History

Partisan Brigades

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In the mountain valleys and towns, armed groups were formed by former Italian soldiers fleeing the German round-ups, and civilians fleeing the Fascist drafts. The brigate partigiane (partisan brigades) organized around natural leaders who often belonged to or had strong connections with the anti-Fascist political groups, in turn giving the groups a specific political leaning.

Although there was concern about the strong Communist Party contingent in the Resistance, the OSS believed that a revolutionary uprising, such as the one that had occurred in Greece, was not a likely possibility.  However, the aims of the Italian Resistance were far more political than their Allied counterparts acknowledged, resulting in conflicts within the partisan ranks. The differences were reconciled when negotiations between all of the underground political parties led to the formation of the Committee of National Liberation of Northern Italy (CLNAI) in January 1944, which provided both military and political organization to the Resistance groups in opposition to the monarchy led by Prime Minister Badoglio’s government in the South.