The 3rd Heavy Artillery Regiment "Volturno" () is an inactive rocket artillery regiment of the Italian Army, which was based in Oderzo in Veneto. Originally an artillery regiment of the Royal Italian Army, the regiment was formed in 1910 with pre-existing batteries. During World War I the regiment's groups and batteries fought on the Italian front. In World War II the regiment formed two army artillery groupings, one of which participated in 1941 in the invasion of Yugoslavia, while the other was sent to North Africa, where it fought in the Western Desert campaign and the Tunisian campaign. The regiment was disbanded by invading German forces after the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943.

The regiment was reformed in 1955 as 3rd Heavy Artillery Regiment and served as a support unit for the III Army Corps. In 1959 the regiment was equipped with MGR-1 Honest John rockets and in 1960 it was renamed 3rd Missile Artillery Regiment. The regiment was assigned to the III Missile Brigade, which consisted of the Italian Army's units with a nuclear weapons mission. The US Army's 559th Artillery Group stored the W31 nuclear warheads for the regiment's battalions at four sites in Northern Italy. In 1974 the regiment was reduced to a single group, which was re-equipped with MGM-52 Lance tactical ballistic missiles. In 1975 the regiment was disbanded and the remaining group became an autonomous unit, which was renamed 3rd Missile Artillery Group "Volturno" and assigned the flag and traditions of the 3rd Heavy Artillery Regiment. The group's nuclear mission came to an end in 1992. The same year the group was reorganized as 3rd Heavy Artillery Regiment "Volturno" and equipped with M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems. In 2001 the regiment was disbanded and its personnel and materiel transferred to the 5th Field Artillery Regiment "Superga". The regimental anniversary falls, as for all Italian Army artillery regiments, on 15 June, the beginning of the Second Battle of the Piave River in 1918.

This article is about the Royal Italian Army's 3rd Heavy Artillery Regiment, which was a support unit assigned to an army-level command. This regiment is unrelated to the 3rd Heavy Field Artillery Regiment, which was a support unit assigned to a corps-level command, and unrelated to the 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, which was a support unit assigned to a division-level command.

History On 1 October 1910 the 8th Fortress Artillery Regiment was formed in Bologna. The new regiment initially consisted of four companies, two of which had been ceded by the 1st Fortress Artillery Regiment, one of which had been transferred from the disbanded Artillery Workers Companies Group, and one of which was a newly formed company. Of the companies that made up the new regiment, the 2nd Company had been deployed, together with the I Bersaglieri Battalion in 1860 to Sicily to support Giuseppe Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand. On 1 October 1860 the company participated with Garibaldi's Southern Army in the Battle of the Volturno, after which it was reintegrated into the Royal Sardinian Army, with which it fought in November 1860 in the Siege of Capua, from November 1860 to February 1861 in the Siege of Gaeta, and in March 1861 in the siege of Messina.

In May 1911 the regiment received two additional companies from the 7th Fortress Artillery Regiment and in June of the same year the regiment formed three new companies. Afterwards the regiment consisted of a staff, a depot, and three groups of three companies each. During the Italo-Turkish War in 1911–12 the regiment provided eight officers and 124 troops to units deployed for the war. On 1 October 1912 the regiment received a further two companies from the 5th Fortress Artillery Regiment.

World War I During World War I the regiment's groups and batteries, as well as the units formed by the regiment's depot in Bologna, participated in all major battles of the Italian front. The regimental depot formed the commands of the 8th, 13th, 18th, 22nd, 24th, 61st, 63rd, 64th, and 70th siege groupings and the commands of 26 siege groups: VII, X, XVIII, XXIII, XXX, XXXVII, XXXIX, XL, XLI, LXIV, LXVI, LXIX LXXXI, LXXXIV, XCI, CXLII, CLII, CLVI, CLXV, CLXXIII, CCXIV CCXV, CCXXVI, CCXXXII, CCXXXIV, and CCXXXIX. For these groups and siege groups formed by other regiments the depot formed 96 siege batteries.

After the war the groups and batteries formed during the war were disbanded. On 1 March 1920 the army's artillery was reorganized again and the regiment was renamed 6th Heavy Artillery Regiment. On this occasion the regiment was assigned a link to the 3rd Regiment — Fortress Regiment, which had been formed on 1 July 1860 in Genoa and was assigned to the field artillery speciality on 13 November 1870 as 3rd Artillery Regiment. Also in 1920 the regiment moved from Bologna to Treviso. By January 1923 the regiment consisted of a command and four groups, which fielded a mix of cannons, howitzers, and mortars. Two of the groups were based in Treviso with the regimental command and the other two in Sacile. In April of the same year the regiment received a group based in Vittorio Veneto from the 3rd Heavy Artillery Regiment, and on 1 June transferred one of its groups to the 7th Heavy Artillery Regiment (Mixed) and received one group based in Trieste in return. On 30 June 1923 the regiment was renamed 6th Heavy Artillery Regiment (Mixed) and now included the V Coastal Group based in San Nicolò in Venice Lido.

