2nd Engineer Regiment (Italy)

2nd Engineer Regiment
2° Reggimento Genio Guastatori
Regimental coat of arms
Active	2 May 1860 — 25 Aug. 1867 1 Jan. 1874 — 31 March 1920 11 Oct. 1926 — 8 Sept. 1943 20 April 1954 — today
Country	Italy
Branch	Italian Army
Role	Combat engineers
Part of	Alpine Brigade "Julia"
Garrison/HQ	Trento
Motto(s)	"Per omnia asperrima"
Anniversaries	24 June 1918 - Second Battle of the Piave River
Decorations	1× Silver Medal of Military Valor 2× Bronze Medals of Military Valor 1× Bronze Medal of Army Valor 1× Silver Medal of Civil Valor 2× Silver Cross of Army Merit[1][2][3][4]
Insignia
Alpine sappers gorget patches
Alpine sappers Nappina

The 2nd Engineer Regiment (Italian: 2° Reggimento Genio Guastatori) is a military engineering regiment of the Italian Army based in Trento in Trentino. The regiment was formed in 1860 and is currently the oldest active engineer regiment of the Italian Army. Since 1954, the unit has been assigned of the 4th Alpine Army Corps and has therefore a strong association with the Italian Army's mountain infantry speciality, the Alpini, with whom the regiment shares the distinctive Cappello Alpino. The regiment is the engineer unit of the Alpine Brigade "Julia" and specializes in mountain combat.^[5][6][7]

In 1860, the Royal Sardinian Army split the Sappers Regiment into the 1st Sappers Regiment and 2nd Sappers Regiment, which were both tasked with training sappers units. During the same year the regiment's companies fought in the Sardinian campaign in central and southern Italy and in 1866 in the Third Italian War of Independence. In 1867, the two sappers regiments were merged into the Sappers Corps, which, in 1874, was disbanded so the two regiments could be reformed. The 2nd Engineer Regiment provided personnel for First Italo-Ethiopian War and two sappers battalions for the Italo-Turkish War. During World War I the regiment's battalions and companies fought in all sectors of the Italian Front, and on the Albanian Front, and Western Front. In 1920, the regiment was disbanded. In 1922, the Royal Italian Army formed the 1st Army Corps Engineer Grouping, which in October 1926 was renamed 2nd Engineer Regiment. During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and World War II the regiment's depot formed engineer battalions and smaller units, which deployed with divisions and corps to the fronts of the war. After the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943 the regiment was disbanded by invading German forces.^[6][5][8]

In 1954, the unit was reformed as 2nd Engineer Grouping and assigned to the IV Army Corps. In 1955, the grouping was renamed 2nd Engineer Regiment. In 1975, the regiment was disbanded and the regiment's II Miners Battalion became an autonomous unit, which was renamed 2nd Miners Battalion "Iseo". After the regiment was disbanded, the flag and traditions of the 2nd Engineer Regiment were transferred to the 2nd Miners Battalion "Iseo", which also received the traditions of the 2nd Miners Regiment. The battalion was based in Bolzano and assigned to the 4th Alpine Army Corps's Engineer Command. In 1995, the 2nd Engineer Regiment was reformed by renaming the 1st Pioneer Regiment in Trento, whose battalion was renamed Sappers Battalion "Iseo". In 2002, the regiment was transferred from the Alpine Troops Command to the Alpine Brigade "Julia".^[6][5][8] The regiment's anniversary falls, as for all engineer units, on 24 June 1918, the last day of the Second Battle of the Piave River.^[7]