The Blackshirts, formally the Voluntary Militia for National Security (Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, or MVSN), began as the squadrismo, the paramilitary wing of Italy's National Fascist Party, formed in 1919 from demobilized soldiers, former army officers, young landowners and nationalist intellectuals who set out to fight the Socialists and the peasants' and labourers' unions. Reorganized in 1922 and made an all-volunteer militia of the Kingdom of Italy on 1 February 1923, its members wore black shirts and swore an oath of loyalty to Benito Mussolini as Duce. The militia copied the structure of the ancient Roman army, with legions, cohorts, centuriae and maniples, and fielded divisions in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. After the fall of the Fascist regime in 1943 it was integrated into the Royal Italian Army and disbanded.
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Source Blackshirts (Wikipedia)
Source Blackshirts (Wikipedia)
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Source Blackshirts (Wikipedia)LeadQuote, Lead
an all-volunteer militia of the Kingdom of Italy under Fascist rule
Sources
1. Blackshirts (Wikipedia)
Lead
an all-volunteer militia of the Kingdom of Italy under Fascist rule
History
formally established as the Squadrismo in 1919
Lead, status
the MVSN was integrated into the Royal Italian Army and disbanded
World War II
In 1940 the MVSN was able to muster 340,000 first-line combat troops
Fought In: Second Italo-Ethiopian War, Ethiopian campaign
Second Italo-Ethiopian War against the Ethiopian Empire, seven CCNN Divisions were organized
Fought In: Spanish Civil War, Spanish Civil War
Three CCNN Divisions were sent to participate in the Spanish Civil War
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