Babini Group

Babini Group (Brigata Corazzata Speciale/Raggruppamento Babini)
M13/40 tanks on the streets of Tripoli, March 1941
Active	1940–1941
Country	Italy
Branch	Army
Type	Armoured brigade
Commanders
Notable commanders	General Valentino Babini

The Special Armoured Brigade (Brigata Corazzata Speciale), also known as the Raggruppamento Babini (Babini Group) was an ad hoc armoured unit formed by the Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito Italia) in Italian North Africa, at the start of the Western Desert Campaign of World War II. The group was formed in Libya, as part of a plan to assemble an armoured division from the tanks already 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 (6–7 February), when the Litoranea Balbo (Via Balbia) 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.

The 32nd Armoured Regiment was formed on 1 December 1938 and on 1 February 1939 became part of the 132nd Armoured Division Ariete, the second Italian armoured division. At the Italian declaration of war on June 11, 1940, the 32nd Armoured Regiment moved with the Ariete Division from Veneto to the border with France, as part of the Army of the Po but the war ended so quickly that the division was not used. On 28 July 1939, the I and II Medium Tank battalions received 96 Fiat M11/39 tanks to replace its 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 Medium Tank Battalion with 37 of the new tanks.