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The 40 Black Brigades or the brigata nera were the fascist paramilitary operating in northern Italy, also known as the Italian Social Republic, during the final years of World War II after the signing of the Italian Armistice in 1943. They were officially known as the "Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana" or GNR.
Benito Mussolini had been arrested after the Grand Fascist Council, with the support of King Vittorio Emmanuele III, overthrew him and began negotiations with the Allies for Italy's withdrawal from the war. Mussolini was rescued by German paratroopers and installed as the President of the Italian Social Republic, a puppet regime nominally administering the German-occupied northern Italy.
As the MVSN was disbanded by the terms of the armistice, the Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana was formed on 24 November 1943 out of hard-core former MVSN, ex-carabinieri, ex-army and others still loyal to the fascist cause.
The Black Brigades were formed out of the more fanatical members. They not only fought the Allies, and Italian partisans, but also fought against and murdered their political opponents. Many were killed in the fighting.
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