Capture of Stalino

Capture of Stalino
	Part of Italian Participation on Eastern Front
	; Military Memorial Monument of World War II located at Stalino
Date	12 October – 20 October 1941
Location	Donetsk, Soviet Union
Result	Decisive Italian victory
Belligerents
Italy; Supported by:; Germany	Soviet Union; Supported by:; United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Giovanni Messe	Georgy Zhukov
Strength
3 divisions; 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment; 2 Infantry Battalions; 1 Assault Unit; ;	5 division; 1st Infantry Division; Other Unknown; ;

Assault on Stalino also known as Capture of Stalino was fought between the Royal Italian Army supported by the Germans and Soviet Union aided by the British during the Eastern Front of World War II.

Battle

In October 1941, the German 1st Panzer Army was making swift movements toward the Sea of Azov, causing the Soviet Southern Front to pull back. This prompted the German High Command to enact movements on Taganrog, Rostov, and Stalino. During these movements, the Italian 3rd Cavalry Division "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta" at times moved with German units and supported them whenever possible even though the roads were poor, and the movement frameworks were minimal. The cavalry and 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment were able to mount fast, rapid attacks, and were able to engage in what were sometimes only skirmishes with a Soviet rearguard that was further spread out across the front, and at other times were required to push forward against dense automatic-weapon resistance. Among those attacks were a cavalry charge by elements of the Regiment "Savoia Cavalleria" and a difficult engagement by the Regiment "Lancieri di Novara". After several days of fighting, the3rd Cavalry Division left behind its supporting small mobile groups of horse artillery that continued support, and an engagement in the breach of the Soviet defensive positions, it was then able to occupy Stalino on 20 October. Italian commanders in the 3rd Cavalry Division praised the determination, rapidity, and mobility of the unit despite fatigue, and the German commanders recognized the mobility and brute force of the division and acknowledged its participation in decisive moments, and in many cases, the support was ordered by subordinate Italian commanders.^[2]^[3]

References

^ Plocher, Generalleutnant Hermann (2017-06-28). The German Air Force versus Russia, 1941. Eschenburg Press. ISBN 978-1-78720-603-8. Italian corps, captured Stalino on 20 October and occupied thereby the center of the industrial Donets Basin.
^ Amministratore. "C.S.I.R. - Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia". www.unirr.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-11-15.
^ Boylan, Kevin (2024-08-01). Barbarossa 1941: An Atlas of German Army Situation Maps. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 230. ISBN 978-1-4728-4393-7.

[1] Plocher, Generalleutnant Hermann (2017-06-28). The German Air Force versus Russia, 1941. Eschenburg Press. ISBN 978-1-78720-603-8. Italian corps, captured Stalino on 20 October and occupied thereby the center of the industrial Donets Basin.

[2] Amministratore. "C.S.I.R. - Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia". www.unirr.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-11-15.

[3] Boylan, Kevin (2024-08-01). Barbarossa 1941: An Atlas of German Army Situation Maps. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 230. ISBN 978-1-4728-4393-7.

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