29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Italian) The new Italian Social Republic was founded on 23 September 1943 under dictator Benito Mussolini. On 2 October 1943, Heinrich Himmler and Gottlob Berger devised the "Programm zur Aufstellung der italienischen Milizeinheiten durch die Waffen-SS" ("Program for the deployment of Italian militia forces by the Waffen-SS") which was approved by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. In October 1943, 15,000 volunteers started training at Truppenübungsplatz Münsingen, but 9,000 of them were unsuitable and released for training in police units, the Black Brigades or for labor. On 23 November 1943, 13 Miliz-Battalions pledged their loyalty before being moved to "SS-Ausbildungsstab Italien". The
Romano Mussolini Romano Mussolini Romano Mussolini (26 September 1927 – 3 February 2006) was an Italian jazz pianist, painter and film producer. He was the fourth and youngest son of Benito Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943. A native of Villa Carpena, Forlì (Emilia-Romagna), Romano Mussolini studied music as a child, playing classical pieces with his father on the violin. After World War II, he started playing jazz under the assumed name Romano Full and by the mid-1950s, he had formed a trio. Romano Mussolini released a self-titled record (featuring Lilian Terry on vocals and trumpeter Nunzio Rotondo) through