Carovigno, Italy, established 1st armored/motorized battalion

1. tank battalion, officially called "motorized battalion," was established in Carovigno. According to the decision of the Supreme Staff of the NOVJ, the tankists departed on 18 March 1944 for Egypt, to the port of Port Said, and then to Catadbo, a place in the desert about 45 kilometers southwest of Cairo. There, they were joined by 600 members of the former royal guard battalion, which had almost entirely joined the ranks of the NOVJ at the end of 1943 and in the beginning of 1944. Before that, on 10 July 1943, they had rebelled and established the first NOVJ detachment in the Near East, which had a total of 1211 men. At the official establishment, the first tank brigade of the NOVJ, on 16 July 1944, had four tank battalions, an engineering battalion, attached units, armored squad (later a battalion), a total of 2003 men and 157 armored vehicles and trucks. Part of the staff of the 1st tank brigade, about 600 fighters, non-commissioned officers and officers, led by Vojko Radić, was sent from the airport in Bari to Kolomna in the Soviet Union, as the core of the 2nd tank brigade of the NOVJ. This brigade was equipped with Soviet T-34 tanks and later fought on the Srem front together with units of our 1st army. It participated in the battles during the breakthrough of the Srem front near Šid and in the battles near Vukovar, Vinkovci, Pleternica and Zagreb. In May 1945, the 1st tank brigade met in the suburbs of Trieste.

Source: Prekomorci, M. Ivančič, Koper, 2023Photo: A. Klun

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