4th Alpine Division Cuneense The 4th Alpine Division Cuneense was an Italian division composed of Alpini - light Mountain Infantry - and Mountain Artillery units . The division participated in all Italian campaigns of World War II with the exception of the North African Campaign . The division was completely destroyed by Soviet Forces during Operation Little Saturn Formation . The Cuneense division was constituted on 31 October 1935 through the reorganization of the existing 5th Superior Alpini Command . The headquarter of the division was in the city of Cuneo and the majority of its soldiers were drafted from the surrounding valleys - hence the name " " Cuneense " " . Order of battle . The division strength was 573 officers and 16 , 887 NCOs and soldiers for a total strength of 17 , 460 men . The division also had 176 horses , 4 , 698 mules and 584 transport vehicles at its disposal . Battle of France . On 21 June 1940 ( one day before the French surrender ) the “ Cuneense ” division began to advance with other Italian units into Southern France . Greco - Italian War . The division was then sent to Albania , where it participated in the Greco - Italian War . As the German Wehrmacht came to the aid of the beaten Italian armies in Albania in April 1941 through an invasion of Yugoslavia the “ Cuneense ” was sent north to aid the rapidly advancing German divisions . The Cuneense advanced through Montenegro and reached Dubrovnik at the end of the campaign . Italian participation in the Eastern Front . In September 1942 the “ Cuneense ” was sent with the Alpini divisions Julia and Tridentina and other Italian units to the Soviet Union to form the Mountain Corps of the Italian Army in Russia ( " Armata Italiana in Russia " , or ARMIR ) and fight alongside the Germans against the Red Army . Taking up positions along the Don river the Italian units covered part of the left flank of the German Sixth Army , which spearheaded the German summer offensive of 1942 into the city of Stalingrad . After the Red Army successfully encircled the German Sixth Army in Stalingrad during Operation Uranus , Soviet attention turned to the Italian and Hungarian units along the Don . On 13 January 1943 the Soviet offensive Operation Little Saturn began and the three Alpini divisions found themselves quickly encircled by the rapidly advancing armoured forces of Soviet General Filipp Golikov ' s Voronezh Front . The Alpinis held the front on the river Don , but within three days the Soviets advanced 200 km to the left and right of the Alpini . On the evening of 17 January the commanding officer of the corps General Gabriele Nasci finally ordered a full retreat . At this point the Julia and Cuneense divisions were already heavily decimated and only the Tridentina division was still capable of conducting combat operations . The 40 , 000 men strong mass of stragglers - Alpinis and Italians from other commands , plus various Germans and Hungarians - formed two columns , that followed the Tridentina division , supported by a handful of German armoured vehicles , which led the way westwards to the new Axis front . On 24 January the Cuneense formed its own column and marched south of the Tridentina division . As the Soviets had already occupied every village bitter battles had to be fought to clear the way . On the morning of 28 January the division had walked 200 km , fought 20 battles , lost 80 % of its men and spent 11 nights camped out in the middle of the Russian Steppe . Temperatures during the nights were between - 30°C and - 40°C . During the 28th the last remnants of the division were annihilated by Cossack forces . The last survivors of the 1st Alpini regiment burned the regiment ' s flag to prevent it from falling into enemy hands . The Cuneense then ceased to exist . On 11 February 1943 the count of the survivors gave the following result : In total 1 , 607 men of the division ' s total of 17 , 460 survived Operation Little Saturn . Sources . Official Homepage of the reduci ( survivors ) of the 4th Alpine Division Cuneense