[2][3][4] Reparti d'Assalto ('Assault units') were formed in the summer of 1917 by Colonel Bassi, and were assigned the tactical role of shock troops, breaching enemy defenses in order to prepare the way for a broad infantry advance.

Others argue that the so-called Compagnie della morte ('Companies of death'), special patrols of infantry and engineers engaged in cutting or blasting enemy barbed wire, should be considered as precursors of the Arditi.

[8] The Arditi badge, to be carried on the left arm, included the monogram VE (for Victor Emmanuel III of Italy), and was designed exclusively as a symbol of distinction for these soldiers.

After the battle Grazioli was promoted and placed in command of the 48th Infantry Division and this allowed him to develop the idea of shock troops in greater depth and on a larger scale.

Thus modified, the Villar Perosa should have been used, according to Bassi, to lead attacks by using it as an assault weapon to clear the trenches and storm enemy positions, a role that suited it very well due to its rate of fire.

In his writings, in fact, Bassi explained that, by preceding the regular infantry in the offensives, small units armed with short rifles and hand grenades, accompanied by the violent fire of the Villar Perosa, could break the stalemate of trench warfare.

The two had the opportunity to put into practice what they had theorized in the summer of 1917, in fact on 26 June General Cadorna published a document in which he ordered the Army commanders to set up special shock units to use them in counterattacks, trench raids and as the spearhead in large-scale offensives, specifying to favor the Bersaglieri, troops with generally better physical preparation and training than regular infantrymen, but at the same time remaining rather vague and generic, allowing individual officers to make various changes.

Grazioli, first of all, chose with Bassi a location near Udine called Sdricca di Manzano to create the training school of the Arditi and the HQ of the assault troops, there the recruits were then gathered and were joined by the Bersaglieri Company.

At the beginning of August the three companies continued training in the realistic and harsh Sdricca camp built by Bassi and in that period Capello wanted to introduce an element that became one of the major symbols of the Arditi: the flame-shaped collar tabs.

From Sabotino, Cadorna, Capello and King Vittorio Emanuele watched Lieutenant Salvatore Farina plant the tricolour on San Gabriele using a captured rifle as a spear.

The unit had been created in July within the 11th Regiment of the II Bersaglieri Brigade and was made up of three companies with about 200 men each (of which the third was not yet ready) equipped, in addition to carbines and hand grenades, with 20 Machine-Pistols and 4 flamethrower sections, while HMGs were still missing and officers were scarce.

In fact, on September 29, the Battalion, attached to the "Venezia" Infantry Brigade, took part in the attack on Height 800, a dominant position on the Vallone di Chiapovano, in turn a vital communication route between the Isonzo valley and the Tarnova plateau.

The German breakthrough at Caporettoon 24 October 1917 caught the Arditi gathered in their training camps and, due to the emergency, they were employed together with the Bersaglieri, Cyclists and Cavalry as rearguard troops to protect the retreat.

Having reunited the Assault Battalions at Pieve di Soligo, Bassi managed to supply them with weapons and ammunition and let them rest for a few hours, but the Arditi quickly returned to battle.

In fact, the Supreme Command ordered Bassi's Battalions to resist as long as possible on the hills between Conegliano and Vittorio Veneto to allow the 3rd Army and the remnants of the 2nd to complete the crossing of the Piave.

Because of these orders, Colonel Giuseppe Bassi left the command of the Assault Battalions, greeted with emotion by his Arditi, and was placed in charge of the 76th Infantry Regiment of the "Napoli" Brigade.

On 29 January the Austrians attempted, but failed, to retake the two lost hills while the Italians renewed the attack against Monte Valbella this time with reinforcements from the IV Assault Battalion.

In the same month, the III Assault Battalion conquered, in one of the most daring and famous actions of the war, Mount Corno di Vallarsa (where Cesare Battisti had been captured two years earlier) which granted a gold medal to the Company Commander Carlo Sabatini.

On Montello, the XXVII Battalion, which had been operating on the Piave since April, launched a counterattack around the town of Giavera, partially recapturing part of the lost ground and remaining to contain the Austro-Hungarians until 19 June.

On September 14 the LXX Assault Battalion attacked and occupied Grottelle in Val Brenta, the XXIX carried out a raid near Sanio and the XXV stormed enemy trenches on the Pertica.

On 24 October 1918 the final attack that would lead to Italy's victory and the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire began and the Arditi of the Assault Army Corps would play a fundamental role.

Two days later, on 26 October, while the offensive on Grappa cost the Italians many losses, the waters of the Piave calmed down and the Assault Army Corps wanted to begin crossing operations.

In the following hours, however, after some enemy counterattacks, the Arditi realized that their communication lines were too fragile and therefore Ottavio Zoppi decided to move back the occupied territory by a few kilometers to better defend themselves.

On 30 October it was clear to the Austro-Hungarian commands that the Italians, once the last defenses had been overwhelmed, were uncontainable and a general retreat was therefore ordered, also deciding to send an officer to negotiate the armistice.

After the battle Alberico Albricci, commander of the Italian troops in France, ordered the creation of another Assault Battalion, called XXXII, which was involved in the breakthrough of the German lines on the Chemins des Dames in October 1918.

They also received hand-to-hand fighting instruction with or without weapons (according to the "Flower of Battle" techniques developed in the Middle Ages),[9][failed verification] all supported by continuous physical training.

The rigorous training, team spirit and contempt of danger, but also the privileges they enjoyed, made the Arditi an elite corps, but also created a climate of distrust and jealousy with officers belonging to other units of the regular army.

This fully automatic double-barreled weapon chambered for the 9mm Glisenti was initially used, with poor results, as a normal machine gun but, thanks to Bassi's intuitions, it was understood how to best exploit the VP which quickly became an integral part of the Arditi's shock tactics.

Used on the move without a crew and carried by a trained Ardito called pistolettiere, the Villar Perosa led the assaults accompanying the rest of the unit with its high rate of fire and contributing greatly in clearing the trenches.The Italian military, preceding the German MP18 by a year, had already begun to outline the concept of "SMG" in 1917.

[citation needed] The I Arditi Battalion, which was in Sardinia on 8 September, a territory not occupied by the Germans, joined the Southern Kingdom and in March 1944 became part of the IX Assault Unit of the Italian Co-Belligerent Army.