The 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment () is an inactive mountain artillery regiment of the Italian Army, which was based in Trento in Trentino. The regiment was formed in 1915 by the Royal Italian Army as 3rd Mountain Artillery Regiment. In World War I the regiment's groups and batteries served on the Italian front.

In 1926 the 3rd Mountain Artillery Regiment switched numbers with the then 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment, but retained its flag, traditions, and place as the third oldest Italian mountain artillery regiment. In 1935 the regiment was assigned to the 2nd Alpine Division "Tridentina", with which it served during World War II in the invasion of France and the Greco-Italian War. In summer 1942 the division was transferred to the Soviet Union, where it was destroyed in winter 1942–43 during the Soviet Operation Little Saturn. The remnants of the division were repatriated in spring 1943 and invading German forces disbanded the division and its regiments after the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943.

The regiment was reformed in 1951 and assigned to the Alpine Brigade "Tridentina". In 1975 the regiment was split into two mountain artillery groups and its flag and traditions were assigned to the Mountain Artillery Group "Vicenza". In 1991 the group was assigned to the 4th Alpine Army Corps and one year later the group entered the reformed regiment. In 1997 the regiment was assigned to the army's Artillery Grouping. The regiment was disbanded in 2015. The Italian mountain artillery has served since its inception alongside the infantry's Alpini speciality, with whom the mountain artillery shares the distinctive Cappello Alpino. The regimental anniversary falls, as for all Italian Army artillery regiments, on June 15, the beginning of the Second Battle of the Piave River in 1918.

History World War I

On 1 February 1915 the 3rd Mountain Artillery Regiment was formed in the city of Bergamo. The new regiment consisted of the Mountain Artillery Group "Oneglia" in Oneglia, which had been ceded by the 1st Mountain Artillery Regiment, the Mountain Artillery Group "Genova" in Genoa, which had been formed in December 1914 by the 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment, the Mountain Artillery Group "Bergamo" in Bergamo, which had been ceded by the 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment, and the Mountain Artillery Group "Como" in Como, which had been formed in December 1911 by the 1st Mountain Artillery Regiment. All four groups were equipped with 65/17 mod. 13 mountain guns. At the outbreak of World War I the regiment formed the 59th and 61st batteries and entered the war with the organization depicted in the following table:

3rd Mountain Artillery Regiment, in Bergamo Depot in Oneglia Depot in Genoa Depot in Bergamo Depot in Como (IX) Mountain Artillery Group "Oneglia" 25th Mountain Artillery Battery 26th Mountain Artillery Battery 27th Mountain Artillery Battery 59th Mountain Artillery Battery (X) Mountain Artillery Group "Genova" 28th Mountain Artillery Battery 29th Mountain Artillery Battery 30th Mountain Artillery Battery Note 3 (XI) Mountain Artillery Group "Bergamo" 31st Mountain Artillery Battery 32nd Mountain Artillery Battery 33rd Mountain Artillery Battery 61st Mountain Artillery Battery (XII) Mountain Artillery Group "Como" 34th Mountain Artillery Battery 35th Mountain Artillery Battery 36th Mountain Artillery Battery Note 3

Note 3: The "Genova" group's 60th Mountain Artillery Battery and the "Como" group's 62nd Mountain Artillery Battery were not raised until November 1916 for lack of available 65/17 mod. 13 cannons.

During the war the regiment's depots formed the commands of the 7th Mountain Artillery Grouping and the commands of 17 mountain artillery groups: XVII (72nd, 73rd, 74th batteries), XVIII (75th, 76th, 77th batteries), XXIV (56th, 60th, 62nd batteries), XXVII (88th, 89th, 90th batteries), XXXI (97th, 98th, 99th batteries), XXXII, XL, XLV, XLVI, XLVII, XLVIII, LV, LVI, LVII, LIX, LX, and LXVI. The regiment's depots also formed 44 mountain artillery batteries, two commands of siege groups and 19 siege batteries.

During the war the regiment was broken up and its groups and batteries attached to different Alpini units. The Mountain Artillery Group "Oneglia" fought in 1915 in the Val d'Assa and then on Monte Coston. In 1916 the group was deployed on the Melette, where it fought on the slopes of Monte Fior during the Battle of Asiago. In 1917 the group remained initially on the Asiago plateau, where it fought for control of Monte Zebio. After the Battle of Caporetto the group was transferred to the Monte Grappa massif, where it fought on Monte Tomba and Monfenera during the Battle of Monte Grappa. In 1918 the group fought at Fagarè during the Second Battle of the Piave River and in October participated in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. In 1919 the group was deployed to Italian Libya to help subdue the local population.

The Mountain Artillery Group "Genova" was deployed in 1915 on the Monte Altissimo and fought near Brentonico. In 1916 the group was on Monte Zugna and the nearby Buole Pass during the Battle of Asiago. In 1917 the group was on the Monte Cimone di Tonezza and then deployed in the Val d'Astico. In 1918 the group fought on Monte Pelle, before being deployed in the Val Lagarina.

The Mountain Artillery Group "Bergamo" was from 1915 to 1917 on the Krn and only after the Battle of Caporetto in October and November 1917 the group moved left the area of the Krn. In 1918 the group was on the Cima Presanella, fought on the Monticello Pass and on the Cavento Pass below the Corno di Cavento.

