Original WWII Royal Italian Army Alpine Fascist MVSN General’s Alpini Cap with Bullion Eagle Badge

Original Item: Only One Available. Very nice felt Robin Hood style hat with a wide ribbed band and rope design around the base. Large relief embroidered gold bullion eagle with red backing. The black hat band and trim and eagle style denote the Fascist MVSN or a connected organization. The interior features the full original lining with a leather sweatband and clear maker’s marks. The original braided chinstrap is intact, retained by two MVSN buttons. 

The cap eagle is very large and shows very heavy verdigris on the gold bullion. To the left is a single rectangular board with red backing and a single star in the center, denoting a General Officer. 

The interior lining is marked:

1879
PANIZZA
GHIFFA - ITALIA

And the sweatband is marked CAPPELLERIA / ROZZI. Some heavy wear inside and outside but a great example overall. 

Comes ready for further research and display.

The personnel for the mountain (Alpini) divisions was drawn from Italy's mountainous Alpine region and tended to be of superior quality. In addition to being well trained for mountain warfare, they were expert in the handling of pack artillery.

The mountain divisions differed from a standard infantry division in that each regiment had its own artillery, engineering, and ancillary services associated with the regiment on a permanent basis. This made each regiment of a mountain division relatively self-supporting and capable of independent action.

By design, a mountain division consisted of a divisional headquarters, two mountain infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, a mixed engineer battalion, a chemical warfare company, two reserve mountain infantry battalions, and divisional services. The divisional headquarters included an anti-tank platoon.

Each mountain infantry regiment included its own headquarters company, with a platoon of flamethrowers. Each regiment also included three mountain infantry battalions and regimental services. At full strength, the firepower for a mountain infantry regiment was 27 heavy machine guns, 81 light machine guns, 27 45 mm mortars, 12 81 mm mortars, and 27 flamethrowers.

The artillery regiment was split between the two infantry regiments. Each regiment was provided with a battalion of 75 mm howitzers. All were transported on pack animals.