was killed.
Babini Group In December, the V Tank Battalion M13/40 (Lieutenant-Colonel Emilio Iezzi), arrived at Benghazi with thirty-seven M13/40s in two companies and on 25 November, Graziani ordered the establishment at Marsa Lucch of the Special Armoured Brigade/Babini Group () to be commanded by General Valentino Babini, with the III Tank Battalion M13/40 (less detachment) and the V Tank Battalion M13/40, combined with the L3/35s of the 4th Tank Infantry Regiment. The medium tank crews were inexperienced and lacked training, many of the officers having only recently come from very short courses at training schools. The Tank Battalion Ls remained with the infantry divisions in Egypt, despite this interrupting training with the new M13/40s, which was complicated by the M13s coming from the first production batch with many mechanical defects. Only three of the III Tank Battalion M13/40 tanks had radios, which made the other crews reliant on flag signals limited to halt, forward, backwards, right, left, slow down and speed up.
The Babini Group had an infantry regiment comprising three "" battalions, a motorcycle battalion, an artillery regiment, two anti-tank gun companies, an engineer company and supply units. On 11 December the under-trained III Tank Battalion M13/40 and the LI Tank Battalion L in L3/35 tankettes, was made available to the 10th Army. Next day, two companies of the III Battalion were sent to Sollum, several tanks to Sidi Aziz and the rest to Halfaya, before the battalion was ordered to retreat west of Gazala to cover the rear of Tobruk. The 1st Tank Company (Lieutenant Elio Castanello) was detached to reinforce Bardia and the drive from Sidi Aziz exposed many technical failings in the M13/40s, including defective fuel pumps, inconsistent fuel consumption between tanks, engine wear and brittle armour. In December, (supreme command of the Italian armed forces) in Rome, reinforced the Babini Group with the V Tank Battalion M13/40 of the 132nd Armored Division "Ariete" to join the III Tank Battalion M13/40. The V Tank Battalion M13/40 was sent Derna to join the Babini Group on 16 January 1941 but a lack of tank transporters meant that the M13/40 had to drive on their tracks, which caused many breakdowns and on 19 December, arranged to rush every available M13/40 to Tripoli.
Operations
Derna–Mechili
The area east of the mountains around Derna, was garrisoned by XX Corps (Lieutenant-General Annibale Bergonzoli) with the 60th Infantry Division "Sabratha" and the Babini Group, which had already lost some of its tanks in Tobruk. The III Medium Battalion and the V Medium Battalion had an establishment of tanks each, which should have amounted to at least in the group but recently been landed at Benghazi. The new tanks needed ten days to be made battle-worthy and a three-day journey to reach Mechili but in the crisis, tanks were rushed forward, driving on their tracks due to a lack of tank transporters, which reduced the serviceability of the vehicles. A defensive position was established by the 60th Infantry Division "Sabratha" on a line from Derna along Wadi Derna, with the Babini Group concentrating at El Ghezze Scebib, south of Mechili and Giovanni Berta and Chaulan, to guard the flank and rear of the infantry.
On 22 January, the British advanced towards Derna with the 19th Australian Brigade and sent another Australian brigade to reinforce the 4th Armoured Brigade, 7th Armoured Division, south of the Jebel Akhdar, for an advance on Mechili. Next day, the 10th Army commander, General Giuseppe Tellera ordered a counter-attack against the British as they approached Mechili, to avoid an envelopment of XX Corps from the south but communication within the Babini Group was slow, only the tanks of senior commanders having wireless sets. Next day, 10–15 M13/40s of the Babini Group attacked the 7th Hussars of the 4th Armoured Brigade, which was heading west to cut the Derna–Mechili track north of Mechili. The Italians fired on the move, hit several tanks and pursued as the British swiftly retired, calling for help from the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (2nd RTR) as they did, which ignored the signals through complacency. By the British had lost several light tanks and a cruiser tank, one cruiser had a jammed gun and the third was retiring at speed, after needing fifty rounds to knock out two M13s. Eventually the 2nd RTR was alerted, caught the Italian tanks while sky-lined on a ridge and knocked out seven tanks by the British losing of the cruiser and six light tanks.