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. Named I Assault Battalion ("I Reparto d'Assalto") the successful exercise led to the creation of a second battalion, with both units having their baptism of fire during the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo on the Banjšice Plateau.