On suggestion of National Fascist Party General Secretary Ettore Muti the GIL Command formed three special battalions, which were sent to train in Formia, Gaeta and Scauri.

Already on 18 April it was decided to enroll the young fascists as volunteers in the Royal Italian Army to form the Battalion Group "Giovani Fascisti".

On 24 May 1942, in recognition of the value shown at Bir el Gobi, the 136th Armored Division "Giovani Fascisti" was established in Verona.

After the divisional command had been flown to Libya the division occupied the Siwa Oasis in Egypt on July 22, 1942.

Clashes with allied patrols caused minor losses, but the most insidious danger was malaria, which affected almost the entire garrison with about 800 hospitalizations.

At the beginning of the Second Battle of El Alamein there was growing discontent in the division for the lack of combat, inducing 825 volunteers to request a transfer to operational units.

The division was deployed at Marsa al-Brega and fought in the Battle of El Agheila, and then fell back to Nofaliya.

The continuing retreat took the division to Buerat and Tarhuna, finally to the Mareth Line in Tunisia.

On 25 March the division retreated together with the other Axis forces to the prepared defensive position at Wadi Akarit.