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On July 25, 1943, Benito Mussolini was ousted from power and replaced by a new
government. The Germans were perfectly aware of the Italian bid to surrender to
the Allies and they prepared accordingly. On September 8th, 1943, after a
series of last-minute deals, Badoglio announced an armistice with the Allies and
promptly fleed with the King of Italy to reach the Allied lines, leaving a good
majority of Italian soldiers without any firm directive. The Germans promptly
occupied Italy in the wake of this coup, and the Italian Army was largely
disbanded. On September 12th, 1943, after weeks of frantic research, the German
intelligence services managed to locate where Mussolini was being held as a
prisoner and launched a covert operation to rescue him. The operation was an
amazing success, organized and performed by German Parachutists under the
direction of Otto Skorzeny. On September 14th, 1943, a worn-out Duce arrived at
Rastenburg where he found several of his hard-line fascist generals waiting.
After strong pressure from Hitler, Mussolini grundingly accepted a new political
role as the head of the new Italian Fascist Government, and on September 23rd,
1943, the "Repubblica Sociale Italiana" (RSI) was founded with its capital
located at Salo, a small village on the Garda Lake. The new government was a
"Republic", the first Italian Republic since the early 1800's, and "Social",
that is, it introduced very advanced social security and work regulation
provisions, such as the participation of workers in the profit of their
industries, etc. As a political entity the RSI was a reasonably efficent
machine, albeit in times of great economical and social difficulties, and was
able to mantain a surprisingly high level of independence form the Germans in
this respect. ESERCITO NAZIONALE REPUBBLICANO After the Italian Armistice, the great majority of the Italian army, left without orders, was disbanded. Thousands of soldiers were killed by the Germans in attempts to quell any move by the former Axis nation to join the Allies or the partisans, while tens of thousands were disarmed and sent to Germany as prisoners. A few units were able to stand together, while some went over to the Allies such as the garrisons of Sardegna and Corsica, others went over to the Germans. A virtual Civil War broke out within the forces of the defunct Italian military and ex-government between continued support of the Axis cause and joining up with the Allies. Of the many Italian units that continued to fight alongside the Axis was a company from the 10th Arditi Regiment, the commando unit of the Italian Army. It joined the 2.Fallschrimjajer-Division that was based with them at the Pratica di Mare airport near Roma. They had fought in Russia at Jatomir, Kiev, Novocobiscoia, and Kirovgrag, to name a few places, and later in Holland near Eindhoven and Arnhem. They served as the recon unit of the 2.Fallschirmjager- Division, and did so in German uniforms, but with some of their Italian recon veichles still on hand. Another unit was the Blacksirt (Camicie Nere) "M" Assault Legion "Tagliamento", who were also veterans of the Russian front. They joined the SS-Polizei- Bataillone "Gorice", (Named from the Polish town where they were trained), and "Vendetta". They were used as assault troops during the counterattacks on the Anzio Bridgehead in Italy, performing admirably. The "Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano" (National Republican Army) of the RSI was recruited at first among volunteers coming both from Italy and from the prison camps in Germany. The RSI authorities were amazed by the very high response of volunteers, over 150,000, and it was decided to form four front-line divisions, to be trained in Germany by German instructors . Life in the training camps was miserable, with bare survival meals and incredibly hard physical and tactical training, but the end product was four first-class divisions with very high morale and operational skills, eager to fight against