Bands ( Italian Army irregulars ) Bande ( Italian for " Bands " ) was in Italian military terminology the name used to designate irregular forces , composed normally of foreigners or colonial natives , with some Italian officers and NCOs in command . These units were employed by the Italian Army as auxiliaries to the regular national and colonial military forces . They were also known to the British colonial forces as " armed Bands " . Characteristics . A " Banda " ( singular ) was approximatively a company size unit . The larger unit was the battalion size " Gruppo Bande " ( infantry ) or " Gruppo Squadroni " ( cavalry ) . The " Milizia " a regimental unit appeared briefly during the fascist period in the Balkans . The first of these irregular units employed by the Regio Esercito originated from a mercenary Arab force employed by the Ottoman Empire and called " Basci Buzuk " , that was created in Eritrea by the Albanian adventurer Sagiak Hassan in the second half of the 19th century . In 1885 , the Italian Colonel Tancredi Saletta , commanding officer of the first Italian troops involved in the conquest of Eritrea , enlisted Bashi - bazouks in the service of Italy . As lightly armed irregulars the Bands were able to perform duties for which regular Italian and colonial troops were unsuited and at lower cost . Locally recruited bands were employed in the conquest of Italian Libya from 1911 to the 1930s . Their Somali counterparts played an important role in Italian Somaliland during the 1920s . In Italian Somaliland , the Italians also employed Dubats ; levies that were maintained on a permanent basis and were better trained and equipped than the essentially tribal Banda . During the guerrilla war that continued in Ethiopia after the 1936 Italian invasion , groups of irregular Banda were recruited amongst tribal groups collaborating with the Italian regime . One of the best known of these was the " Gruppo Bande irregolari " Uollo Ambassel " " in northern Ethiopia . While most Bande were recruited in the various Italian colonies in Africa , many units bearing this designation were also created as auxiliaries during the Second World War in Albania and in the occupied territories of the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia . Not only the Italian Regio Esercito employed Bands but also the other branches of the Italian armed forces and corps . The Banda n° 9 " della Marina " , formed of Greek - Orthodox and local young Italians from Dalmatia , was established in Zara under the control of the Italian Royal Navy . These naval auxiliaries fought side by side with a company from the Reggimento " San Marco " during the period 1941 - 43 . Gruppo Bande Amhara . One of the most famous Italian irregular bands was the " Gruppo Bande Amhara " . At the beginning of World War II the Italian Viceroy Amedeo the Duke of Aosta gave lieutenant Guillet command of the 2 , 500 strong " Gruppo Bande Amhara " , an irregular troops unit made up mainly of recruits from Ethiopia ' s region of Amhara . This force was primarily a cavalry one , but also included camel mounted troops and some Yemeni infantry led by Eritrean Ascari NCOs . At the end of 1940 , the Allied forces faced Guillet on the road to Amba Alagi , and specifically , in the proximity of Cherù . He was charged with the task of delaying the allied advance from the North - West and his Eritrean Ascari were successful but suffered many casualties . Guillet ' s most important battle happened towards the end of January 1941 at Cherù when he decided to attack enemy armoured units . At dawn the " Gruppo Bande Amhara " charged a column of tanks armed only with swords , guns and hand grenades . They passed unhurt through the British forces who were caught unaware . Guillet then turned to charge again . In the meantime however , the British had organised themselves and fired horizontally with their howitzers . Their shells ripped open the chests of Guillet ' s horses and soldiers before exploding . This was the last cavalry charge the British faced and the last but one in the history of Italian cavalry .