2nd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna"

The 2nd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna" () is a grenadiers unit of the Italian Army's infantry arm's grenadiers () speciality. The regiment is based in Spoleto in Umbria and assigned to the Mechanized Brigade "Granatieri di Sardegna". The regiment was first formed in 1744 and is the second-most senior regiment in the Italian Army's infantry order of precedence. Together with its sister the regiment, the 1st Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna", the regiment is the guard regiment of Rome.

In 1744, the Duke of San Pietro formed the Regiment of Sardinia on the island of Sardinia for service in the War of the Austrian Succession. In 1798, French forces occupied Piedmont and King Charles Emmanuel IV was forced into exile on the island of Sardinia. Afterwards, all units of the Royal Sardinian Army, with the exception of the Regiment of Sardinia, where pressed into the service of the French-controlled Piedmontese Republic. In 1814, Napoleon was forced to abdicate and King Victor Emmanuel I returned from exile in Sardinia to Turin. In 1816, the Regiment of Sardinia was renamed Hunter Guards Regiment and, together with the Grenadier Guards Brigade, formed the royal guard. In 1831, the Grenadier Guards Brigade was renamed Guards Brigade and the brigade's battalions were used to form the 1st Grenadiers Regiment (Guards Brigade), which was joined in the brigade by the Hunter Guards Regiment, which upon entering the Guards Brigade, was renamed 2nd Hunters Regiment (Guards Brigade). In 1848, in preparation for the First Italian War of Independence, the Guards Brigade formed the 2nd Grenadiers Regiment (Guards Brigade), while the battalions of the 2nd Hunters Regiment (Guards Brigade) were assigned to the two grenadier regiments. During the same year, the Guards Brigade formed the 1st Hunters Regiment, which in 1850 left the Guards Brigade and became the Hunters of Sardinia Regiment. Consequently, the Guards Brigade was renamed Grenadiers Brigade. In 1852, the Hunters of Sardinia Regiment was disbanded and its battalions transferred to the regiments of the Grenadiers Brigade, which was renamed Grenadiers of Sardinia Brigade, while the traditions of the Hunters of Sardinia Regiment and those of its predecessors were assigned to the 2nd Grenadiers Regiment (Grenadiers of Sardinia Brigade).

In 1859, the 2nd Grenadiers Regiment (Grenadiers of Sardinia Brigade) fought in the Second Italian War of Independence. In 1860-61, the regiment fought in the Sardinian campaign in central and southern Italy. In 1866, the 2nd Grenadiers Regiment (Grenadiers of Sardinia Brigade) fought in the Third Italian War of Independence. In 1871, the brigade level was abolished and consequently, the Grenadiers of Sardinia Brigade was disbanded, while the brigade's two regiments were renamed 1st Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna", respectively 2nd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna". In 1881, the brigade level was reintroduced and the two grenadier regiments were renamed 1st Grenadiers Regiment (Brigade "Granatieri di Sardegna"), respectively 2nd Grenadiers Regiment (Brigade "Granatieri di Sardegna").

During World War I the 2nd Grenadiers Regiment (Brigade "Granatieri di Sardegna") fought on the Italian front. In May 1916, the brigade fought to annihilation on Monte Cengio during the Austro-Hungarian Army's Asiago Offensive. For the defense of Monte Cengio, the 2nd Grenadiers Regiment and its sister regiment, the 1st Grenadiers Regiment, were both awarded a Gold Medal of Military Valor. In 1926, the Brigade "Granatieri di Sardegna" was renamed XXI Infantry Brigade and the brigade's two regiments were renamed 1st Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna", respectively 2nd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna". During the same year the 3rd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna" was formed and assigned to the XXI Infantry Brigade. During World War II the regiment was assigned to the 21st Infantry Division "Granatieri di Sardegna", with which it served in occupied Slovenia. In November 1942, the "Granatieri di Sardegna" division was recalled to Rome. After the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943, the "Granatieri di Sardegna" division fought against invading German forces. On 10 September, after a last stand at Porta San Paolo, the division surrendered to the Germans, which disbanded the division and its regiments a week later.

In 1944, the Italian Co-belligerent Army reformed the regiment for a short time on the island of Sardinia. In 1946, the 1st Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna" was reformed and assigned to the Infantry Division "Granatieri di Sardegna". In 1976, the 1st Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna" was disbanded and the regiment's 2nd Mechanized Grenadiers Battalion "Cengio" became an autonomous unit, which was assigned the flag and traditions of the 2nd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna". The battalion was assigned, together with the 1st Mechanized Grenadiers Battalion "Assietta" and 3rd Grenadiers Battalion "Guardie", to the Mechanized Brigade "Granatieri di Sardegna". In 1992, the 2nd Mechanized Grenadiers Battalion "Cengio" lost its autonomy and entered the reformed 2nd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna". In 2002, the regiment was disbanded and its remaining companies transferred to the 1st Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna", which formed a detachment in Spoleto with the companies. In 2017, the detachment in Spoleto was used to reform the 2nd Grenadiers Battalion "Cengio". In 2022, the 2nd Grenadiers Battalion "Cengio" entered the reformed 2nd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna". The regiment's anniversary falls, as for all grenadier units, on 18 April 1659, the day the Granatieri speciality was founded. As the Italian Army's guard unit, the regiment's personnel was required to have a minimum height of 1,90 meters. In 2004, after the suspension of conscription, the height requirement was reduced to 1,85 meters for officers and 1,80 meters for enlisted personnel.

