context: Alpini appeared in 1872, their initial task was to protect the Italian border with France and Austria. In 1888, alpins first participated in military operations abroad, in Africa, where they returned more than once during military conflicts. During the First World War, they opposed the German Alpine Corps and the Austrian Kaiser Rangers, and their campaign became known as the "war in the snow and ice." In World War II, alpins participated in hostilities on the axis countries against Soviet troops and in the Balkans.
question: Where did alpins first take part in hostilities abroad?
answers.text: Africa