In May 1915, the Italian army entered the war against Austria-Hungary. It began its advance across the Isonzo River to break through the front toward Trieste and Ljubljana. In the Second Army's sector, Monte Nero emerged as a strategic stronghold to be captured in order to envelop the Austrian position at Tolmin. The Italian command had erred on the side of caution. They missed the opportunity to occupy the mountain in the very early days of the war, when the enemy defences were still unprepared. To address this, the command considered an Alpine attack on this strong position, as it was best suited to mountain fighting. On June 2, a spectacular action was carried out by a group of thirty-one Alpine volunteers. After silently scaling a rock face, they managed to outflank and surprise the Austrians blocking the ridge between Monte Vrata and the peak of Monte Nero. This ridge was a key passage for the attack. In the following days, the Alpine troops resisted enemy counterattacks while preparing for the final attack. This last assault took place on the night of June 15-16. The attack was to be carried out from two directions by companies of the Susa and Exilles battalions. The Susa battalion would attack from the crest of Mount Vrata north of Mount Nero, and the Exilles battalion from the south, from Mount Kozliak. After a full day of Italian bombardment of enemy positions, both battalions were to advance as silently as possible during the night. They were staggered in small groups to catch the enemy by surprise. The effect was enhanced by the Austro-Hungarians, who made noise as they reinforced the trenches. This noise masked the sounds our units made as they ascended. On both attack lines, the Alpine troops managed to catch the enemy off guard. They outflanked the Austrians or were spotted only when very close to the trenches. After brief resistance, the Austrians were routed. By 4:45 a.m., the mountain had been captured with relatively light losses. The Austrians left several hundred prisoners on the field. However, as is well known, the capture of Monte Nero was not enough to cause the enemy front in that sector to collapse. The episode demonstrated the valour of our Alpine units from the very first days of the war. The legend of this battle was also fueled by the song "Montenero," written immediately after the action by Alpine soldier Domenico Borella. The song quickly became popular throughout the corps.