21st Infantry Division "Granatieri di Sardegna"

The brigade fought on the Italian front in World War I. On 1 December 1926 the brigade assumed the name XXI Infantry Brigade and raised the 3rd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna" in Viterbo. The newly formed regiment was given the traditions of the Regiment "Cacciatori di Sardegna". The brigade was the infantry component of the 21st Territorial Division of Rome, which also included the 13th Artillery Regiment. On 8 February 1934 the division changed its name to Infantry Division "Granatieri di Sardegna". On 7 April 1939 the I and III battalion of the 3rd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna" were airlifted to the Albanian capital Tirana as spearhead of the Italian invasion of Albania. In fall 1939 the 3rd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna" left the division and permanently moved to Tirana, where it assumed the name 3rd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna e d'Albania". At the same time the XXI Infantry Brigade was dissolved and the grenadier regiments came under direct command of the division, which changed its named to 21st Infantry Division "Granatieri di Sardegna".[1]

In June 1940 during the invasion of France the division was as at Asti as reserve of the 7th Army, but due to the quick conclusion of the Battle of France the division was not involved in any operations.[1]

On 8 May 1941 the Granatieri di Sardegna was transferred to the Province of Ljubljana in Yugoslavia and participated in 1942 in encircling Ljubljana with barbed wire as an anti-partisan measure.[1][4] It was also stationed at Kočevje.

In September 1942 the division moved to Croatia and in the second half of November 1942 it moved back to Rome to defend the city in case of an Allied attack. During this time the division was reformed as a Type 43 Infantry Division, which included the addition of an additional artillery group, increased air-defense capabilities, and more modern field guns.

After the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943 the division was tasked to defend Rome from Italy's former allies the Germans. Together with the 12th Infantry Division "Sassari" and 135th Armored Cavalry Division "Ariete", the Carabinieri Legion "Rome", and other minor units the Granatieri di Sardegna fought the German 2nd Fallschirmjäger Division during Operation Achse. The Granatieri deployed initially along the Via Ostiensis, before falling back to Porta San Paolo at the outskirts of Rome on 10 September 1943. At Porta San Paolo the division was joined by remnants of the Sassari division, the cavalry Regiment "Lancieri di Montebello" and hundreds of civilian volunteers. The future Italian president Sandro Pertini brought a detachment of Socialist resistance fighters to Porta San Paolo, where they received the weapons of fallen grenadiers. Civilians at Porta San Paolo included communist leader Luigi Longo, lawyer Giuliano Vassalli, writer Emilio Lussu, unionist leaders Vincenzo Baldazzi, Mario Zagari, retired Air Force generals Sabato Martelli Castaldi and Roberto Lordi, and 18-year-old future partisan leader Marisa Musu. Around 12:30 the Catholic Communist movement arrived with reinforcements including famed actor Carlo Ninchi. However, by 17:00 the Germans broke the line of the Italian defenders, who had suffered 570 dead. Soon after the Italian military units surrendered to the Germans as the flight of the Italian King Victor Emmanuel III from Rome made further resistance senseless. Before surrendering the Italian soldiers handed thousands of their weapons over to the civilian population, which was quick to form an organized resistance movement in the city.[1]

For their role in the defence of the Rome the 1st Granatieri di Sardegna Regiment and the Regiment "Lancieri di Montebello" (8th) were awarded with the Silver Medal of Military Valor,[5][6] while the 2nd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna" and the 13th Field Artillery Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna" were awarded a Bronze Medal of Military Valour each.[7]

At the same time the autonomous Grouping "Granatieri di Sardegna" with three grenadier battalions in Corsica refused German demands to surrender and together with the 20th Infantry Division "Friuli", 44th Infantry Division "Cremona", 225th Coastal Division, 226th Coastal Division and French Partisans began to fight the Germans. The German Sturmbrigade Reichsführer SS and 90th Panzergrenadier Division and the Italian XII Parachute Battalion of the 184th Parachute Regiment,[8] which had come from Sardinia tried to retreat through Corsica towards the harbor of Bastia in the islands north. On 13 September elements of the Free French 4th Moroccan Mountain Division landed in Ajaccio to support the Italian efforts to stop the 30,000 retreating Germans. However the Germans managed to escape.[1]

In spring 1944 the Grouping "Granatieri di Sardegna" was transferred to Sardinia and augmented with fresh recruits allowing the Italian Co-belligerent Army to raise the "Granatieri di Sardegna" division anew on 15 May 1944. The division consisted of the 1st and 2nd Granatieri regiments, the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment and 132nd Tank Infantry Regiment, 548th and 553rd Artillery Regiments and the 205th Mixed Engineer Company. However it was decided that the infantry units of the division should join the Combat Group "Friuli" on the frontline in Italy. On 31 August the Granatieri division was disbanded with the remaining units used to augment the Combat Group "Cremona".[9]

After World War II the division was raised again on 1 April 1948 with the 1st Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna", 17th Infantry Regiment "Acqui" and 13th Field Artillery Regiment. On 1 November 1976 the division was reduced to Mechanized Brigade "Granatieri di Sardegna".[9]