The Ispettorato Militare del Lavoro (ILM),[1] informally called the Organizzazione Paladino[2] or Azione Graziani,[3] was an organization of the Italian Social Republic during World War II composed of volunteer labourers "to collaborate with the German authorities in repairing roads and railways, and in general carry out other work of either a civil or military nature."[3] The organization was proposed by General Francesco Paladino. With German agreement, Marshal Rodolfo Graziani appointed Paladino its first director on 6 October 1943. Its headquarters was initially in Rome and it was under the authority of the ministry of defence.[3]

The initial goal was to recruit 90,000 workers, but recruitment lagged expectations. There was competing recruitment by the German Organisation Todt (for work in Italy) and the Arbeitseinsatz (for work in Germany).[3] By the spring of 1944, the Organizzazione Paladino consisted of 50 battalions divided into centurie.[1] It employed 40,000 men. This was substantially less than the 120,000–286,000 Italians serving in the Organisation Todt in Italy.[2] During the war, it suffered 100 dead and 560 wounded.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Giorgio Fanti; Lucrezia Fanti (2021), Storie dimenticate: Antifascismo, guerra e lotta partigiana nella provincia di Viterbo, vol. 2, Sette Città, p. 51f.
  2. 1 2 Gerhard Schreiber (2017), "The End of the North African Campaign and the War in Italy, 1943 to 1945", Germany and the Second World War, vol. VIII, The Eastern Front 1943–1944: The War in the East and on the Neighbouring Fronts, translated by Barry Smerin; Barbara Wilson, Clarendon Press, pp. 1100–1163.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Amedeo Osti Guerrazzi (2016), "The Organisation of Forced Labour in Italy (1943–1945)", Places Associated with Forced Labour and Deportation from Italy during the Second World War, Topografia per la Storia.
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