Bands (Italian Army irregulars)

The first of these irregular units employed by the Regio Esercito originated from a mercenary Arab force employed by the Ottoman Empire, called Bashi-bazouk (which became "basci buzuk" in Italian), that was created in Eritrea by the Albanian adventurer Sagiak Hassan in the second half of the 19th century.

As lightly armed irregulars the Banda were able to perform duties for which regular Italian and colonial troops were unsuited and at lower cost.

[2] In "Somalia italiana", the Italians also employed Dubats; levies that were maintained on a permanent basis and were better trained and equipped than the Banda.

While most Bande were recruited in the Italian colonies in Africa, many units bearing this designation were also created as auxiliaries during the Second World War in Albania and in the occupied territories of the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

The Gruppo Bande Amahara has suffered 826 deaths and more than 600 injured from the beginning of WW2; it had no deserters and received the gold medal of hero Togni with enemy's congratulations, written on official reports of the British High Command (Il Gruppo Bande Amahara ha avuto 826 morti e più di 600 feriti dall’inizio della guerra, nessun disertore e la medaglia d’oro alla memoria dell’eroico Togni e gli ammirati elogi del nemico, nelle relazioni ufficiali dello Stato Maggiore Britannico.)