In 1926 the regiment moved from Treviso to Palmanova and in fall of the same year the Royal Italian Army's heavy artillery was reorganized: two of ten regiments were disbanded and three were reorganized as coastal artillery regiments. On 31 October the 6th Heavy Artillery Regiment (Mixed) ceded I and II groups to the 5th Heavy Artillery Regiment and its V Group to the 7th Heavy Artillery Regiment (Mixed), while the regiment's two remaining groups, the III Group and IV Group, were renumbered as I Group and II Group. The next day, on 1 November 1926, the 6th Heavy Artillery Regiment (Mixed) was renamed 3rd Heavy Artillery Regiment and received the III, IV, and V groups of the 7th Heavy Artillery Regiment (Mixed), which on the same date was renamed 2nd Coastal Artillery Regiment.

In 1931 the regiment moved from Palmanova to Reggio Emilia. On 1 November 1932 the regiment received the V Group of the 9th Heavy Artillery Regiment. This group was based in Zadar and renumbered as VI Group upon entering the 3rd Heavy Artillery Regiment. In October 1934 the regiment was renamed 3rd Army Artillery Regiment and on 1 January 1935 the regiment disbanded its III Group, whose personnel was used to form the V Group of the 9th Army Artillery Regiment. The same year the regiment formed the command of a grouping and the command of a group, as well as two batteries for the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. On 23 September 1935 the regiment formed the III Position Artillery Replacements Group, which was intended to provide replacement personnel for units deployed in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. This III Group was disbanded on 30 April 1936 and its personnel assigned to various units involved in the war; these units included the Royal Corps of Colonial Troops in Libya, the 10th Artillery Regiment "Volturno" of the 25th Infantry Division "Volturno", and the 7th Motorized Regiment, which was formed the next day, on 1 May 1936, in Palermo by the depot of the 12th Army Corps Artillery Regiment. In November 1936 the regiment formed a Marching Position Artillery Group, which was sent to Massawa in Eritrea to provide replacement personnel for units engaged in the war in Ethiopia.

World War II At the outbreak of World War II the regiment consisted of a command, a group with 210/8 siege mortars, two groups with 152/13 howitzers, and a group with 149/35 heavy guns. During the war the regiment's depot in Reggio Emilia formed and mobilized the following commands:

3rd Army Artillery Grouping 8th Army Artillery Grouping 11th Army Artillery Grouping XIII Cannons Group with 149/35 heavy guns XIV Cannons Group with 149/35 heavy guns XV Cannons Group with 149/35 heavy guns XVI Cannons Group with 149/35 heavy guns XVII Cannons Group with 149/35 heavy guns XVIII Cannons Group with 149/35 heavy guns XXXII Cannons Group with 149/40 mod. 35 heavy guns LXV Howitzers Group with 152/13 howitzers LXVI Howitzers Group with 152/13 howitzers LXXXV Mortars Group with 210/8 siege mortars LXXXVI Mortars Group with 210/8 siege mortars XXXII Bombards Group with 240/12 L trench mortars 3rd Tractors Grouping and III Tractors Group

The regiment's depot also formed and mobilized the batteries for the group commands listed above. The groups operated either under command of army artillery groupings or as autonomous units. The depot was disbanded by invading German forces after the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943.

3rd Army Artillery Grouping: on 10 June 1940, the day Italy entered World War II, the grouping consisted of a command, command unit, the XVI, XVII, and XVIII cannons groups with 149/35 heavy guns, and the LXV and LXVI howitzers groups with 152/13 howitzers. A few days later the grouping was reinforced with the LII and LVIII cannons groups with 105/32 heavy field guns, which had both been mobilized by 11th Army Corps Artillery Regiment. In January 1941 the grouping was mobilized again and included now the XVII Cannons Group with 149/35 heavy guns, and the LII and LVIII cannons groups with 105/32 heavy field guns. The grouping was deployed to the border with Yugoslavia and in April 1941 participated in the invasion of Yugoslavia. Afterwards the grouping remained in occupied Yugoslavia until it was disbanded by the Germans after 8 September 1943. 8th Army Artillery Grouping: the grouping was formed upon Italy's entry in World War II. In June 1940 the grouping participated in the invasion of France and at the time included the IX, X, and XI cannons groups with 149/35 heavy guns and the LXXXIII and LXXXIV mortars groups with 210/8 siege mortars, had all been mobilized by the 2nd Army Artillery Regiment. The grouping also included the LI Howitzers Group with 152/37 heavy field guns and CII Mortars Group with 260/9 mod. 16 heavy mortars, which had both been mobilized by the 4th Army Artillery Regiment. The grouping was mobilized again in May 1941 and consisted of a command, command unit, the CXXXI and CXLVII howitzers groups with 149/28 heavy field howitzers, which had been mobilized by the 9th Army Corps Artillery Regiment, as well as the XXXIII Cannons Group with 149/40 mod. 35 heavy guns and the LII Howitzers Group with 152/37 heavy field guns, which had both been mobilized by the 4th Army Artillery Regiment. In October 1941 the grouping was deployed to Libya, where it participated in the Western Desert campaign. The grouping fought in the Second Battle of El Alamein and then retreated with the Axis forces into Tunisia, where it participated in the Tunisian campaign. By 17 April 1943 the grouping was down to 17 howitzers and on 13 May 1943 the grouping surrendered along with the remaining Axis forces to the Allies.

Cold War