Bersaglieri
They can be recognized by their distinctive wide-brimmed hats decorated with black western capercaillie feathers, which is worn with the dress uniform.
The Bersaglieri Corps were a high-mobility light infantry at their inception in 1836, with their specific situation evolving with changes in warfare.
An elaborate system of bugle calls allowed their units to be deployed and commanded quickly, singly or in combination.
[1] The relatively poor Kingdom of Sardinia could not afford large numbers of cavalry, so a quick-moving infantry corps of marksmen were needed.
Like the French chasseurs à pied, a level of independence and initiative was encouraged so that they could operate in looser formations, in which direct command and control was not required.
The new corps impressed King Charles Albert, who immediately had them integrated as part of the Piedmontese regular army.
Throughout the nineteenth century the Bersaglieri filled the role of skirmishers, screening the slow-moving line and column formations, but acting as special shock troops if required.
In 1855 the Bersaglieri provided five battalions for the Sardinian expeditionary corps in the Crimean War, where they were involved in the Siege of Sevastopol and the Battle of the Chernaya.
Their bravery at the Cernaia was widely recognized and played a key role in gaining Piedmont-Sardinia a seat in the negotiations at the war's end.
When the Armata Sarda became the Regio Esercito (Royal Italian Army) in 1860, the existing 36 battalions were used to create six Bersaglieri regiments, which had administrative and disciplinary duties.
The most famous action of the Bersaglieri occurred on 20 September 1870, when the XII Bersaglieri Battalion stormed Rome through a breach created by Italian artillery in the Aurelian Walls near Porta Pia leading to the capture of Rome and end of the temporal power of the Pope, thus completing the unification of Italy.
Italy's last surviving World War I veteran, Delfino Borroni, was a member of the 6th Bersaglieri Regiment from Bologna.
Their "mainly political" role was to assert "hereditary ecclesiastical prerogatives in connection with the Christian churches at Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
[9] Thus at the end of 1917 the Bersaglieri corps consisted of:[8] After the Battle of Caporetto the Chief of Staff of the Italian Army Luigi Cadorna was finally dismissed and replaced by Armando Diaz.
[8] Due to the defeat at the Battle of Caporetto the army was forced to disbanded the 15th and the 21st Bersaglieri regiments with their battalions in November 1917.
[21]11 Jan. 1919: renamed 4th Bersaglieri 1916: 1917: Val Degano, Longarone 1918: Cima Tre Pezzi, Vittorio Veneto: Piave crossing The twelve cyclist battalions of the peacetime regiments had been raised in 1910.
These four groups were officially instituted on 15 January 1918 and each fielded three cyclist battalions and formed initially the mobile reserve of the Third Army on the lower Piave river:[68] In April and May 1918 the 1st and 2nd Group were assigned to the 1st, respectively the 7th Army to defend the Western, respectively the Eastern shore of Lake Garda from possible Austro-Hungarian amphibious landings.
This battalion was assigned to the Assault Army Corps (Corpo d'Armata d'Assalto), which consisted of Bersaglieri and Arditi troops.
This proved quickly to be inadequate and in spring 1916 the army began to raise dedicated machine gunner companies (Compagnia Mitraglieri).
At the end of 1915 each infantry regiment the Italian Army began to create Arditi platoons modeled after the German Stormtroopers.
These units remained a regimental asset until 1917 when the 2nd Army on its own initiative an Arditi school in Sdricca di Manzano.
The first unit raised from volunteers was officially activated with a live-fire exercise in front of King Victor Emmanuel III on 29 July 1917.
However each army raised and employed these battalions in different ways and only after the disastrous Battle of Caporetto did the Italian High Command take control of the formation and use of the Arditi units.
The post-war Bersaglieri were converted into bicycle troops to fight alongside cavalry in the Celeri (fast) divisions.
Elite units with high morale and an aggressive spirit were seen as one way to break such tactical stalemates as the trench warfare of 1915–18.
The regiment was detached and sent back to Asmara in March 1936 to join a new unit, the East Africa Fast Column under Achille Starace.
Over the preceding years the Army had resisted suggestions to dilute the regiment's quality, and recruits continued to be of above-average size and stamina, endured intense physical training and had to qualify as marksmen.
With the end of the Cold War, the Italian army began a reduction in personnel and units which also affected the Bersaglieri.
While in the past the mobility of the Bersaglieri manifested itself in running and the use of bicycles, regiments currently in service are all mechanised with either Dardo or Freccia infantry fighting vehicles.
To distinguish them from other infantry units the Bersaglieri collar patches are crimson-red and enlisted troops wear a red fez instead of berets.
