page_title: Blackshirts
section_title: Abyssinian Campaign
hierarchical_section_title: Blackshirts / Organization / Abyssinian Campaign
caption_attribution_description: English: Members of the Italian Camicie Nere (Blackshirts) taking possession of the railway station at Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, in May 1936. The Djibouti-Dire Dawa-Addis Ababa Railway line was owned by the Franco-Ethiopian Railway Company (Chemin de fer franco-éthiopien).
context_page_description: The Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, commonly called the Blackshirts or squadristi, was originally the paramilitary wing of the National Fascist Party, known as the Squadrismo, and after 1923 an all-volunteer militia of the Kingdom of Italy under Fascist rule, similar to the SA in Nazi Germany. Its members were distinguished by their black uniforms and their loyalty to Benito Mussolini, the Duce of Fascism, to whom they swore an oath. The founders of the paramilitary groups were nationalist intellectuals, former army officers and young landowners opposing peasants' and country labourers' unions. Their methods became harsher as Mussolini's power grew, and they used violence and intimidation against Mussolini's opponents. In 1943, following the fall of the Fascist regime, the MVSN was integrated into the Royal Italian Army and disbanded.
context_section_description: During the 1935–36 Second Italo-Abyssinian War against Ethiopia, seven CCNN Divisions were organized:
  1st (23 March) CCNN Division
  2nd (28 October) CCNN Division
  3rd (21 April) CCNN Division
  4th (3 January) CCNN Division
  5th (1st Febbraio) CCNN Division
  6th (Tevere) CCNN Division
  The first six Divisions were sent to Ethiopia and participated in the war and in the Italian war crimes in Ethiopia.
  7th (Cirene) CCNN Division – The 7th CCNN Division "Cirene" was never deployed overseas or even fully equipped before it was disbanded.
caption: Blackshirts seize a railway station of the Ethio-Djibouti Railways in Dire Dawa, May 1936.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)"}