The Mountain Artillery Group "Como" was deployed in 1915 on the Sass de Stria and then the Monte Piana. In 1916 the group was in the Tofane group. In 1917 the group fought on the Piccolo Lagazuoi and then on the Monte Grappa massif during the Battle of Monte Grappa. In 1918 the group was at Roncade, then on the Monte Coston, again on Monte Grappa, and then deployed on the Montello. In October 1918 the group participated in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto.

Interwar years In 1919 the regiment was reduced to the groups "Oneglia", "Bergamo" and XXIX, each with three batteries with 75/13 mod. 15 mountain guns. On 21 February 1921 the mountain groups lost their names and the regiment consisted of the I, II, and III groups. On 1 July 1923 the regiment formed the IV Group with 100/17 mod. 14 howitzers.

On 11 March 1926 the Royal Italian Army reorganized its artillery. As Alpini units were traditionally numbered from West to East the army decided that the 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment and 3rd Mountain Artillery Regiment should swap numbers. Furthermore, the army decided that mountain artillery groups should again be named and not numbered and that the groups with 100/17 mod. 14 howitzers should be transferred to the field artillery. The mountain artillery regiments also redistributed their groups and so the new 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment consisted after the swap of the groups "Bergamo" and "Vicenza", and received from the new 3rd Mountain Artillery Regiment that regiment's III Group, which was redesignated Mountain Artillery Group "Belluno". At the same time the new 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment transferred its own I Group to the 1st Mountain Artillery Regiment, which upon entering the 1st Mountain Artillery Regiment was redesignated Mountain Artillery Group "Aosta", and transferred its IV Group with 100/17 mod. 14 howitzers to the 9th Field Artillery Regiment. On 1 December 1929 the regiment received the Group "Aosta" from the 1st Mountain Artillery Regiment and transferred its Group "Belluno" to the 3rd Mountain Artillery Regiment. Afterwards the 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment consisted of the Group "Aosta", with the 4th, 5th, and 6th batteries, the Group "Vicenza", with the 19th and 20th batteries, and the Group "Bergamo", with the 31st, 32nd, and 33rd batteries. The regiment was assigned to the II Alpine Brigade, which also included the 5th Alpini Regiment and 6th Alpini Regiment.

On 1 January 1934 the Group "Aosta" returned to the 1st Mountain Artillery Regiment and in the course of the year the 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment formed the 21st Battery for the Group "Vicenza". On 27 October 1934 the II Alpine Brigade changed its name to II Superior Alpine Command and the regiment was renamed 2nd Alpine Artillery Regiment. In December of the same year the command was given the name "Tridentina". On 10 September 1935 the II Superior Alpine Command "Tridentina" was renamed 2nd Alpine Division "Tridentina" and consequently the regiment was renamed 2nd Alpine Artillery Regiment "Tridentina".

On 31 December 1935 the depot of the regiment in Bergamo formed the 5th Alpine Artillery Regiment "Pusteria". To ready the new regiment quickly for the Second Italo-Ethiopian War the other alpine artillery regiments transferred existing batteries temporarily to the new regiment. In case of the 2nd Alpine Artillery Regiment "Tridentina" the 21st Battery of the Group "Vicenza" was transferred to the newly formed Alpine Artillery Group "Lanzo", but returned to the regiment, when the Group "Lanzo" was disbanded after the war on 12 April 1937. In 1936 the regiment moved from Bergamo to Meran. On 25 September 1937 the regiment's Group "Vicenza" ceded its 21st Battery permanently to the reformed the Group "Lanzo".

On 20 March 1939, the 19th Battery of the Group "Vincenza" was mobilized and the personnel, dressed in civilian clothes, embarked in the port of La Spezia for Spain. After arriving on 25 March in Cádiz the Italian "volunteers" joined the Corpo Truppe Volontarie, which fought on the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War. However the end of hostilities on 1 April meant that the battery did not see any combat.

World War II

In 1939 the regiment mobilized the Alpine Artillery Group "Val Camonica" (28th, 29th, and 30th batteries) and the Alpine Artillery Group "Val d'Adige" (45th, 75th, 76th, and 77th batteries). The two groups supported the Alpini groups, which were manned with reservists. On 10 June 1940, the day Italy entered World War II, the regiment consisted of a command, command unit, the Group "Vicenza" (19th and 20th batteries), and the Group "Bergamo" (31st, 32nd, and 33rd batteries). Both groups were equipped with 75/13 mod. 15 mountain guns. The regiment was assigned, together with the 5th Alpini Regiment and 6th Alpini Regiment, to the 2nd Alpine Division "Tridentina". In June 1940 the division participated in the invasion of France in the Little St Bernard Pass sector.

On 31 October 1940 the Group "Val Camonica" was disbanded and the following month the 2nd Alpine Division "Tridentina" was transferred to Albania to shore up the crumbling Italian front during the Greco-Italian War. In Albania the Group "Vicenza" was reinforced with the 50th Battery of the Group "Val Chisone" of the 1st Alpine Artillery Regiment "Taurinense". On 23 November the division entered the front in the upper Devoll valley, but in December the Greek counter-offensive forced the division to retreat. On 15 March 1941 the Group "Vicenza" was reinforced with the 45th Battery of the Group "Val d’Adige". In April 1941, during the Battle of Greece, the division pursued the retreating Greek forces to Leskovik and Ersekë. In July 1941 the division was repatriated.

For its conduct and service on the Greek front the 2nd Alpine Artillery Regiment "Tridentina" was awarded a Bronze Medal of Military Valor, which was affixed to the regiment's flag and is depicted on the regiment's coat of arms.