Black shirts

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Parade of the fascist militia in front of Mussolini (1940)
Deployment of the fascist militia in a parade around 1930

The members of paramilitary militias of the Italian fascists were unofficially referred to as black shirts ( Italian : camicie nere ) . The Black Shirts officially formed from 1919 to 1923 as squadrists (Italian: squadristi ), then from 1923 to 1943 as Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale , or MVSN for short .

In the Italian Social Republic , dependent on the German Reich , the black shirts were reorganized as Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana ( GNR ) and as Black Brigades ( Brigate Nere ).

prehistory

Flag of the squadrists

Mussolini had been expelled from the Socialist Party of Italy ( Partito Socialista Italiano , PSI) because of his support for Italy to enter the First World War on the side of the Entente and had continued to promote entry into the war with his daily newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia . In order to emphasize these efforts, he founded the Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria (FAR) in 1914 , which dissolved after the war.

After the end of the war, in 1919 and 1920 ( Biennio rosso ), especially in industrialized northern Italy, under the impression of the Russian October Revolution and the agitation of the Third International, there were attempts by the socialists and syndicalists to overthrow the ruling order through factory occupations, land occupations and strikes to create the conditions for the transition to a socialist society. Some of the workers organized themselves in armed combat groups.

Against these revolutionary forces initially only local resistance was formed by fighting groups of unemployed soldiers and adventurers protection money received from landowners or with industry plant security closed -Contracts.

Fascist militia MVSN (1919–1923)

Black shirt badge 1941

On March 23, 1919, Mussolini summarized the local groups in consultation with their commanders under the organizational direction of Roberto Farinacci and gave them the name Fasci italiani di combattimento (literally: "Italian combat units"). On the Piazza San Sepolcro in Milan he announced the goal of the foundation:

“[Today] we are founding an opposing party, the Fasci di Combattimento , which opposes two dangers. Firstly against the hatred of the left and secondly against their destructiveness. "

In the parliamentary elections in autumn 1919, the Fasci did not receive a single mandate. They only competed in Milan, where they only got 1.7% of the vote. This apparent electoral defeat made Mussolini largely dependent on the leaders of the Fasci . On the other hand, this independence gave Mussolini the opportunity to distance himself from various activities. The most important regional leaders of the Fasci are Italo Balbo , Dino Grandi , Cesare Maria De Vecchi and Emilio De Bono . For this point in time, Wolfgang Schieder describes the social basis of the fascists as "politically homeless [...] groups of the urban post-war society".

The anti-socialist, fascist thugs did not get more support until the Biennio rosso (“red double year”). In the Italian bourgeoisie the fear of a socialist revolution had developed, especially in the countryside, large agrarians were now engaging the fasci that were also emerging there to act against land occupations and strikes. As a result, these socialists terrorized and attacked their party headquarters. These rural fascist combat groups called themselves Squadre d'Azione (action commandos) and were often led by the sons of the landowners. So they had a direct interest in suppressing revolts. In addition, they had usually only just returned home from the front and had had direct experience of violence there.

The squadre's violent action was tolerated and in some cases even supported by the bourgeois governments. For example, fascists and the regular military conquered the working-class district of Scandicci in Florence together. This enabled the fascists to gain the upper hand at the end of 1920, followed by the Biennio nero ("black double year"), the two years of superiority of the black shirts until the March on Rome in October 1922.

With the founding of the Partito Nazionale Fascista in 1921, fascism, previously perceived as an anti-political movement, was institutionalized in the form of a party. The anarchic character of the agrarian fascist squadre had to be partly pushed back in order not to scare off the national monarchical bourgeoisie and win them over as permanent allies. In this way the fascists were able to conquer political power and secure it beyond it.

By 1922 the Black Shirts had already taken control of numerous city governments. In October 1922, Mussolini organized the march on Rome (Marcia su Roma) with around 26,000 black shirts . This march was a decisive factor in the appointment of Mussolini as prime minister by King Victor Emmanuel III.

Ideology and fighting style

The black shirts saw violence as a legitimate political means to achieve their goals. The target of their attacks were initially individuals and attacks on the property of opponents, later the actions extended to smaller places until they finally went over to occupying cities and destroying the infrastructure of the opponents as part of “punitive actions”. The main goals were club halls and newspaper offices. The victims were beaten, beaten to death , or forced to drink castor oil (in large quantities it leads to an excruciating death). The Manganello , a kind of baton , was often used as a weapon .

Sven Reichardt names violence as a central ideological factor. This applies in particular to agrarian fascism 1920–1921, in which ritualized violence represented an “internal binding mechanism” for the collective of the Squadre d'azione . This search for bond and meaning can be explained in particular by the disintegration and brutalization caused by the First World War .

Fascist militia (1923–1943)

In 1922 the Squadristi were reorganized into the milizia , which in turn resulted in the Milizia Volontaria pro La Sicurezza Nazionale (MVSN) on February 1, 1923 , which existed until its dissolution in the course of the Italian armistice in 1943 . In the Italian Social Republic , a transfer to the Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana (GNR) took place.

Benito Mussolini was nominally commander in chief, but in fact the black shirts were led by the chief of staff with the comparable rank of army general. In the MVSN in particular, the structure of the historical Roman army was reproduced. The names of the ranks and the structure were taken from the Roman army , but the personnel strengths corresponded to the current circumstances.

structure

The original structure of the MVSN was based on 15 zones, to which 133 legions (one per province ) of three cohorts were subordinate, and 10 legions were supervised by an independent unit. In 1929 it was reorganized into four raggruppamenti , which were then redistributed into fourteen zones in October 1936, to which only 133 legions, each with two cohorts - one with men from 21 to 36 years of age, the other with men up to 55 years of age - were subordinate , plus special units in Rome, on the island of Ponza , the black uniformed Moschettieri del Duce ("Musketeers of the Duce ", Mussolini's bodyguard), the Albanian militia (four legions) and the colonial militia in Africa (seven legions).

