The twelve cyclist battalions of the peacetime regiments had been raised in 1910. Each consisted of three companies of 150 men, and a machine gun section with two machine guns. For the duration of the war the cyclists battalions operated independently from their regiments and were assigned as needed to higher commands. On various occasions Bersaglieri Cyclist Battalion Groups were formed, but only after the Battle of Caporetto forced the Italian army to retreat from the Isonzo front, during which the cyclist battalions served as rearguard, did the army institute permanent cyclist groups. 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: