After the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile between Italy and the Allies on 8 September 1943 the division fought Wehrmacht forces in the Battle of Rhodes.

The majority of the division surrendered on 11 September 1943, while the III Battalion, 10th Infantry Regiment "Regina" resisted the Germans on Leros until 16 November 1943.

[5] In 1934 the 9th Infantry Regiment "Regina" left the division and was assigned to the newly formed Armed Forces Command Italian Islands of the Aegean.

[1] On 7 April 1937 the 10th Infantry Regiment "Regina" left the division and moved to Rhodes, where it was assigned to the Aegean Military Command.

[1] On 20 November 1940, during the Greco-Italian War, two companies of the I Battalion, 10th Infantry Regiment expelled Greek sailors, which had captured Agathonisi island the previous day.

In early May 1941, in the aftermath of the Battle of Greece, the 10th Infantry Regiment on Kos, moved to capture the islands of Amorgos, Anafi, Ios, Naxos, Paros, Andros, Tinos, Kythnos, Kea, Serifos, Skyros, Mykonos, Samos, and Ikaria.

[7][8] After the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943 the garrison of Kastelorizo surrendered to British forces in the early moves of the Dodecanese Campaign.

[11] Between 4-6 October German troops executed the captured Italian commander of the island Colonel Felice Leggio and 101 of his officers, an event known as the Massacre of Kos.