With the 1975 reforms, the Italian Army abolished the regimental level and replaced it with brigades made up of multiple arms (including for example armour, infantry, and artillery). During the reform, the army disbanded 48 regimental commands and reduced its force by 87 battalions. A further ten regimental commands were used to raise ten new brigade commands. Ten training centers, which for traditional reasons had carried the names of regiments, were also disbanded. The reduction in units also allowed to mechanize most of the remaining units in Northern Italy and Italy's defense strategy changed from a hold-at-all-costs territorial defense to one of mobile warfare.
The reform was pushed through by General Andrea Cucino. Having become Chief of the General Staff of the Army on 1 February 1975, Cucino, concerned with the number of under-manned and under-equipped units, ordered an immediate review of the army's structure. After two months, Cucino and his staff presented a plan to restructure the entire army and, having secured an additional 1,100 billion Lire over 10 years to modernize the army's equipment, Cucino ordered the reform to begin on 1 September 1975. By 31 November 1975, the reform concluded and the army's organs, units, doctrine, training, and organization had been thoroughly and radically altered. After the reform, operational units were at 93% readiness, with the Armored Division "Ariete" and the Anti-aircraft Artillery Command at 100% readiness.
Third Army As a founding member of NATO, Italy was obliged to assign its military forces to NATO's integrated military command in case of war. While the Italian Air Force's operational units would have come under NATO's 5th Allied Tactical Air Force (5 ATAF) in Vicenza, the Italian Army would have come under NATO's Allied Land Forces Southern Europe (LANDSOUTH) in Verona. However, as tensions between Italy and Yugoslavia over the Free Territory of Trieste were high after World War II and as Yugoslavia was not a Warsaw Pact member, a conflict between the two countries would have likely not involved NATO. Therefore, on 1 May 1952, the Italian Army re-activated the Third Army in Padua to be able to act outside NATO's chain of command in case a war would break out between Italy and Yugoslavia. Third Army duplicated the functions of LANDSOUTH with a purely Italian staff. To not violate NATO's integrated military command, Italy described Third Army in all official documents as "the command designated Third Army" (il Comando Designato 3a Armata) and assigned no combat units to it during peacetime.
In case of war, Third Army would have commanded the V Army Corps in Vittorio Veneto and the Carnia-Cadore Troops Command of the IV Alpine Army Corps. The latter command, based in San Daniele del Friuli, had been specifically created to be able to split the IV Alpine Army Corps' area of operation in case of war with Yugoslavia. Reinforcements for Third Army would have come from the III Army Corps in Milan and the VI Army Corps in Bologna.
With the easing of tensions between Italy and Yugoslavia, which culminated in the division of the Free Territory of Trieste with the Treaty of Osimo in 1975, the army disbanded Third Army, along with the VI Army Corps, on 1 April 1972. With the 1975 reform, the last traces of Third Army's existence were eliminated: the Carnia-Cadore Troops Command was disbanded and the support units that had supported the Command Designated Third Army were reassigned or disbanded. Furthermore, the army significantly reduced its forces in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region along the Yugoslavian-Italian border: 17 regimental commands and 28 battalions were disbanded and a further six regimental commands were transformed into brigade commands. In total, about a third of the pre-reform personnel were withdrawn from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region as a goodwill gesture to Yugoslavia.
Personnel and training As part of the reform, the military service length for the army was reduced from 15 to 12 months (Article 40, Law nr. 191, 31 May 1975). Subsequently, the army reduced its personnel strength from 285,000 to 240,000. At the same time, the training of recruits was radically altered. Until 1975, all recruits received their basic training at ten Recruits Training Centers (Centro Addestramento Reclute - CAR) and were assigned only afterwards to their units. With the reform, all higher commands were assigned Recruits Training Battalions (Battaglione Addestramento Reclute - BAR), which trained the recruits assigned to the command's units.
Another part of the reform focused on the selection of the army's squad leaders. Until the reform, squad leaders were chosen prior to their arrival at the army's Recruits Training Centers, based on their army physical and their prior civilian education. Their actually ability to lead a squad was not taken into account. General Cucino ended this practice. Forthwith, the company commanders of the Recruits Training Battalions chose future squad leaders among their best recruits.
