5th Engineer Regiment (Italy)

The 5th Engineer Regiment (Italian: 5° Reggimento Genio Guastatori) is a military engineering regiment of the Italian Army based in Macomer in Sardinia. The regiment is the engineer unit of the Mechanized Brigade "Sassari". In 1895, the Royal Italian Army formed the 5th Engineer Regiment. During World War I the regiment formed battalions and companies, which operated along the Italian Front. In 1919, the regiment was renamed Miners Engineer Regiment. In 1922, the regiment was disbanded and its companies distributed among the army's ten army corps engineer groupings. In November 1926, the regiment was reformed by renaming the 5th Army Corps Engineer Grouping in Trieste. During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and World War II the regiment's depot formed engineer battalions and smaller units, which deployed with divisions and corps to the fronts of the war. After the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943 the regiment was disbanded by invading German forces.

In 1951, the regiment was reformed and assigned to the V Army Corps. On 31 December 1975, the regiment was disbanded and its flag and traditions assigned to the 5th Engineer Battalion "Bolsena". In December 2000, the battalion was reorganized as 5th Paratroopers Engineer Battalion "Bolsena" and assigned to the Paratroopers Brigade "Folgore". In June 2001, the battalion was renamed to 8th Paratroopers Sappers Battalion and the flag of the 5th Engineer Regiment was transferred to the Shrine of the Flags in the Vittoriano in Rome for safekeeping. At the end of 2002, the 45th Infantry Regiment "Reggio" in Sardinia was disbanded and the next day the disbanded regiment's personnel and materiel were used to reform the 5th Engineer Regiment. The regiment's anniversary falls, as for all engineer units, on 24 June 1918, the last day of the Second Battle of the Piave River.