The Legion of Death ( sl, Legija Smrti) was a regimental-size

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

n anti-Communist militia of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. It consisted of three

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions a ...

s and was formed in August 1942 when the Blue Guard Styrian battalion was incorporated into the

Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia The Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia ( it, Milizia Volontaria Anti Comunista, MVAC; sl, prostovoljna protikomunistična milica, also or , pejorative, meaning 'white guard'; sh, script=cyrl, italic=no, Добровољачка антикомун� ...

, the anti-Communist militia of the Fascist

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

who occupied Slovenia at the time. It mainly fought against the Communist

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод� ...

. The unit reached a strength of 1,731 members in October 1942, but plans for further expansion were never realized. The unit was mainly led by former

Yugoslav Royal Army The Yugoslav Army ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Jugoslovenska vojska, JV, Југословенска војска, ЈВ), commonly the Royal Yugoslav Army, was the land warfare military service branch of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (originally Kingdom of Serbs, ...

officers. When the Italians capitulated in 1943, the unit was disbanded and its members absorbed into the

Slovene Home Guard The Slovene Home Guard ( sl, Slovensko domobranstvo, SD; german: Slowenische Landeswehr) was a Slovene anti- Partisan military organization that was active during the 1943–1945 German occupation of the formerly Italian-occupied Province of Ljub ...

units.

References

Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1943 Military units and formations of Yugoslavia in World War II Collaborators with Nazi Germany Collaborators with Fascist Italy Slovenia in World War II Yugoslavia in World War II {{World-War-II-stub