Post by Diarist on Jan 18, 2016 12:10:53 GMT 1
Shortly after midnight, on a clear night under a bright full moon, forward elements of the 27th and 28th Alpine Divisions entered Italy over the Alpine passes. There goal is to capture and secure the exits of the tunnels at Mont Blanc and the Modane tunnel. North of the latter tunnel another column passed over the Mount Cenis pass and quickly secured the village of Susa which is located on the main rail line to Torino and 20km east of the rail tunnel exit. They have been aided by para-military elements which had crossed into Italy as tourists and workers which had been busy disrupting telephone communications as well as setting fire to buildings in order to distract civil defence forces away from the railway lines. Key railway stations were quickly secured and a 0130 the first trains entered the tunnels.
In the southern sector the border crossings at Ventimiglia were captured without incident and trains as well as truck columns of the 25th Motorized Division crossed into Italy heading eastwards to link up with their colleagues being landed by destroyers further along the coast. The advance was rapid, the first real encounter was at Imperia, the home of the 5th Infantry Division. Although most of the division was in Benghazi the depots were alerted and heavy street battles occurred. The fighting was mainly a couple of kilometres inland, well away from the main coastal road and rail line. Use of naval gunfire support was to be avoided at all costs. The advance eastwards continued and before 0500 forward elements of the 25th linked up with troops which had landed at Savona earlier that morning. Before daybreak the first trains were offloading heavy equipment at Savona railway station while transporters were disembarking infantry at the port. Phase one of the operation had been successful and a reinforced mechanized brigade was 90km deep into Italian territory at the desired stop-line. A significant blow was the failure to capture the rail tunnel north of Savona which connected the city with Torino.
North of the coast elements of the 31st Alpine Division crossed the Alpine passes to capture the exits of the Col de Tende road and rail tunnels. Further east and south other units of the division entered Italy behind the 25th Motorized Division then turned north to secure more passes from Cuneo to the coast. The main objective was to disrupt the mobilization of 4th Alpini Division in Cuneo and to protect the northern flank of troops advancing along the coast.
Shortly after daybreak the airfields around Torino were attacked destroying many aircraft on the ground. The Italian authorities appear to be totally paralyzed despite reports of actions from around the nation and abroad for almost two hours now. In France further units were being mobilized, many of them being artillery regiments and support units.