The ceremony for the 86th Anniversary of the foundation of the 132nd Armored Brigade “Ariete” took place today, in the presence of the highest civil and military officials, as well as representatives of the Police Forces and the Combatant and Armed Forces Associations.
The 63rd Commander, Brigadier General Domenico Leotta, in his speech addressed to the personnel of the “Ariete” brigade departments deployed in arms to celebrate the event, recalling the heroic deeds of the tank crews of the past, underlined the centrality of the armored component of the Italian Army in the context of the deterrent and integrated defense devices of the Euro-Atlantic spaces, as well as the very high level of preparation and readiness achieved by all the “Ariete” departments thanks to intense training also aimed at the creation of a package of forces that can be promptly deployed.
For the occasion, two historic marching tanks were deployed (M2 and an L1542), with which the heroic tank crews in the Second World War, "aware of their destiny and much greater than their misfortune", wrote one of the most beautiful pages in national military history, facing with indomitable courage the adversary, much stronger numerically and equipped with better-equipped and technologically more advanced armoured forces.
The “Ariete” brigade is the only large heavy armored unit of the Italian Army. Composed of 7 regiments and a command and tactical support unit, it has participated with its assets in the main operations conducted abroad: Kosovo, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Somalia, Latvia and Bulgaria.
