World War I In preparation for entering
World War I the
Royal Italian Army activated on 1 March 1915 the Brigade "Sassari" with the 151st Infantry Regiment, which was mustered in
Sinnai, and the 152nd Infantry Regiment, which was mustered in
Tempio Pausania. The Brigade "Sassari" was raised exclusively with reservists from
Sardinia by the following pre-war regiments: •
45th Infantry Regiment (Brigade "Reggio") in
Sassari: Brigade "Sassari" Command and 152nd Infantry Regiment •
46th Infantry Regiment (Brigade "Reggio") in
Cagliari: 151st Infantry Regiment The brigade first saw action in the summer of 1915 during the
First Battle of the Isonzo and distinguished itself in the
Second Battle of the Isonzo. In May 1916 the brigade was sent to the
Asiago Plateau to help in the Italian effort to stop the Austrians
spring offensive. In the month of June 1916 the brigade seized
Monte Fior,
Monte Castelgomberto,
Monte Spil,
Monte Miela and
Monte Zebio. At
the end of the war the Sassari was the most decorated Italian unit of World War I, and individual soldiers of the Brigade were awarded: • 6
Military Orders of Savoia • 13
Gold Medals of Military Valor • 405
Silver Medals of Military Valor • 551
Bronze Medals of Military Valor The brigade had suffered the highest loss rate of all Italian infantry brigades in the war: 2,164 dead, and 12,858 wounded and
missing in action; a death rate of 13.8% of all men who had served in the brigade during the war. The Italian writer
Emilio Lussu had served in the brigade during World War I and would later write an anti-war book about his experiences:
A Year on the High Plateau ("Un anno sull'altipiano").
Interwar years After the war the regiments raised during the war were dissolved, with the exception of those, who had been awarded a Gold Medal of Military Valour. After the war the Brigade "Sassari" was based in
Trieste. In autumn 1926 the brigade assumed the name of XII Infantry Brigade and received the 12th Infantry Regiment "Casale" from the disbanded
Brigade "Casale". The brigade was the infantry component of the 12th Territorial Division of
Trieste, which also included the 34th Artillery Regiment. On 24 May 1939 the division dissolved the XII Infantry Brigade, with the two remaining infantry regiments coming under direct command of the division, which changed its name to 12th Infantry Division "Sassari". • Headquarters Company, in Sassari • Signal Company, in Sassari •
151st Motorized Infantry Battalion "Sette Comuni", in
Cagliari which entered the brigade on 23 September 2003 The Brigade has been deployed repeatedly in out of area operations and has served in
Kosovo, Bosnia, Lebanon,
Afghanistan and in
Iraq, where it lost seven soldiers in various engagements with
Iraqi insurgents. == Organization ==