M.D.T. - Territorial Defense Militia and Civic Guards in the O.Z.A.K. 1943-1945

Paolo Crippa (23 April 1978) has cultivated his passion for Italian history since high school. His research interests are focused mainly in the field of military history and in particular on italian armored units from the 30s until the end of World War II. In 2006 he published his first volume, "I Reparti Corazzati della Repubblica Sociale Italiana 1943/1945", the first organic research carried out and published in Italy on the subject. In 2007 he published "Duecento Volti della R.S.I." and in 2011 " Un anno con il 27° Reggimento Artiglieria Legnano". He regularly contributes to several journals: Milites, New Historica, SGM - World War II, Batailes & Blindes, Armoured Vehicles and history of the twentieth century, Mezzi Corazzati, both as an author, or in collaboration with other researchers. He published with the editor Mattioli 1885 in 2014 "Italy 43 - 45 - Civil War improvised AFV's" (2014), "Italian AFV's of the Civil War 1943 - 1945" (2015) and "Italy 43 - 45 - AFV's and MV's of co-belligerent units" (2018).

With the proclamation of the Armistice, the whole territory that included Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the Provinces of Ljubljana and Istria, considered of vital importance for the communication lines and for the supply of the German Army in Italy, was absorbed by the Reich, under the jurisdictional form of the so-called Zone of Operations of the Adriatic Coast (O.Z.A.K.). The government of the R.S.I. attempted to restore its authority in the O.Z.A.K. even in the military field, but German interference was always fierce. The reconstituted Legions of the M.V.S.N. were prevented to join the G.N.R. and the Germans imposed on these units the denomination of Territorial Defense Militia (Milizia Difesa Territoriale M.D.T.), formally part of the G.N.R., but autonomous in the reality. The M.D.T. was configured as a "Landschutz", that is a defense unit of the territory. In parallel, the Prefect Coceani and the Podestà Pagnini promoted the establishment of a self-defense unit, the Civic Guard, in Trieste, an example followed in other cities in the region.