The division's lineage begins with the II Alpine Brigade formed on 11 March 1926 in
Verona with the
5th Alpini Regiment in
Milan,
6th Alpini Regiment in
Brixen, and
7th Alpini Regiment in
Belluno and the
2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment in
Bergamo. On 27 October 1934 the brigade changed its name to II Superior Alpine Command, which received the name Tridentino in December of the same year (). On 10 September 1935 the II Superior Alpine Command "Tridentino" was reformed as 2nd Alpine Division "Tridentina" with the 5th and 6th Alpini regiments and the 2nd Alpine Artillery Regiment,
World War II Invasion of France The division participated in the
Italian invasion of France in June 1940. On 21-23 June it participated in the attack on the
Little St Bernard Pass.
Greco-Italian War In November 1940 the division was transferred to
Albania for the
Greco-Italian War. By 23 November the division had entered the front in the upper
Devoll valley, but by December it was in retreat during the Greek counter-offensive. During the
Battle of Greece the division pursued the retreating Greek forces to
Leskovik and
Ersekë. After the war's conclusion the division returned to Italy. On the evening of 17 January, the Alpine Army Corps commander, General
Gabriele Nasci, ordered a full retreat. At this point only the Tridentina division was still capable of conducting effective combat operations. The 40,000-strong mass of stragglers — Alpini and Italians from other commands, plus German and Hungarian Hussars — formed two columns that followed the Tridentina division which, supported by a handful of German armored vehicles, led the way westwards to the Axis lines. On the morning of 26 January, the spearheads of the Tridentina reached the hamlet of Nikolayevka, occupied by the
48th Guards Rifle Division. The Soviets had fortified the railway embankment on both sides of the village. General Nasci ordered a frontal assault and at 9:30 am the
Battle of Nikolayevka began with the
6th Alpini Regiment with the battalions "Verona", "Val Chiese", and "Vestone", the Tridentina division's II Mixed Alpine Engineer Battalion, the Alpine Artillery Group "Bergamo" of the
2nd Alpine Artillery Regiment, and three German
Sturmgeschütz III leading the attack. By noon the Italian forces had reached the outskirts of the village and the Alpine Army Corps' Chief of Staff General
Giulio Martinat brought up reinforcements: the
5th Alpini Regiment with the battalions "Edolo", "Morbegno" and "Tirano", and the remaining alpine artillery groups "Vicenza" and "Val Camonica" of the 2nd Alpine Artillery Regiment, as well as the remnants of the Alpini Battalion "L’Aquila" of the "Julia" division. General Martinat fell during this assault. By sunset the Alpini battalions were still struggling to break the reinforced Soviet lines and in a last effort to decide the battle before nightfall General
Luigi Reverberi, commander of the Tridentina, ordered the remaining troops and stragglers, which had arrived over the course of the afternoon, to assault the Soviet positions in a
human wave attack. The assault managed to break open the Soviet lines and the Italian survivors managed to continue their retreat, which was no longer contested by Soviet forces. On 1 February 1943 the remnants of the Alpine Army Corps reached Axis lines. Only one third of the Tridentina had survived the battle on the Don and the retreat (approximately 4,250 survivors of 18,000 troops deployed).
Return to Italy The remnants of the division were repatriated in April 1943 and the division was reformed on 1 May 1943 with the 102nd Marching Alpini Regiment of the
8th Marching Division. After the announcement of the
Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943 the
invading German forces disbanded the division. == Organization ==