Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana

National Republican Guard Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana
active	1943-1945
Country	Italian social republic
Armed forces	Forze Armate della Repubblica Sociale Italiana
Type	Armed Forces / Armed Forces ( National Guard / Gendarmerie )
management
Minister of Defense	Rodolfo Graziani
Head of the GNR	Renato Ricci

National Republican Guard (GNR) ( "National Republican Guard") was from December 1943 to April 1945 the designation of an armed force and branch of service of the armed forces of the fascist Italian Social Republic . As a national guard and gendarmerie, the GNR took over the duties of the Carabinieri , the fascist security militia and the Polizia dell'Africa Italiana , which remained in Italy, after the armistice of Cassibile .

history

The GNR was set up by the fascist youth leader Renato Ricci from December 8, 1943 as the fourth branch of the social republic. The up to 140,000 members of the GNR also came from fascist youth organizations. While Ricci, with the support of Heinrich Himmler , wanted to form a party army modeled on the SS , the military leadership of the social republic insisted on a more neutral orientation. In the end, a compromise solution was reached that was not conducive to cooperation with the German side. The GNR generally took on military security tasks, the fight against partisans and typical police tasks , the latter together with the Corpo di Polizia Repubblicana , which took on police tasks in cities.

The territorial organization of the GNR comprised a general command, regional inspectorates and provincial commands with subordinate departments, several riot police units and various schools. Special branches of the organization arose from specialized units of the former security militia

Collar badge with the double "M" of the Republican National Guard

• Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana Ferroviaria , in charge of the railways
• Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana Portuaria , responsible for the ports
• Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana Poste e Telegrafi , responsible for telecommunications
• Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana Montagne e Foreste , responsible for mountain and forest areas
• Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana di Frontiera , responsible for the state borders
• Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana Stradale , in charge of road traffic

After the collapse of the Gustav Line in May 1944 and the gradual retreat to the Gothic position and the corresponding drastic reduction in the size of the national territory of the Social Republic, the GNR was also reduced and on August 15, 1944, formally incorporated as a branch of the National Republican Army . However, Benito Mussolini personally took command of the GNR .

At the same time, the Etna GNR division was formed with smaller security associations . Officially, the division was supposed to fend off any hostile airborne operations in the rear area, but the main aim was to combine smaller units under an Italian general and thus withdraw them from various German commanders and the Todt Organization . The division commander Luigi Volante was killed in an enemy air raid on June 2, 1945. The division capitulated in April 1945 in the Po Valley. A second GNR division called Vesuvio was planned, but it was never established.

Rank badge

GNR soldier with the collar badge of the elite battalions "M"

Wehrmacht	Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana	Rank badge
General of the Infantry, etc.	Generals
Lieutenant General	Tenente generals
Major general	Maggior Generals
Colonel	Colonnello
Lieutenant colonel	Tenente Colonnello
major	Maggiore
Captain	Capitano
First lieutenant	Tenente
lieutenant	Sottotenente
Staff Sergeant	Primo aiutante
Sergeant Major	Aiutante capo
sergeant	Aiutante
Sergeant major	Brigadiers
Sergeant	Vice Brigadiers
Private	Milite scelto
grenadier	Milites	no rank badges

See also

• Black brigades

literature

• Pier Paolo Battistelli, Andrea Molinari: Le Forze Armate della RSI. Hobby & Work Publishing, Bresso 2007.
• Carlo Cornia: Monterosa - Storia della Divisione Alpina Monterosa della RSI Del Bianco, Udine 1971.
• Giuseppe Rocco: L'organizzazione militare della RSI sul finire della Seconda guerra mondiale. Greco & Greco, Milan 1998.