The Most Famous Cavalry Charge of WWII

In 1942, horse cavalry's days were numbered. After nearly 3000 years of service on the battlefield the cavalryman was rapidly becoming obsolete with the cavalry charge made impractical by the machinegun and the horse being replaced by much faster moving armored vehicles. The beginning of the war saw charges from Polish, British Indian, and American cavalry on distant battlefields around the world in isolated incidents but the best remembered is that of the 250-year old Italian 3rd Dragoons Savoia Cavalleggeri (Cavalry Regiment) of the Prince Amedeo Duke of Aosta “Fast” (Celere) Division while fighting the Soviets on the Eastern Front. On August 23, 1942 the Soviets pushed a gap between the Italian Army its flank with the German 6th Army along the River Don in the Ukraine. Into this gap was rushed the most mobile fresh unit in available, the cavalrymen of the Savoia Regiment

Sent to the Eastern Front by Italian strongman Mussolini to uphold his end of Hitler’s Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, the cavalrymen of the Savoia Regiment were a hold over from the dashing age of horse mounted combat. They still carried sabers, and even augmented their Italian blades with captured hilt-less Russian cossack shashka swords. They carried the 1891/38 model Carcano carbines but also augmented them with captured Soviet PPSh41 submachine guns and grenades. Although they wore steel helmets they emblazoned them with black crosses, in commemoration of the Battle of Madonna di Campana in 1706 where the regiment had captured a French battle flag. Each trooper wore a red necktie in honor of a wounded dispatch rider who delivered an important message n the battlefield in the 1790s. Their commander, Colonnello Alessandro Bettoni-Cazzago, was a gentleman from a royal lineage as were many of the units other 600 officers and men. The regiment was organised into four squadrons, one of whom was dismounted to a lack of horses during the hard campaign.

On August 24, 1942, after a day of masking movements and light skirmishing Colonel Bettoni decided a charge against the Soviet positions stood a chance of stopping them. At dawn of the next day, on a wet Ukrainian morning the regiment assembled. Mounting the charge to flying regimental flags, bugles, drawn sabers and a combined cry of hundreds of men calling “Savoia!, Savoia!” and “Caricat” (charge) the three mounted squadrons of Italians rode forward at a gallop into the Soviet lines. They transitioned through the traditional thousand year old practice of starting at a trot, then a canter then a full gallop. Supported by the dismounted 4th Squadron and the regiment’s machine gun squadron they broke the back of the 2000-strong Siberian 812th Infantry Regiment. In the victorious charge the Italians lost 40 cavalrymen (including the commander of the 4th Squadron, Captain Abba) with another 79 wounded and almost 100 precious horses but they inflicted over 150 casualties on the Soviets and captured some 900 unfortunate Siberians along with a collection of sixty mortars, artillery pieces and machine guns. The regiment, founded in 1692, by Gian Piossasco de Rossi from one of the oldest Italian noble families, won two gold medals and 54 silver medals for that day….and every old horse soldier in Valhalla shed a tear.

Colonel Bettoni returned to Italy in 1943 and became a leader in the anti-Mussolini resistance, forever loyal to the Duke of Savoy rather than Il Duce. He mysteriously disappeared in 1951. The flag of the Savioa Regiment that was carried into battle that day is now preserved at the Villa Italia in Cascais. The regiment still exists as Reggimento Savoia Cavalleria. It is now equipped with armored vehicles and based at Grosseto in Tuscany, having traded in its horses for good in 1943 when it was briefly disbanded. The troopers still wear red ties and black crosses, but now also have their annual regimental dinner on August 24th, in memory of their last charge.

Sources

Tucker, Spencer Encyclopedia of World War II

Luigi Barzini Jr. Pride Of Italy Sport Illustrated, April 29, 1957

Andreanelli Sergio The Last Cavalry Charge in WWII” The Shotgun News, March 1990

Fowler, Jeffery T, Axis Cavalry in World War II

Dunnigan James F Dirty Little Secrets of World War II

Farrell, Nicholas "Sabres for savoy". Spectator, The. Oct 31, 1998.

Philip S. Jowett, Stephen Andrew The Italian Army 1940-45 - 2000

Stato Maggiore Dell’Esercito – Ufficio Storico (General Staff of the Army – Historical Office). Le Operaazioni Delle Unità Italiane Al Fronte Russo (1941-1943). Rome, 2000

Coat of Arms of the Savioa regiment

Savoia troopers in Russia 1942

Cpt Abba, Winner of the Gold Medal

Savoia cavalry charging

Savoia with dead horse 1943

Print Article

Email Article

View All Articles

How to subscribe to feeds