The "Ariete" brigade of the army restores two historic bombards of the First World War

(To Aries brigade)
27/09/21

A few days ago, at the Museum of the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, the unveiling of the two Austro-Hungarian bombards of the First World War, owned by the Victorian Museum Institute, was restored by the specialists of the Army gunsmiths belonging to the 132nd armored brigade. “Aries” and returned to citizenship on public display.

The ceremony, which took place in the evocative civic hall of the Museum, was attended by the commander of the Northern Operational Forces, general of the army corps Roberto Perretti, representing the Chief of Staff of the Army, the prefect of Treviso Dr. Maria Rosaria Laganà, the commander of the 132nd “Ariete” armored brigade, Brigadier General Roberto Banci, the mayor of Vittorio Veneto dr. Antonio Miatto and the Councilor for Culture of Vittorio Veneto Prof. Antonella Uliana.

The maintenance work on the two historic artillery, carried out as part of a Memorandum of Understanding stipulated between the municipality of Vittorio Veneto and the 132nd "Ariete" armored brigade, required six weeks of careful work, conducted under the technical supervision of staff of the National Historical Museum of Artillery in Turin.

One of the two bombards undergoing restoration, the 20cm Luftminewerfer M 16, is a very rare piece and is one of the last existing in Italy being one of the few surviving examples of the only hundred manufactured at the time.

General Perretti in his speech underlined the strong bond of the Army with Vittorio Veneto, recalling the sixty years of presence of the command of the V Army Corps, which later became 1st FOD, and the honorary citizenship recently conferred by the municipality of Vittorio Veneto to the Unknown Soldier, in the centenary year of the deposition at the Altare della Patria.

The mayor of Vittorio Veneto Miatto, who signed the Memorandum of Understanding with General Banci for the execution of the intervention, thanking the Army for the work carried out, recalled how in the past the "Ariete" brigade had contributed to the enhancement of the museum heritage of Vittorio Veneto, with the arrangement and cataloging of over a thousand historical weapons of the First World War, now on display in the museum's exhibition rooms. 

General Banci said he was proud of the activity conducted by the “Ariete” brigade in a unique context such as that of the Museo della Battaglia, which made it possible to demonstrate the professionalism of military personnel in a maintenance activity of high historical value.

A warm thanks was finally addressed by prof. Uliana to the gunsmiths of the “Ariete” brigade, some of them present in the room, for the competence and passion highlighted during the work.