History Formation

In 1701, the Duke of Savoy Victor Amadeus II joined the War of the Spanish Succession. The war ended in 1713 with the Peace of Utrecht, which transferred the Kingdom of Sicily and parts of the Duchy of Milan to Savoy. In October 1713, Victor Amadeus II and his wife, Anne Marie d'Orléans, travelled from Nice to Palermo, where, on 24 December 1713, they were crowned in the cathedral of Palermo King and Queen of Sicily. In July 1718, Spain landed troops on Sicily and tried to recover the Kingdom of Sicily from Savoy rule. On 2 August 1718, Britain, France, Austria, and the Dutch Republic formed an alliance to defeat Spain in the War of the Quadruple Alliance. The war ended in 1720 with the Treaty of The Hague, which restored the position prior to 1717, but with Savoy and the Austria exchanging the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of Sicily.

In 1742, King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia joined the War of the Austrian Succession on the Austrian side. On 10 July 1744, King Charles Emmanuel III, while on a visit to Sardinia, granted his consent to the request of the Sardinian nobleman Don Bernardino Antonio Genovese, Duke of San Pietro, to levy on his own expense an infantry regiment in Sardinia for service in the War of the Austrian Succession. On 13 July of the same year, the formation of the Regiment of Sardinia () commenced. The regiment consisted of six fusilier companies, one grenadiers company, and three staff companies. In total the regiment fielded 700 men and the regiment's founder, Don Bernardino Antonio Genovese, became the regiment's first Colonel. After its formation the regiment was shipped to Piedmont, where the regiment fought in 1745 at Acqui and in 1746 at Ventimiglia. In 1748, the War of the Austrian Succession ended and the Regiment of Sardinia returned to the island, where was reduced to a single battalion.

In 1759, Don Bernardino Antonio Genovese resigned from his position as Colonel of the regiment. In 1775, the regiment returned to full strength by incorporating two battalions of the Swiss Regiment "Grisons", whose personnel was recruited in the Swiss canton of Grisons. On 1 August 1776, Don Alberto Genovese, the son of Don Bernardino Antonio Genovese, donated 120,000 Piedmontese scudo to the regiment for the establishment and subsequent maintenance of the regimental band, as well as to help the widows of fallen soldiers. The duke also requested that the regiment celebrate in perpetuity a holy mass, initially on the anniversary of his father's death, who had died on 15 February 1764, and then, after his own death, on his death's anniversary. Since 1777, the regiment has honored the duke's request, in peacetime and in wartime, on every 15 February and, after Don Alberto Genovese's death on 18 February 1812, on every 18 February, to celebrate holy mass in his memory.

French Revolutionary Wars On 21 September 1792, French forces invaded the Duchy of Savoy and on 29 September the County of Nice. Due to these unprovoked attacks King Victor Amadeus III joined the War of the First Coalition against the French Republic. From 1792 to 1796 the regiment fought against the French Army of Italy. In March 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in Italy and took command of the French forces, with which he defeated the Royal Sardinian Army in the Montenotte campaign within a month. During the Montenotte campaign the regiment fought in the Battle of Mondovì. After the defeat in the Montenotte campaign King Victor Amadeus III was forced to sign the Treaty of Paris, which ceded the Duchy of Savoy and the County of Nice to France and gave the French Revolutionary Army free passage through the Kingdom of Sardinia towards the rest of Italy. After the end of the war, the Regiment of Sardinia returned to the island, which the French had already tried and failed to occupy in 1792-93.

On 29 November 1798, the War of the Second Coalition began and French forces invaded Piedmont. Already on 6 December 1798, the French occupied Turin and took King Charles Emmanuel IV prisoner. On 8 December 1798, the King was forced to sign a document of abdication, which also ordered his former subjects to recognise French laws and his troops to obey the orders of the French Revolutionary Army. Afterwards, King Charles Emmanuel IV was released and went into exile on the island Sardinia, while his former territories became the French controlled Piedmontese Republic. On 9 December 1798, the Sardinian troops were released from their oath of allegiance to the King and sworn to the Piedmontese Republic. The only exceptions were the Regiment of Sardinia and the Corps of Light Dragoons of Sardinia, which were both based in Sardinia and thus out of reach of the French Army.

Once King Charles Emmanuel IV arrived in Sardinia the Regiment of Sardinia, which fielded 1,156 men, became the king's guard. As guard unit, the regiment's recruits had to have a minimum height of 1,69 meters. In 1803, the regiment was reduced to 923 men, due to the difficulty of recruiting enough personnel with the required height.

Restauration On 11 April 1814, Napoleon abdicated and one month later, on 20 May 1814, King Victor Emmanuel I returned from exile in Sardinia to Turin. On 24 May 1814, Victor Emmanuel I ordered to reform the regiments of the Royal Sardinian Army, which had existed in 1798. On 11 April 1816, the Regiment of Sardinia was renamed Hunter Guards Regiment () and, together with the Grenadier Guards Brigade, formed the royal guard. At the time the Hunter Guards Regiment consisted of two battalions, with personnel recruited exclusively in Sardinia.

1831 reform