Paracadutisti

The Paracadutisti are the paratroops of Italy.

The first units of Italian parachutists were trained and formed shortly before the Second World War in Castel Benito, near Tripoli, where the first Military Parachute School was located. The first troops trained were two Libyan battalions, the Libyan Parachute Battalion and the 1st National Libyan Parachute Battalion, of the Royal Corps of Colonial Troops. To these were added the first battalions of Italian army troops and the 1st Carabinieri Parachute Battalion (there were three Carabinieri Parachute Battalions). 1 Battalion Royal Carabinieri paratroopers, formed on July 1, 1940, used in Second World War on the North African front (1941). The Italian Air Force also had parachute units.

Later in Italy, the staff at Castel Benito was expanded into the School at Tarquinia and became the first elements of the future Divisione Folgore.

A second School was established in Viterbo and a new division, the Nembo (Nimbus or Rain Cloud) was being organized. A third division, the 183 Parachute Division Ciclone (Cyclone), was planned but the 1943 Armistice of Cassibile interrupted its organization.

In 1941 a 5,000-man Parachute division was raised and was designated the 185th Parachute Division Folgore, it was trained for the assault on Malta in the planned Operation Hercules. When the Malta invasion never took place, the parachutists were deployed instead as infantry in the North African theater, despite being poorly equipped for this role. It was engaged in ground combat operations in North Africa from July 1942 until its destruction at El Alamein. Following this, a 185th Parachute battalion was raised from survivors.

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