Black Brigades
| Corpo Ausiliario delle Squadre d'azione di Camicie Nere (Auxiliary Corps of the Black Shirts' Action Squads) Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana (Italian National Republican Guard) |
|
 Alessandro Pavolini, commander-in-chief of the Black Brigades (right) and Vincenzo Costa (center), commander of 8th Black Brigade "Aldo Resega" of Milan, at a ceremony in Milan, late 1944. |
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| Organization overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | November 24, 1943 |
| Preceding organization | |
| Dissolved | April 25th, 1945 |
| Type | Paramilitary, Gendarmerie |
| Jurisdiction | Italian Social Republic (RSI) (northern Italy), under President Duce Benito Mussolini |
| Headquarters | Milan, Italy |
| Employees | 2,000 members |
| Minister responsible |
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The Corpo Ausiliario delle Squadre d'azione di Camicie Nere (Italian: Auxiliary Corps of the Black Shirts' Action Squads), most widely known as the Black Brigades (Italian: Brigate Nere) was one of the Fascist paramilitary groups, organized and run by the Republican Fascist Party (Partito Fascista Repubblicano, PFR) operating in the Italian Social Republic (in northern Italy), during the final years of World War II, and after the signing of the Italian Armistice in 1943. They were officially led by Alessandro Pavolini, former Minister of Culture (MINCULPOP) of the fascist era during the last years of the Reign of Italy.
On 26 July 1943 Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, was arrested after the Italian Grand Council of Fascism (Gran Consiglio del Fascismo), with the support of King Vittorio Emanuele III, overthrew him and began negotiations with the Allies for Italy's withdrawal from the war. The Italian government was taken over by Marshal Pietro Badoglio, who outlawed the Italian National Fascist party (Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) and confiscated all of its assets.
On 12 September Mussolini was rescued by German paratroopers led by Otto Skorzeny. He was then installed by the Germans as the President of the Italian Social Republic (RSI). The RSI was to be an Italian regime which was to nominally administer the German-occupied northern Italy. As the Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale (MVSN, also known as "Blackshirts") had been disbanded in August by the terms of the armistice, the Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana was formed on 24 November 1943, and was to constitute the new fascist police force. The Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana was formed out of local police, ex-army, ex-Blackshirts and others still loyal to the fascist cause. Anti-fascist political forces in northern Italy, on their side, decided to oppose in arms against the RSI and the German occupants, and began to recruit armed clandestine formations for guerrilla and urban warfare, with support from Allies. Soon, a bloody civil war started in northern Italy.
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