page_title: 132nd Tank Regiment (Italy)
section_title: Battle of Gazala
hierarchical_section_title: 132nd Tank Regiment (Italy) / History / World War II / Battle of Gazala
caption_attribution_description: English: Ariete tanks on the move during the battle.
context_page_description: The 132nd Tank Regiment is a tank regiment of the Italian Army based in Cordenons in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Originally the regiment, like all Italian tank units, was part of the infantry, but since 1 June 1999 it is part of the cavalry. Operationally the regiment is assigned to the 132nd Armored Brigade "Ariete".
context_section_description: In the meantime Rommel had renewed his offensive operations with the Battle of Gazala. The 132nd regiment fielded 169 tanks, 87 officers, 245 non-commissioned officers and 1,437 soldiers for the upcoming operation. The Ariete division was tasked to swing around the heavily fortified Bir Hakeim position and attack it from the rear. On 27 May 1942 the 132nd regiment encountered the 3rd Indian Motor Brigade at Rugbet el Atasc and sent its veteran VIII and IX medium tank battalions forward, while the fresh X medium tank battalion was in second line. The Indian position was overrun by the VIII and X battalions with the loss of 23 tanks, some of which were repairable on the field, 30 men killed and 50 wounded, while the Indian brigade lost 440 men killed and wounded and about 1,000 prisoners, including Admiral Sir Walter Cowan and most of its equipment.
  After over-running the 3rd Indian Motor Brigade, the tank battalions of the 132nd Tank Infantry Regiment moved to the north-east of Bir Hakeim and the IX Battalion with sixty tanks, changed direction towards the fort of Bir Hakeim defended by the 1st Free French Brigade. The IX Battalion arrived before the Bir Hakeim minefield and barbed wire at 8:15 a.m., charged and lost 31 tanks and a Semovente 75/18 self-propelled gun. Ten tanks got through the minefield and were knocked out by French 75 mm anti-tank guns, causing 124 Italian casualties. The remnants of the IX Battalion retired to the main body of the Ariete, which moved north towards Bir el Harmat around noon, following Rommel's original plan, while the Battle of Bir Hakeim continued for another two weeks.  After having defeated the British at Gazala the Axis offensive continued with the capture of Tobruk and the Battle of Mersa Matruh.
caption: 132nd regiment tanks on the move during the Battle of Gazala
exif: {"Image Tag 0x000B": "Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384", "Image DateTime": "2018:02:17 14:51:06", "Image ExifOffset": "2294", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4592", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8322", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:10:29 23:55:05", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:10:29 23:55:05", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "87", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "87", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2152", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1559", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}