11th Transport Battalion "Etnea"

The 11th Transport Battalion "Etnea" (11° Battaglione Trasporti "Etnea") is an inactive military logistics battalion of the Italian Army, which was based in Palermo in Sicily. Originally a transport regiment of the Royal Italian Army, the unit was last active from 1987 to 1998. The regimental anniversary falls, as for all units of the Transport and Materiel Corps, on 22 May, the anniversary of the Italian Army's first major automobile use to transport reinforcements to counter the Austro-Hungarian Offensive at Asiago in 1916.

History
In August 1920 the X Automobilistic Center was formed in Palermo and assigned to the X Army Corps. On 1 April 1923 the center was disbanded and its personnel and materiel used to form the X Auto Grouping, which consisted of a command, an auto group, a railway group, and a depot. On 1 November 1926 the grouping was disbanded and the next day its personnel and vehicles were used to from the 11th Automobilistic Center in Palermo. The center consisted of a command, the XI Automobilistic Group, and a depot. The three companies of the disbanded railway group were assigned to the 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 22nd Field Artillery Regiment, and 24th Field Artillery Regiment.

On 23 April 1928 the 11th Automobilistic Center was formed in Udine for the newly raised XI Army Corps. Consequently, the 11th Automobilistic Center in Palermo changed its name to 12th Automobilistic Center on 1 October of the same year.

In 1935-36 the center mobilized for the Second Italo-Ethiopian War the 16th Heavy Auto Group, and the 4th Special Auto Unit for the IV Truck-mounted Machine Gunners Group of the Regiment "Lancieri di Aosta" (6th).

On 1 July 1942 the unit was renamed 12th Drivers Regiment. The regiment was declared lost on 22 July 1943 when the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division reached Palermo.

During World War II the center mobilized in its depot in Palermo among others the following units:


 * 13th Auto Grouping
 * 16th Auto Grouping
 * 55th Autobus Auto Group
 * 153rd Mixed Auto Group
 * 108th Light Auto Group
 * 109th Light Auto Group
 * 110th Light Auto Group
 * 12th Auto Park
 * 51st Auto Park

On 1 March 1947 the 11th Drivers Center was formed in Palermo, which consisted of a command, the 11th Auto Unit, the 11th Vehicles Park, a fuel depot, and a depot. The center supported the XI Territorial Military Command of the Sicily Military Region. On 1 March 1949 the 11th Vehicles Park was transferred to the 11th Automotive Repair Shop. The unit was tasked with the transport of fuel, ammunition, and materiel between the military region's depots and the logistic supply points of the army's divisions and brigades. On 31 December 1964 the 11th Drivers Center was disbanded and the 11th Auto Unit became autonomous. The next day the unit was assigned to the XI Territorial Military Command.

As part of the 1975 army reform the unit was renamed 11th Mixed Maneuver Auto Unit.

11th Transport Battalion "Etnea"
On 1 October 1987 the 11th Mixed Maneuver Auto Unit was reorganized as 11th Transport Battalion "Etnea". Like all Italian Army transport units the battalion was named for a historic road near its base, in case of the 11th Transport Battalion for the Via Etnea in Catania. On 13 July 1987 the President of the Italian Republic Francesco Cossiga assigned the flag and traditions of the 12th Drivers Regiment to the battalion, which consisted of a command, a command and services company, a mixed transport company, and a special transports company.

On 30 June 1998 the 11th Transport Battalion "Etnea" was disbanded and subsequently the flag of the 12th Drivers Regiment was returned to the Shrine of the Flags in the Vittoriano in Rome.