These units were also structured according to the "three-way principle":

  • 3 squadre = 1 manipolo
  • 3 manipoli = 1 centuria
  • 3 centurie = 1 coorte
  • 3 coorti = 1 legione
  • 3 legioni = 1 divisioni or
  • 3 legioni or more = 1 zona

Security militia

Special militias were also formed for so-called police protection tasks:

  • Air defense and coastal artillery militia, as a joint association of two militias
  • Forestry Militia
  • Border militia
  • Autobahn Militia
  • Harbor militia
  • Post and Telegraph Militia
  • Railway militia
  • University militia

Mobile units

For the Italian-Ethiopian War of 1936, the MVSN set up six divisions:

  • 1. MVSN Division 23 March
  • 2. MVSN Division 28 Ottobre
  • 3rd MVSN Division April 21
  • 4th MVSN Division 3 Gennaio
  • 5th MVSN Division 1 Febbraio
  • 6. MVSN Division Tevere

Use in World War II

The MVSN was involved in every Italian theater of war.

In 1940 the MVSN provided three divisions with a total of 34,000 men, and in 1942 a fourth division was formed, which was assigned to each army division as the Gruppo di Assalto . This Gruppi consisted of two cohorts (of three centuries to three manipuli to two squads) plus a Gruppo Supporto -Centurie consisting of two machine gun - manipuli (of three heavy machine guns) and two 81 mm mortar -Manipeln (each three mortars).

Later, 41 mobile units were formed from which the third regiment in Italian army divisions was to emerge. These mobile units suffered heavy casualties due to understaffing, a lack of equipment and insufficient training. The three divisions were completely wiped out in combat in North Africa.

Italian social republic

The fall of the fascist regime in Italy and the dissolution of the MVSN was followed by the establishment of the Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana (GNR) and the Black Brigades (Brigate Nere) . The 40 black brigades consisted of former MVSN black shirts, former Carabinieri, ex-soldiers and other fascist elements.

Ranks

As Comandante Generale , Mussolini was named Primo Caporale Onorario (First Honorary Corporal ) in 1935 , and Hitler was named Caporale Onorario ( Honorary Corporal ) in 1937 . All other ranks roughly corresponded to those of the historical Roman army (in brackets the corresponding ranks of the Italian armed forces ):

Generals

Officers

"Adjutanten" (officers' deputy)

  • Primo aiutante (Maresciallo Maggiore) = "First Adjutant"
  • Aiutante Capo (Maresciallo Capo) = "Chief Adjutant"
  • Aiutante (Maresciallo Ordinario) = " Adjutant "

The Aiutanti formed their own rank group between the officers and NCOs as officers' deputies (cf. the French adjutants and Anglo-American warrant officers ). As such, they had no actual counterpart in the German Wehrmacht , but the rank of staff sergeant came very close to them.

NCOs and men

Uniforms

The black shirts of the MVSN wore normal army uniforms, either the gray-green woolen or the khaki-colored fabric drill, plus a black shirt with a tie, a black collar game with embedded silver-metal fascio (the Roman bundle of rods with hatchet as a symbol of power) and a black one Fez with tassel.

Rank badges corresponded to those of the army, with rank stripes in black braided rafters and officer rank stripes in black braid with the top as a diamond-shaped loop instead of the round or oval loops of the army.

They also wore a black version of the traditional Italian army helmet, again with a silver fascio on the front; During the Second World War the fascio was stenciled on the normal gray-green army helmet.

The members of the Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana wore black shirts, turtlenecks or other black tops, plus black helmets and Italian army trousers, which they wanted to use to identify themselves as black shirts.

Imitations

The fighting methods and the uniforms found some political imitators, including Adolf Hitler in the German Reich , who had the SA outfitted with brown shirts and the SS with black uniforms (the latter were also colloquially called "black shirts", although they actually matched brown or white shirts with black Wore uniform skirt), Sir Oswald Mosley in the United Kingdom (whose members of the British Union of Fascists were also known as "Black Shirts "), William Dudley Pelley in the United States ( Silver Legion of America or " Silver Shirts "), Plínio Salgado in Brazil ( whose followers wore green shirts) and Eoin O'Duffy in the Irish Free State ( Army Comrades Association or " blue shirts ").

For several years the name has been used in Australia by a militant paternal custody group, albeit without a fascist association.

See also

Web links

literature

  • Mimmo Franzinelli: Squadristi. Protagonisti e techniche della violenza fascista . Mondadori, Milan 2003.
  • Sven Reichardt : Fascist combat alliances. Violence and community in Italian squadrism and in the German SA . Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2002.
  • Wolfgang Schieder (ed.): Fascism as a social movement. Germany and Italy in comparison . 2nd edition, Göttingen 1983.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jens Petersen : Voting behavior and social basis of fascism between 1919 and 1928. In: Wolfgang Schieder (Hrsg.): Fascism as a social movement. Germany and Italy in comparison. P. 126.
  2. ^ Wolfgang Schieder: The structural change of the fascist party of Italy in the phase of the stabilization of rule. In: ders. (Ed.): Fascism as a social movement. Germany and Italy in comparison. P. 74 f.
  3. ↑ Sven Reichardt: Fascist combat leagues. Violence and community in Italian squadrism and in the German SA. P. 138.