the Allies. Unfortunately, the Germans did not trust the Italians much by this time, and when the Divisions returned to Italy they were assigned to counter-insurgency and coastal-defence operations. The morale of the soldiers was quickly shattered, and their operational skill diminished. Soon, the desertion rate very high within these units. Besides garrison and anti-partisan activity, the RSI army fought on the north east frontier against the Yugolsavian partisans (who by 1944 were already organized as a regular army), that were advancing against Trieste, Udine and Venezia in Italy. The only large offensive operation of the RSI Army against the Allies was a regimental-size tactical counterattack on the Appennines in the Winter of 1944 against US troops. The operartion was a full success, and the RSI troops proved themself very skilled and aggressive in this otherwise brief encounter. After the May 8th, 1945, with the final and total Axis surrender, RSI Army troops were butchered all over Italy by rampaging bands of self-proclamed partisans. Their only defence was in the hands of the advancing US units or when they surrendered to the few "legitimate" partisan combat outfits in the region. Many thousands of RSI soldiers were not so lucky. The main units of the "Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano" were as follows: 1st (later 4th) Apini Division "Monterosa" (Pink Mountain) Divisional Headquarters 23rd Recce Bn "Fimme Rosse" (red flames) 1st Alpini Regiment "Monterosa" Alpini Bn "Aosta" (Name of a town, like the other battalions) Alpini Bn "Intra" Alpini Bn "Bassano" Pack-mules supply column 101st AT coy. 2nd Alpini Regiment "Monterosa" Alpini Bn "Brescia" Alpini Bn "Morbegno" Alpini Bn "Tirano" Pack-mules supply column 102ndt AT coy. 101st Replacements Bn "Ivrea" 1st Alpini Artillery Rgt. "Monterosa" 1st Alpini Arty Bn "Aosta" 2nd Alpini Arty Bn "Bergamo" 3rd Alpini Arty Bn "Verona" (later "Vicenza") 4th Alpini Arty Bn "Mantova" 1st Lines-of-Comunication Engineers Bn 1st Mountain Assault Engineers Bn 1st Transport Bn 1st Medical coy 101st Medical coy 1st Medical transport section 1st Field Butchery coy 1st Field Bakery coy 1st Logistic coy 1st Veterinary coy 1st MP section 2nd Infantry Division "Littorio" Divisional headquarters 2nd Recce Bn 2nd Heavy AT coy 3rd Infantry Regiment "Littorio" 1st Infantry Bn 2nd Infantry Bn 3rd Infantry Bn 103rd AT coy 4th Alpini Regiment "Littorio" 1st Alpini Bn 2nd Alpini Bn 3rd Alpini Bn "Edolo" Pack-mules supply column 104th AT coy 102nd Replacements Bn "Littorio" 2nd Artillery Regiment "Littorio" 1st Arty Bn 2nd Arty Bn 3rd Arty Bn 4th Arty Bn 2nd Lines-of-Comunication Engineers Bn 2nd Mountain Assault Engineers Bn 2nd Transport Bn 2nd Medical coy 201st Medical coy 2nd Medical transport section 2nd Field Butchery coy 2nd Field Bakery coy 2nd Logistic coy 2nd Veterinary coy 2nd MP section The "Littorio" Division was sometimes called a "Grenadier" division. This was mainly a morale-bolstering effort, in imitation of the German tendancy to give units the title of Grenadier. The Littorio Division was not a Grenadier unit, as in the Italian Army the Grenadiers were, and still are, the Guard units, formed from select (and usually very tall) soldiers. Only one such unit - a single independent Grenadier battalion - was part of the RSI Army (see below). 3rd Naval Infantry Division "San Marco" (the Saint-patron of Venice) Divisional Headquarters 3rd Rece Bn (the former 2nd Bn of the 10th Arditi Regiment) 5th Naval Infantry Regiment "San Marco" 1st Naval Infantry Bn 2nd Naval Infantry Bn 3rd Naval Infantry Bn 6th Naval Infantry Regiment "San Marco" 1st Naval Infantry Bn 2nd Naval Infantry Bn 3rd Naval Infantry Bn 3 x AT coys 53rd Replacements Bn. 3rd Artillery Regiment "San Marco" 1st Arty Bn 2nd Arty Bn 3rd Arty Bn 4th Arty Bn 3rd Lines-of-Comunication Engineers Bn 3rd Mountain Assault Engineers Bn 3rd Transport Bn 3rd Medical coy 301st Medical coy 3rd Medical transport section 3rd Field Butchery coy 3rd Field Bakery coy 3rd Logistic coy 3rd Veterinary coy 3rd MP section This Division was part of the Army, and NOT of the Navy as it is often incorrectly reported. 