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The Italian Co-belligerent Army (''Esercito Cobelligerante Italiano''), Army of the South (''Esercito del Sud''), or Italian Liberation Corps (''Corpo Italiano di Liberazione'') were names applied to the Royal Italian Army during the period when it fought on the side of the Allies during World War II, that is to say from September 1943 onwards. During the same period, the pro-allied Italian Royal Navy and Italian Royal Air Force were known as the Italian Co-belligerent Navy and Italian Co-belligerent Air Force respectively. From September 1943, pro-Axis Italian forces became part of the newly formed Italian Social Republic. The Italian Co-belligerent Army was the result of the Allied armistice with Italy on September 8, 1943; King Victor Emmanuel III dismissed Benito Mussolini as Prime Minister in July 1943 following the Allied invasion of Southern Italy, and nominated Marshal of Italy (Maresciallo d'Italia) Pietro Badoglio instead, who aligned Italy with the Allies. Although the Co-belligerent Army provided over 20,000 men for the Allied cause, it was greatly outnumbered by the partisans of the Italian Resistance, who fielded up to 80,000 men on the Allied side, including perhaps 30,000 fighters in the Italian Communist Party's partisan units. == Formation == On 28 September 1943, the Italian Co-belligerent Army began when its first military unit was formed in tented reorganization camps near Lecce. Some of the first soldiers in this unit had just barely managed to escape internment by the Germans.〔Holland, ''Italy's Sorrow'', p. 53〕 In accordance with Royal Army Order 70/V, the Italian First Motorized Combat Group (''1• Raggruppamento Motorizzato'') was created. The unit included elements of two divisions of the old Italian Royal Army: The 18 Infantry Division Messina and the 58 Infantry Division Legnano〔Jowett, ''The Italian Army 1940-43 (3)'', p. 24〕 The First Motorized Combat Group had a strength of 295 officers and 5,387 men. The first action of the First Motorized Combat Group was in the Cassino sector at Monte Lungo. This action did much to remove the Allied distrust of the Italian soldiers fighting on their side.〔Mollo, ''The Armed Forces of World War II'', p. 100〕 The unit suffered heavy casualties and performed well enough.〔 Following service with the American 5th Army and re-organization, the First Motorized Combat Group was transferred to the Polish II Corps on the extreme left of the British 8th Army.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Italian Co-belligerent Army」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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