Blackshirts

The Voluntary Militia for National Security (, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts (, CCNN, singular: Camicia Nera) or squadristi (singular: squadrista), was originally the paramilitary wing of the National Fascist Party, known as the Squadrismo, and after 1923 an all-volunteer militia of the Kingdom of Italy under Fascist rule, similar to the SA in Nazi Germany. Its members were distinguished by their black uniforms (modelled on those of the "Arditi", Italy's elite troops of World War I) and their loyalty to Benito Mussolini, the "Duce" (leader) of Fascism, to whom they swore an oath. The founders of the paramilitary groups were nationalist intellectuals, former army officers and young landowners opposing peasants' and country labourers' unions. Their methods became harsher as Mussolini's power grew, and they used violence and intimidation against Mussolini's opponents. In 1943, following the fall of the Fascist regime, the MVSN was integrated into the Royal Italian Army and disbanded.
History.
The Blackshirts were established as the "Squadrismo" in 1919 and consisted of many disgruntled former soldiers. It was given the task of leading fights against their bitter enemies – the Socialists. They may have numbered 200,000 by the time of Mussolini's March on Rome from 27 to 29 October 1922. In 1922 the "squadristi" were reorganized into the "milizia" and formed numerous "bandiere", and on 1 February 1923 the Blackshirts became the Voluntary Militia for National Security ("Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale", or MVSN), which lasted until 8 September 1943 Armistice of Cassibile. The Italian Social Republic, located in the areas of northern Italy occupied by Germany, reformed the MVSN on 8 December 1943 into the National Republican Guard ("Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana", or GNR).
Organization.
Benito Mussolini was the leader, or Commandant–General and First Honorary Corporal, of the Blackshirts, but executive functions were carried out by the Chief of Staff, equivalent to an army general. The MVSN was formed in imitation of the ancient Roman army, as follows:
Basic organization.
The terms after the first are not words common to European armies (e.g., the Italian "battaglione" has cognates in many languages). Instead, they derive from the structure of the ancient Roman army.
These units were also organized on the triangular principle as follows:
Territorial organization.
The MVSN original organization consisted of 15 zones controlling 133 legions (one per province) of three cohorts each and one Independent Group controlling 10 legions. In 1929 it was reorganized into four "raggruppamenti", but later in October 1936 it was reorganized into 14 zones controlling only 133 legions with two cohorts each, one of men 21 to 36 years old and the other of men up to 55 years old. There were also special units in Rome, on Ponza Island and the black uniformed "" ("The Leader's Musketeers", Mussolini's Guard), the Albanian Fascist Militia (four legions) and "Milizia Coloniale" in Africa (seven legions).
Security militia.
Special militias were also organized to provide security police and gendarmerie functions, these included:
Standards.
The standards of each of the units of the Blackshirts, save for the Moschettieri del Duce, which carried a small standard in black similar to those of the regular armed forces, were a modernized form of the standards (Vexillum) used by the old Roman army.
Abyssinian Campaign.
During the 1935–36 Second Italo-Abyssinian War against Ethiopia, seven CCNN Divisions were organized:
The first six Divisions were sent to Ethiopia and participated in the war and in the Italian war crimes in Ethiopia.
Division organization.
Organization on 3 October 1935.
The Blackshirts Rifle Battalions had three rifle companies but no MMG company. The rifle companies had three platoons (three squads with one LMG each). Each Legion had a MMG company with four platoons of three weapons each (plus two spare ones). The Blackshirts replacements battalions were organized as the Blackshirts Rifle Battalions, but its platoon were overstrength (60 men each) and with only 1 x LMG in each platoon.
Spanish Civil War.
Three CCNN Divisions were sent to participate in the Spanish Civil War as part of the Corpo Truppe Volontarie. The Blackshirt (Camicie Nere, or CCNN) Divisions contained regular soldiers and volunteer militia from the Fascist Party. The CCNN divisions were semi-motorised.
The 3rd CCNN Division was disbanded and consolidated with the 2nd CCNN Division in April 1937 after their defeat at Guadalajara. After the campaigns in Northern Spain ended in October 1937, the 2nd CCNN Division was consolidated with the 1st CCNN and renamed the XXIII de Marzo Division "Llamas Negras".
World War II.
In 1940 the MVSN was able to muster 340,000 first-line combat troops, providing three divisions (1st, 2nd and 4th – all three of which were lost in the North African Campaign) and, later in 1942, a fourth division ("M") and fifth division "Africa" were forming.
Mussolini also pushed through plans to raise 142 MVSN combat battalions of 650 men each to provide a "Gruppo di Assalto" to each army division. These Gruppi consisted of two cohorts (each of three "centuriae" of three "manipoli" of two "squadre" each) plus Gruppo Supporto company of two heavy machine gun "manipoli" (with three HMG each) and two 81 mm mortar "manipoli" (with three Mortars each).
Later 41 Mobile groups were raised to become the third regiment in Italian Army divisions as it was determined through operational experience that the Italian army's binary divisions were too small in both manpower and heavy equipment. These mobile groups suffered heavy casualties due to being undermanned, under equipped and under trained.
In 1941, Mussolini decided to create 22 highly trained combat battalions called "M" Battalions. These battalions were given the designation M alongside their names in the Army OOB to indicate their status; that they had received specialist assault and combat training, or had proven themselves in combat and had received a battlefield promotion to this status. By the end of the Fascist regime only 11 battalions had been fully formed.
The MVSN fought in every theater where Italy did.
Appearance.
The Blackshirts wore the same uniform as the Italian army with the addition of a black shirt and tie and a black fez. The uniform jacket had black flames with two ends on the collar in place of the insignia and the lictor bundles instead of the army's stars. There was an all-black dress uniform worn by some officers and the "Moschettieri del Duce" ("The Leader's Musketeers", Mussolini's Guard).
Ranks.
Mussolini as "Comandante Generale" was made "Primo Caporale Onorario" (First Honorary Corporal) in 1935 and Adolf Hitler was made "Caporale Onorario" (Honorary Corporal) in 1937. All other ranks closely approximated those of the old Roman army as follows.
Legacy.
The ethos and sometimes the uniform were later copied by others who shared Mussolini's political ideas, including Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, who issued brown shirts to the "Storm Troops" ("Sturmabteilung") and black uniforms to the "Defense Squad" ("Schutzstaffel", also colloquially known as "Brownshirts", because they wore black suit-like tunics with brown shirts), Sir Oswald Mosley in the United Kingdom (whose British Union of Fascists were also known as the "Blackshirts"), the Warriors for the Advancement of the Bulgarian National Spirit who wore red shirts, William Dudley Pelley in the United States (Silver Legion of America or "Silver Shirts"), in Mexico the Camisas Doradas or "Golden Shirts", Plínio Salgado in Brazil (whose followers wore green shirts), and Eoin O'Duffy in the Irish Free State (Army Comrades Association or "Blueshirts"). "Blueshirts" can also refer to Canadian fascists belonging to the Canadian National Socialist Unity Party and to the members of Falange Española, the most influential party within Franco's dictatorship in Spain. The paramilitary fascist Iron Guard members in Romania and the fascist Yugoslav Radical Union wore green shirts.
After the Armistice of Cassibile was signed, the Blackshirts were dissolved; in the pro-fascist Italian Social Republic they were replaced by the National Republican Guard and the Black Brigades in the militia role, alongside the Republican Police Corps.