page_title: Motorized Brigade "Cremona"
section_title: Motorized Brigade "Cremona"
hierarchical_section_title: Motorized Brigade "Cremona" / History / Cold War / Motorized Brigade "Cremona"
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Carte physique vierge du Piémont, Italie, destinée à la géolocalisation.English: Blank physical map of the Piedmont, Italy, for geo-location purpose. Topography: 1:372,000 (precision: 93 m) Equirectangular projection, WGS84 datum + stretching vertical +20% Geographic limits of the map: Left: 6.6 Right: 9.2335 Top: 46.5 Bottom: 44.0336
context_page_description: The Motorized Brigade "Cremona" was an infantry brigade of the Italian Army. The brigade's headquarters was in the city of Turin. The brigade carried on the name and traditions of the 44th Infantry Division "Cremona".
context_section_description: In 1975 the Italian Army undertook a major reorganization of it forces: the regimental level was abolished and battalions came under direct command of multi-arms brigades. Therefore, on 30 October 1975 the Infantry Division "Cremona" was reduced to Motorized Brigade "Cremona". All regiments of the division were disbanded along with most of their battalions. Of the units that remained active the II/21st became 21st Motorized Infantry Battalion "Alfonsine", the IV/21st became the 22nd Infantry (Recruits Training) Battalion "Primaro", the IV/157th became the 157th Motorized Infantry Battalion "Liguria", and the VI Bersaglieri Battalion became the 6th Bersaglieri Battalion "Palestro" and was transferred to the 3rd Mechanized Brigade "Goito". The IV Field Artillery Group of the 7th Field Artillery Regiment became the 7th Field Artillery Group "Adria". The names "Primaro", "Alfonsine" and "Adria" were chosen to commemorate three battles fought by the Combat Group "Cremona" during the allied Spring 1945 offensive in Italy. After the reform the brigade consisted of the following units:
   Motorized Brigade "Cremona", in Turin
  Command and Signal Unit "Cremona", in Turin
   21st Motorized Infantry Battalion "Alfonsine", in Alessandria
   22nd Infantry (Recruits Training) Battalion "Primaro", in Fossano
   157th Motorized Infantry Battalion "Liguria", in Novi Ligure
   1st Armored Squadrons Group "Nizza Cavalleria", in Pinerolo (M47 Patton tanks and M113 APCs)
   7th Field Artillery Group "Adria", in Turin (M114 155mm towed howitzers)
   Logistic Battalion "Cremona", in Venaria Reale
  Anti-tank Company "Cremona", in Turin (BGM-71 TOW anti-tank guided missiles)
  Engineer Company "Cremona", in Pinerolo
  The brigade also stored the equipment for a third maneuver battalion in Fossano, which in case of war would have been filled with reservists, and recruits from the 22nd Infantry (Recruits Training) Battalion "Primaro", and would have been named 50th Motorized Infantry Battalion "Parma".
  After the end of the Cold War in 1989 the Italian Army had begun a massive downsizing of its forces and the Cremona soon began to change composition repeatedly. On 1 December 1989 the 22nd Infantry (Recruits Training) Battalion "Primaro" was disbanded. On 1 November 1990 the brigade received the 4th Infantry (Recruits Training) Battalion "Guastalla", which was disbanded and replaced by the 26th Infantry (Recruits Training) Battalion "Bergamo" on 30 April 1991. On 12 September of the same year the 1st Armored Squadrons Group "Nizza Cavalleria" left the brigade to become a corps level asset of the 3rd Army Corps. With the disbanding of many mechanized formations in North-Eastern Italy the Cremona received their materiel to become a mechanized brigade: the infantry battalions received VCC-2 armored personnel carriers, while the 7th "Adria" was equipped with M109 self-propelled howitzers. Accordingly, the brigade changed its name to Mechanized Brigade "Cremona". At the same time the brigade's battalions returned to be named regiments for traditional reasons. In 1992 the Anti-tank Company was disbanded and the Engineer Company merged into the Command and Signal Unit to form the Command and Tactical Supports Unit  "Cremona". By 1993 the brigade fielded the following units:
   Mechanized Brigade "Cremona", in Turin
  Command and Tactical Supports Unit "Cremona", in Turin
   21st Mechanized Infantry Regiment "Cremona", in Alessandria
   26th Infantry (Recruits Training) Battalion "Bergamo", in Diano Castello
   157th Mechanized Infantry Regiment "Liguria", in Novi Ligure
   7th Field Artillery Regiment "Cremona", in Turin
   Logistic Battalion "Cremona", in Venaria Reale
  In 1996 the Army decided to disbanded another six brigades and one of them was the Cremona. Already on 21 September 1995 the 7th Field Artillery Regiment "Cremona" had moved from Turin to Civitavecchia where it joined the Mechanized Brigade "Granatieri di Sardegna". On 5 November 1996 the 21st Mechanized Infantry Regiment "Cremona" was transferred to the Armored Brigade "Centauro" and the 26th Infantry (Recruits Training) B
caption: Cremona units in 1989
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