[1][2] The division's lineage begins with the Brigade "Emilia" raised in Bologna in March 1915 with the 119th and 120th infantry regiments.

The division based its headquarter Kotor, with its units garrisoned in Kumbor and Herceg Novi, along the coast to Budva, along the Gruda-Zelenika railway, and later also in Nikšić.

[1] After the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943 the division concentrated its forces around the Bay of Kotor and formed with the units of the Royal Italian Navy a defense perimeter.

On 14 September the division went on the offensive and overran German positions at Prevlaka, Lepetani, and Trojica, and on the Vrmac and Kobyla mountains.

[1] On 16 September the division's commander Ugo Buttà ordered the Emilia's units to requisition every vessel in Kotor harbor and sail for Apulia in Southern Italy, where British and Italian forces had driven out the Germans.