4th (later 1st) Bersaglieri Division "Italia" Divisional Headquarters 2nd Recce Bn. 7th Bersaglieri Regiment "Italia" 1st Bersaglieri Bn 2nd Bersaglieri Bn 3rd Bersaglieri Bn 107th AT coy 8th Cacciatori degli Appenninini ("Appennines Hunters") Regiment "Italia" 1st Cacciatori Bn 2nd Cacciatori Bn 3rd Cacciatori Bn 108th AT coy 4th Recce Bn 4th haevy AT coy 104th Replacements Bn "Italia" 4th Artillery Regiment "Italia" 1st Arty Bn 2nd Arty Bn 3rd Arty Bn 4th Arty Bn 4th Lines-of-Comunication Engineers Bn 4th Mountain Assault Engineers Bn 4th Transport Bn 4th Medical coy 401st Medical coy 4th Medical transport section 4th Field Butchery coy 4th Field Bakery coy 4th Logistic coy 4th Veterinary coy 4th MP section Independent Units:
Coastal Defence units:
Field Fortification Construction Engineers:
Elements of other 18 partially disbanded Bns were grouped in a Centro Raccolta Complementi Genio, and another 7 Bns were under re-construction (the 113th, 115th, 117th, 135th, 119th, 151st, 130th) Field Engineers:
Armour:
In Germany:
In France:
In Greece:
In Croatia:
In Montenegro:
In Russia:
Others:
MARINA NAZIONALE REPUBBLICANA The bulk of the Italian Fleet attempted to "go south" and join the Allies, according to the orders given by the High Command (the surrender of the fleet was one of the Armistice conditions). Actualy, it is not very clear what Admiral Bergamini, the Fleet Commander, was trying to do. He ordered the fleet to move from La Spezia to the Bocche di Bonifacio, the strait between Sardinia and Corsica, and that was absolutely not the correct direction for Malta. Admiral Bergamini was deeply shocked by the order to surrender the fleet, and there is some thought that he was moving toward Spain to have the fleet interned and put under the custody of a neutral power, in this case Spain, until the end of the war. As Bergamini was killed in the sinking of the battleship Roma by the Germans, the real goal of the Admiral may never be known. A few battered cruisers, destroyers and submarines remained in the ports, often sabotaged by their crews, and were taken over by the Germans, but they were never returned to the Republican Navy in operational conditions. A great number of smaller Torpedo Boats, patrol craft and other various auxiliary vessles and merchant craft were also taken over by the Germans after the Italian surrender. The bulk of the Republican Navy was the "Divisione Decima", a huge organization born from the 10th MAS Flottilla, the very successful underwater raiding unit of the Italian Navy prior to the 1943 surrender. The morning after the Armistice, Prince Junio Valerio Borghese, a highly decorated and dashing submarine commander and commander of the 10th MAS Flottilla commandos, started gathering all the naval personel he could find in La Spezia inside the 10th MAS barracks. He then went to the local German command offering the services of his troops. The German were quite puzzled, but they accepted. In the following weeks, Borghese traveled all over Italy, recruiting hundereds of soldiers, until the 10th MAS was of divisional strenght. When the Italian Social Republic was formed, at attempt was made to disband the Decima (Decima = Tenth), but Borghese refused, threatening to shoot at sight anyone who dared come close to the Decima barracks. Thereafter, an arrangement was arrived at and the Decima officially became part of the Marina Nazionale Repubblicana (National Republican Navy). It remained out of the central command structure of the RSI - and out of the command structure of the Germans too. It was a truly independent force, fighting with the same reckless, devil-may-care attitude of a Renaissance "Condottiere" (commander of a "Condotta", i.e. = a merchenary unit)! The Decima fought as a ground unit against the US and British forces at the Anzio bridgehead, and then in North East Italy against Italian and Yugolsavian communist partisans. At peak strenght the Divisione Fanteria di Marina "Decima" was organized as follows : 1st Combat Group
