The M Battalions (M standing for Mussolini) were an elite special forces unit of Italian Blackshirts during World War II.
They were created during World War II, in October 1941 as a transformation and strengthening of the assault and mountain battalions of the Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale (Blackshirts) which had particularly distinguished themselves in combat.
The first "M" battalions were those coming from the Galbiati Group (VIII of Varese, the XVI of Como and the XXIX of Arona), veterans of the Battle of Marizai, and the battalions of the 15th Assault Legion CC.NN. "Lioness" (XIV of Bergamo and XV of Brescia), mentioned in the war bulletin №248 of 10 February 1941, followed by other assault battalions always distinguished in war actions.
To further improve their war efficiency, the "M" battalions were subjected to special training courses at the "Campo Battaglioni M" in Rome-Trastevere, and were classified in the "M" Battalion Inspectorate of MVSN, who supervised the training and managed the replacement flow. [1]
For operational use the "M" battalions were usually assigned directly to the dependencies of the Corps of the Army, with general reserve functions and from these reassigned in support of units engaged in particularly demanding actions. They were employed mainly in the Russian campaign, in the Greco-Italian war and for the planned invasion of Malta.
With the fall of the Fascist regime, on 25 July 1943, the XVI Battaglione "M" of Como, marching on Rome, he was stopped not far from the capital following an order given by the head of S.M. of the Militia, general Enzo Emilio Galbiati. The same "M" Division received the order between 25 and 26 July to continue the training activity. On September 8, the departments deployed north of the peninsula, in France and the Balkans largely adhered to the newborn Italian Social Republic, like those landed in Corsica they partly cooperated with the fascists and the Germans.
The departments passed to the RSI were absorbed by the National Republican Army excluding the 1st Battalion "IX Settembre" which, established in September 1943 in Toulon, fought in Italy in various locations, also participating in the conflict of the landing of Anzio and on the eastern front. [2]
"M" battalions could be structured as assault battalions or battalions of accompanying weapons.
The assault battalions were organized as follows:
Each company was in turn organized into:
The accompanying weapons battalions were organized as follows:
The assault battalions "M" X (until February 1943), LXXI, LXXXI and LXXXV operated in the Balkans in garrison duties and counter-insurgency operations.
The "M" Battalions used on the eastern front they were framed in Groups, each consisting of two Battalion Groups "M", each consisting of two assault battalions and an accompanying weapons battalion, as follows:
The Black Shirts of the "Tagliamento" Group were not originally an "M" unit but were promoted to this qualification in the field as recognition of the value demonstrated during the operations of the CSIR (Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia). As such, they were the only "M" battalions not to have been trained in the Battalions "M" Camp of Rome-Trastevere. The "M" Battalions repeatedly proved to be among the best units of the ARMIR (Italian Army in Russia), operating mainly in support of the XXXV Army Corps. [3]
Given the planned invasion of Malta (Operazione C3), the MVSN constituted a special landing group, the Battalions Group "M" of Black Landing Shirts, structured as follows:
With the cancellation of Operation C.3, the Black Landing Shirts were reorganized as two Battalion Groups, as follows:
The X Assault Battalion "M" was transferred to Tunisia in February 1943 and initially assigned in support of the 136ª Armored division "Giovani Fascisti" on the Mareth line and then to the 101ª motorized division "Trieste" until the surrender of the Axis forces in Africa.
It was formed in May 1943 starting from the few survivors of the "M" Battalions returned from Russia and supplemented by volunteers. The unit, equipped with armoured vehicles supplied by the Germans, was still being trained at the time of the fall of fascism (25 July 1943), renamed the 136th Armored Division "Centaur II" and purged of its most markedly fascist elements, to then be dissolved after the armistice of 8 September 1943. [4]
The components of the Battalions "M" wore the normal uniforms of the MVSN, with the only difference of the black insignia on which the silver fasces used by the MVSN units instead of the stars of the Royal Italian Army was replaced by a fasces twisted with a letter "M "capitalized in red, reproducing the spelling of Mussolini.
Even the pennants of the various battalions used the same symbology: on them, made in the shape of a tail of swallow, the same red "M" embroidered with a littorium appeared, embroidered "Seguitemi" (which expressed loyalty to the Fatherland and to Fascism) with the same calligraphy as the "M" and the department number.
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