The brigade was the infantry component of the 21st Territorial Division of Rome, which also included the 13th Field Artillery Regiment.

On 7 April 1939 the I and III battalion of the 3rd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna" were airlifted to the Albanian capital Tirana as spearhead of the Italian invasion of Albania.

After the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943 the division was tasked to defend Rome from Italy's former allies the Germans.

The Granatieri deployed initially along the Via Ostiensis, before falling back to Porta San Paolo at the outskirts of Rome on 10 September 1943.

The future Italian president Sandro Pertini brought a detachment of Socialist resistance fighters to Porta San Paolo, where they received the weapons of fallen grenadiers.

Before surrendering the Italian soldiers handed thousands of their weapons over to the civilian population, which was quick to form an organized resistance movement in the city.

On 13 September elements of the Free French 4th Moroccan Mountain Division landed in Ajaccio to support the Italian efforts to stop the 30,000 retreating Germans.

On 31 August the Granatieri division was disbanded with the remaining units used to augment the Combat Group "Cremona".

The names can be found at: Central Registry of War Criminals and Security Suspects from the Kingdom of Italy.