2nd Combat Group
Independent units:
The translation of the names of the Bns is a litteral one. Several of them, indicated by an (*) were the names of ships of the Italian Royal Navy, whose crews formed the "core" of each Bn. Naval Units:
Both Commander Todaro and Commander Moccagatta were heroes of the 10th MAS Flottilla, both of them KIA). Besides the almost-independent "Decima" units, the Marina da Guerra Nazionale Repubblicana also had the following units:
AERONAUTICA NAZIONALE REPUBBLICANA Contrary to the behaviour of the Navy, the Air Force went almost entirely North, except for a few training and bomber units. This is not surprising, considering that the former Italian Regia Aeronautica was the most Fascist of the Italian armed forces (Much like the Luftwaffe in the German Wehrmacht). The core of the Republican Air Force were its fighter units that operated against Allied heavy bombers. At first Italian aircraft were used, such as the MC205 and the outstanding G55 and Re2005, but these were later largely replaced with German- made Bf109s. At the end of the war a small group of Italian pilots was located in Germany ready to begin training on the Me163 and Me262, but the war ended before they started the actual training. The Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana was organized as follows:
Even if officially entitled with the names of Airforce heroes, each fighter flight was usually called by its nickname, based on the flight's insigna, as follows. The 1st Squadron's flights had the following: 1/1 "Asso di Bastoni" (cludgel ace - from the traditonal Italian paying cards, that have different symbols from the "international" ones), 2/1 "Vespa Incacchiata" (pissed-off wasp), 3/1 "Incocca, tende, scaglia" ("Notch, Pull, Loose", the three actions to launch an arrow from a bow). The 2nd Squadron's flights had the following: 1/2 "Gigi tre Osei" (Gigi with three birds. The ace Gigi Caneppelle was a pre-war Top Grade glider pilot - entitled to wear a blue badge with three white birds. But "bird" is also the Italian slang for penis...), 2/2 "Diavoli Rossi" (red devils), 3/2 "Gamba di Ferro" (iron leg, the nickname of Cpt.Botto, one of the most charismatic WWII Italian fighter pilots). NATIONAL GUARD (GUARDA NAZIONALE REPUBBLICANA) The Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana was formed as a militarized police force, grouping the former Carabinieri (military police), state police, Polizia Africa Italiana (colonial police), frontier guards and blackshirts units, and was later included in the Armed Forces of the RSI. The GNR was used mainly in anti- partisan role, a role that was largely a "dirty war" of reciprocal war crimes that do not give credit to any one of the contendants. The "field units" of the GNR were as follows:
In the Balkans :
The prefix "M" to some units was an honour title for elite units, allowed to wear a special collar-pin reproducing the "M" of Mussolini's signature. BRIGATE NERE These units were a type of volunteer militia organized by the Republican Fascist Party. They were mostly older die-hard fascist of the 1920's revolution, with the addition of some fanatic youngsters. They were organized in over 50 "Brigades" (actualy weak bn's - reinforced coys in strenght), and used in anti- partisan and garrison duties. With the passing of time most units grew more and more desperate, and were guilty of some of the worst atrocities in the anti- partisan war in the region. They were not actually part of the RSI "Forze Armate" (armed forces), but were considered as a kind of "auxiliary" formation. All the Black Brigades were entitled to the memory of Fascist heros, and, for the territorial outfits, the name of their recruitement province is given. Territorial Black Brigades:
Mobile Black Brigades Group:
Independent Black Brigades:
POLIZIA REPUBBLICANA The Republican Police activated a few "field units", used in the anti-partisan war, as follows:
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