3rd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna"
The 3rd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna" is an inactive unit of the Italian Army last based in Orvieto in Umbria. The regiment is part of the army's infantry corps' Granatieri speciality and was last operationally assigned to the Mechanized Brigade "Granatieri di Sardegna". The regiment was disbanded on 30 April 2002.History
The unit was raised for the first time in 1849 for the First Italian War of Independence: named 3rd Regiment "Guardie" and filled with reserve units the regiment was disbanded the war's end. On 1 December 1926 the regiment, now named 3rd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna", was raised again. In 1935 the regiment's I Battalion participated in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. On 7 April 1939 the entire regiment was airlifted to Albania as spearhead for the Italian invasion of Albania. The unit remained in Albania and fought in the Greco-Italian War, where it earned a Gold Medal of Military Valour When Italy and the Allies signed the Armistice of Cassibile the regiment was forced to surrender to superior German forces on 8 September 1943.
During the 1975 army reform the II Battalion of the 80th Infantry Regiment "Roma" became the 3rd Granatieri Battalion "Guardie". The battalion was assigned the war flag of the 3rd Regiment "Granatieri di Sardegna" and joined the Mechanized Brigade "Granatieri di Sardegna" as the brigade's recruits training battalion.
On 21 July 1992 battalion was elevated to 3rd Regiment "Granatieri Guardie" without changing composition or size. In 1997 the regiment left the "Granatieri di Sardegna" brigade and joined the army's Training Brigade. On 30 April 2002 the regiment was disbanded and its war flag transferred to the Shrine of the flags in the Vittoriano in Rome.
