3rd Army Corps (Italy)

3º Corpo d'armata 3rd Army Corps
Active	1 April 1860 - 1 December 2000
Country	Italy
Branch	Italian Army
Role	Corps Command
Garrison/HQ	Milan
Engagements	Third Italian War of Independence, World War I, Second Italo-Ethiopian War, World War II, Multinational Force in Lebanon

The 3rd Army Corps was one of three corps the Italian Army fielded during the Cold War. Based in the regions of Lombardy and Piemont the corps was the army's operational reserve, while the 4th Alpine Army Corps and the 5th Army Corps, both based in the North East of Italy, were the army's front-line units. After the end of the Cold War the corps was reduced in size and on 1 December 2000 it ceded its last brigades to the 1st Defence Forces Command (COMFOD 1°). The personnel of the 3rd Army Corps was used to raise the NATO Rapid Deployable Italian Corps in January 2001.

The history of the 3rd Army Corps begins after the second Italian war of independence. Following the Italian-French victory over the Austrian Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia annexed the Papal Legations in present-day Emilia Romagna. Thus on 1 April 1860 the 3rd Higher Military Command was activated as a territorial command in Parma and tasked to defend the newly acquired territory between the Trebbia and Panaro rivers, an area roughly corresponding with the historic Emilia region. The command consisted of the 5th, 8th and 12th division of the Line.

At the outbreak of the third Italian war of independence the command was renamed as III Army Corps and participated in the Italian Mincio campaign aimed at the Austrian Quadrilatero fortresses with the 7th, 8th, 9th and 16th divisions of the line. On 24 June 1866 the corps was one of two engaged in the Battle of Custoza.

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