In 1701, the
Duke of Savoy Victor Amadeus II joined the
War of the Spanish Succession. The war ended in 1713 with the
Peace of Utrecht, which transferred the
Kingdom of Sicily and parts of the
Duchy of Milan to Savoy. In October 1713, Victor Amadeus II and his wife,
Anne Marie d'Orléans, travelled from
Nice to
Palermo, where, on 24 December 1713, they were crowned in the
cathedral of Palermo King and Queen of Sicily. On 1 July 1718,
Spain landed troops on
Sicily and tried to recover the
Kingdom of Sicily from Savoy rule. On 2 August 1718,
Britain,
France,
Austria, and Savoy formed an alliance to defeat Spain in the
War of the Quadruple Alliance. The war ended in 1720 with the
Treaty of The Hague, which restored the position prior to 1717, but with
Savoy and the Austria exchanging the
Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of Sicily. Initially, King Victor Amadeus II sent the
Cavalry Regiment "Piemonte Reale", the
Royal Fusiliers Regiment, the
Regiment of "Savoia", the
Regiment of "Saluzzo", and a
Swiss mercenary regiment to garrison the island of
Sardinia. On 3 January 1726, the
Royal Sardinian Army formed three
dragoon companies in
Pinerolo in
Piedmont, whose personnel was recruited among the veterans of the army's five cavalry regiments. The new unit, which fielded 560 men, was named Dragoons of Sardinia () and in June of the same year sent to Sardinia, where the companies were dispatched to
Sassari,
Nuoro, and
Oristano, while the unit's headquarter was established in
Cagliari. The three companies were further divided into smaller detachments and patrols, which were tasked with fighting
brigands and upholding the King's authority in rural Sardinia. On 15 September 1918, the
Allied Army of the Orient began the
Vardar offensive against the
Imperial German Army and
Bulgarian Army forces on the
Macedonian front. On 29 September, Bulgaria signed the
Armistice of Salonica and the next day at noon, the Bulgarian Army surrendered. With the Bulgarian surrender, the Austro-Hungarian position in Albania became untenable and consequently, in early October 1918, Italian units observed large fires along the entire Austro-Hungarian line. Italian patrols sent forward to reconnoiter, reported that the Austro-Hungarian forces had burned their supplies and fled Albania. Italian cavalry units were sent to pursue the fleeing Austro-Hungarians and the 19th Sardinian Squadron advanced to
Durrës and
Shkodër. For its conduct during the Italian offensive on the Seman river and for the capture of the airfield at Fier the 19th Sardinian Squadron was awarded a
Silver Medal of Military Valor.
World War II In spring 1940, the Squadron "Cavalleggeri di Sardegna" was expanded and mobilized as III Squadrons Group "Cavalleggeri di Sardegna". The squadrons group was attached to the
30th Infantry Division "Sabauda" and consisted of a command, a command unit, and three cavalry squadrons. In October 1940, the squadrons group added a connections platoon and a machine gunners platoon. In 1941, the group disbanded one of its cavalry squadrons. On 25 March 1942, the squadrons group was reorganized and consisted afterwards of a command, a command platoon, two cavalry squadrons, and a machine gunners squadrons. In February 1943, the command platoon was expanded to command unit and in spring of the same year the squadrons group reformed its 3rd Squadron. In June 1943, the squadrons group was attached to the
184th Infantry Division "Nembo". In the evening of 8 September 1943, the
Armistice of Cassibile, which ended hostilities between the
Kingdom of Italy and the
Anglo-American Allies, was announced by General
Dwight D. Eisenhower on Radio Algiers and by Marshal
Pietro Badoglio on
Italian radio. Germany reacted by
invading mainland Italy, while in Sardinia the German
90th Panzergrenadier Division retreated towards
Corsica. On 10 September 1943, the squadrons group was attached to the XXXIII Coastal Brigade. In October 1943, the squadrons group disbanded its 3rd Squadron and joined the
Italian Co-belligerent Army. On 15 March 1944, the squadrons group was assigned to the
47th Infantry Division "Bari". On 21 September 1944, the 47th Infantry Division "Bari" was disbanded and the squadrons group, which by then had been transferred most of its troops and horses to other units, was assigned to the Military Command of Sardinia. On 5 December 1944, the III Squadrons Group "Cavalleggeri di Sardegna" was disbanded. == References ==