14th "M" Battalion "Leonessa", Eastern Front, summer 1942

xjjiaoshou

by:glenning

Starting in summer 1941, the Italian MVSN(fascist militia) units that had proven themselves in combat were gradually upgraded to elite battalions using as a cadre the veterans from early war campaigns. These selected volunteers were repatriated and underwent to additional combat training. The link with the Arditi tradition (Italian assault troops during WWI) was deliberately emphasized also by allotting soldiers a dagger as a part of their combat equipment. These battalions were assigned the honorific M tag, after Mussolini's name, and a red-colored letter M was imposed over their black collar insignia. Twenty-two M battalions were formed between August 1941 and April 1942.

The formation of these units occurred when Mussolini decided to greatly increase Italian participation in the Russian campaign. Six M battalions were attached to the newly sent infantry divisions. They joined the two battalions of the Tagliamento Legion that on February 1942 had been promoted “in the field” to M rank.

The "M" battalions later fought with distinction on the Eastern Front, the Balkans and in Italy itself for the remainder of the war. A small unit of volunteers even fought the Soviets in East Prussia during the autumn of '44. Being a die-hard fascist unit, they did however commit some atrocities against mainly communist partisans in the Balkans and in Italy, however they knew that would they be captured, they could except little mercy from the partisans, and a lot of ex-M battalion soldier were executed during the years 1945-1948..


This soldier is wearing the regular Italian continental uniform; with some noteable exceptions;
On his helmet, smeared with mud, can be seen a faded stencil of the MVSN. Instead of the regular grey-green army shirt he is wearing a black one, the trademark of the fascists, however, the grey-green shirt was also widely worn by frontline MVSN troops. On his collar he is wearing a pair of red "M's and a pair of fasces on his black flames(fiamme nere). The "M" stood for Mussolini but some sources claim that it also stood for "Morte" - Death. He's also wearing a combat dagger - another fascist 'trademark'.

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