III Army Corps (Italy)

3º Corpo d'armata 3rd Army Corps
3rd Army Corps Coat of Arms
Active	1 April 1860 - 1 December 2000
Country	Kingdom of Italy  Italian Republic
Branch	Royal Italian Army  Italian Army
Role	Corps Command
Garrison/HQ	Milan
Engagements	Third Italian War of Independence, World War I, Second Italo-Ethiopian War, World War II, Multinational Force in Lebanon

The III Army Corps was one of three corps the Italian Army fielded during the Cold War. Based in the regions of Lombardy and Piedmont the corps was the army's operational reserve, while the 4th Alpine Army Corps and the 5th Army Corps, both based in the North East of Italy, were the army's front-line units. After the end of the Cold War the corps was reduced in size and on 1 December 2000 it ceded its last brigades to the 1st Defence Forces Command (COMFOD 1°). The personnel of the 3rd Army Corps was used to raise the NATO Rapid Deployable Italian Corps in January 2001.