Origins of The Movement
The movement was initially composed of independent troops, spontaneously formed by members of political parties previously outlawed by the Fascist regime, or by former officers of the disbanded Royal Army loyal to the monarchy. Later, the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale (CNL; Committee of National Liberation) created by the Italian Communist Party, the Italian Socialist Party, the Partito d'Azione (a republican "liberal socialist" party), Democrazia Cristiana and other minor parties took control of the movement, in accordance with King Victor Emmanuel III's ministers and the Allies. The Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale Alta Italia (CLNAI or National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy) was setup by partisans behind German lines and enjoyed the loyalty of most groups in the region.
The formations were eventually divided between three main groups, the communist Garibaldi Brigades, Giustizia e Libertà Brigades (related to Partito d'Azione), and socialist Matteotti Brigades. Smaller groups included Catholic sympathizers and monarchists (like the Fiamme Verdi or "Green Flames", Di Dio Mauri, Franchi (founded by Edgardo Sogno), besides some anarchist and apolitical formations. Relations between the different groups were not always good. For example, in 1945 in Porzûs (in the province of Udine), Garibaldi Brigade partisans under Yugoslav command attacked and killed partisans of the Catholic and azionista Osoppo band. The Garibaldi Brigade partisans claimed that the Catholic and azionista Osoppo band partisans had refused to accept the authority of Josip Broz Tito, the Yugoslavian partisan leader, whose project was to annex the easternmost part of Italy. They were also accused of sharing intelligence with the fascist enemy. This famous fratricide was preceded by several instances where the reverse was true. For example, in the Maritime Alps near Mondovì in autumn 1943 some Communists partisans, fugitive after killing German Army (Wehrmacht Heer) officers in an ambush, were traded to the Nazi-Fascists by monarchist military officers from the so-called azzurri or badogliani who exerted command there in an uneasy truce with the enemy.
While the largest contingents operated in mountainous districts of the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, there were also large formations in the Po plain; in the main towns of Northern Italy, like Piacenza and surroundings valleys next to Gothic line, where in Montechino castle there was an important partisan headquarter, the Gruppi di azione patriottica (G.A.P., Patriotic Action Groups) regularly carried out acts of sabotage and guerrilla warfare, and the Squadre di azione patriottica (S.A.P., Patriotic Action Squads) arranged massive strike actions and campaigns of propaganda. Not unlike the French Resistance, women were important leaders and couriers both in the armed groups, as well as in the industrial areas
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