Naming conventions Numerals Until the 1975 reform, the army alternated the numbering of its units between Roman numerals and Arabic numerals. With the reform the use of Roman numerals was discontinued. The table below gives an overview of the units of the army and the use of numerals before 1975:
Unit type Numerals Commanding officer rank (NATO code) Notes Army Arabic General (Generale - OF-10) The army's only active field army, the 3ª Armata, was disbanded on 1 April 1972. Army Corps, Inspectorate (Ispettorato), Military Region (Regione Militare) Roman Lieutenant General (Generale di Corpo d'Armata - OF-8) Inspectorates and Military Regions were administrative formations. Division, Troops Command (Comando Truppe), Service Command (Comando del Servizio) Arabic Major General (Generale di Divisione - OF-7) Service Commands were administrative formations. Brigade Roman Brigadier General (Generale di Brigata - OF-6) Regiment, Grouping (Raggruppamento) Arabic Colonel (Colonnello - OF-5) Groupings were administrative formations. Battalion, Group, Squadrons Group, Unit (Reparto) Roman Lieutenant Colonel (Tenente Colonnello - OF-4) Units were an administrative formations of 2-3 companies. Company, Battery, Squadron Arabic Captain (Capitano - OF-2)
Brigades With the reform, the army raised ten new brigades and named them, depending on the division they were assigned to, by different conventions:
The Armored Division "Centauro" was split into two brigades, which both were named for battles fought in Lombardy during the First Italian War of Independence: 3rd Mechanized Brigade "Goito", named for the Battle of Goito 31st Armored Brigade "Curtatone", named for the Battle of Curtatone The two brigades were joined by the Mechanized Brigade "Legnano", which was named for the World War II 58th Infantry Division "Legnano", which in turn had been named for the medieval Battle of Legnano fought between the Lombard League and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
The Armored Division "Ariete" was split into three brigades, which were named for heroes of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Italian states: 8th Mechanized Brigade "Garibaldi" named to honor Giuseppe Garibaldi, who led the military forces of the Republic of Rome 32nd Armored Brigade "Mameli" named to honor Goffredo Mameli, who wrote the national anthem of Italy and died during the 1849 Siege of Rome 132nd Armored Brigade "Manin" named to honor Daniele Manin, who was the president of the Republic of San Marco The Mechanized Division "Folgore" consisted of three brigades after the reform: two named for World War I battles, and a pre-existing brigade, named for a World War II division, which had distinguished itself during the Western Desert campaign: Mechanized Brigade "Gorizia", named for the Battle of Gorizia Armored Brigade "Vittorio Veneto", named for the Battle of Vittorio Veneto The two brigades were joined by the Mechanized Brigade "Trieste", which was named for the World War II 101st Motorised Division "Trieste" The Mechanized Division "Mantova" consisted of three brigades after the reform: a new one named for a World War I battle, a pre-existing brigade named for a World War I battle, and a new brigade, named after a World War II division, which had distinguished itself during the Western Desert campaign: Mechanized Brigade "Isonzo", named after the World War II 14th Infantry Division "Isonzo", which in turn had been named for the Battles of the Isonzo Mechanized Brigade "Brescia", named after the World War II 27th Infantry Division "Brescia" The two brigades were joined by the Armored Brigade "Pozzuolo del Friuli", named for the World War I Battle of Pozzuolo.
The tenth new brigade was the Motorized Brigade "Acqui", named after the World War II 33rd Infantry Division "Acqui".
Battalions and groups
In 1975, newly independent battalions and groups were given a name, battle flag, and coat of arms. These names, flags, and coats of arms are still in use today. The naming convention introduced in 1975 is as follows:
Infantry Each speciality of the infantry developed its own naming convention.
The three Granatieri (Grenadier) battalions were named for two battles, where the Granatieri had withstood overwhelming enemy numbers, and for the oldest regiment of their line: 1st Mechanized Granatieri Battalion "Assietta", named for the War of the Austrian Succession Battle of Assietta, where in 1747 the Granatieri stopped the French invasion of Piedmont 2nd Mechanized Granatieri Battalion "Cengio", named for the World War I battle of Monte Cengio, where in 1916 the Granatieri stopped the Austro-Hungarian Asiago offensive 3rd Granatieri Battalion "Guardie" (Recruits Training), named for the Guards Regiment (Reggimento delle Guardie) raised in 1659
Line infantry regiments already carried names before the reform and mostly retained them. The newly independent line infantry battalions, which changed their names, did so because: in one case a division with same name existed (114th Infantry Regiment "Mantova" - Mechanized Division "Mantova") in six cases the regiment was part of a brigade with the same name (i.e. 17th Infantry Regiment "Acqui" - Motorized Brigade "Acqui", 67th Infantry Regiment "Legnano" - Mechanized Brigade "Legnano") in six cases because the regiment's sister regiment was also active with the same name (i.e. 59th Infantry Regiment "Calabria" - 60th Infantry Regiment "Calabria", 151st Infantry Regiment "Sassari"- 152nd Infantry Regiment "Sassari") in two cases because an artillery regiment carried the same name (33rd Infantry Regiment "Livorno" - 28th Artillery Regiment "Livorno", 120th Infantry Regiment "Emilia" - 155th Artillery Regiment "Emilia") in two cases because a brigade with the same name existed and because the regiment's sister regiment was already active with the same name: 21st Infantry Regiment "Cremona" - 22nd Infantry Regiment "Cremona" - Motorized Brigade"Cremona". in the case of the reactivated 1st Infantry Regiment "Re" ("King"), because the army did not want the unit to carry a royal title. For the same reason the 9th Infantry Regiment "Regina" ("Queen") had been renamed 9th Infantry Regiment "Bari" in 1947.