[2] In November 1943, Pietro Secchia wrote an article on PCI journal La nostra lotta defining the political-military project adopted by BGs: he claimed the importance of the immediate military action in order to "shorten the war" and reduce the period of the German occupation, saving people and villages; in order to demonstrate to Allies the will of the Italian people to fight for their own freedom and democracy; to contrast the nazi-fascist policy of terror, to make the occupation unstable and to stimulate, through the actual action, the development of the partisan organization and struggle.

[5] The establishment of brigades was based on the harshness conspiracy, discipline and motivation of communist cadres but mostly on the openness and availability in recruiting volunteers, including youth, former soldiers or members of organization dismantled by the regime.

[2] While the 50% of PCI militants was directly involved in the military activity with the brigades, the other half was dedicated to conspiracy in the cities, organizing and developing the struggle of workers among factories, to the agitation of peasants in some zones and the infiltration among schools and universities, supporting also the recruitment and the flow of volunteers to combatant formations on mountains.

[6] Despite the direct link with PCI, the Garibaldi Brigades had notable leaders who were not communist militants, like the Catholic and apolitical Aldo Gastaldi (with the battle name "Bisagno", after the homonymous torrent stream), one of the most important partisan commanders in Genoa,[7] the apolitical Mario Musolesi (battle name "Lupo"), leader of the Brigata Partigiana Stella Rossa killed by Germans during the roundup of Marzabotto, the anarchic Emilio Canzi, the sole commander of the 13th operative zone of Tuscan Emilian Apennines.

[12] Generally, Garibaldi Brigades received orders from the PCI representative among the Corpo Volontari della Libertà, who was Luigi Longo (battle name "Italo"), and from the National Liberation Committee.

[14] Along with Longo, Secchia and the other members of the general command, other important figures were active in the regional coordination like Antonio Roasio ("Paolo"), who controlled the brigades in Veneto and Emilia, Francesco Scotti ("Fausto" or "Grossi"), who led the formations in Piedmont and Liguria, and Pietro Vergani ("Fabio"), responsible in Lombardy.

[15] Moreover, Brigate Garibaldi had their representatives in the regional commands of CVL, who were Giordano Pratolongo and then Francesco Scotti (Piedmont); Pietro Vergani (Lombardy), Liguria Luigi Pieragostini and Carlo Farini (Liguria) after his arrest on 27 December 1944, Ilio Barontini (Emilia-Romagna), Pratolongo and then Aldo Lampredi (Veneto), Luigi Gaiami and then Francesco Leone and Antonio Roasio (Tuscany), Alessandro Vaia (Marche) and Celso Ghini (Umbria).

In Trieste there were Luigi Frausin and Vincenzo Gigante who, in connection with the general command, had relations with the Yugoslav partisans supporting the need to postpone the territorial revendications until the end of the war, in order to fight together against the common enemy.

[16] A typical characteristic of the Garibaldi Brigades was the contrast attempt to transform the partisan formations into an avant-garde and constitutive element of the process of involving the populations in the active anti-fascism, with a continuous effort of integration between the armed fight and the civil mobilisation through their representatives.

The general command of the brigades and the Communist Party emphasized to the maximum the importance of the insurrection which had to be done at any costs, without accepting any agreements, proposals, truces with the enemy that could limit the action of partisans.

Mountain partisan brigades went to the plains and marched on the main centres, while the insurrection strike was proclaimed in the urban nuclei and GAP and SAP divisions began to fight.

In Liguria, the Divisions of "Chichero" played an important role in the liberation of Genoa and impede the destruction of the harbour, accepting the surrender of German forces led by general Günther Meinhold.

In Piedmont, Garibaldi Divisions of Pompeo Colajanni "Barbato", Vincenzo Modica and Giovanni Latilla "Nanni" entered in Turin together with the autonomous of "Mauri", while the Divisions "Pajetta" and "Fratelli Varalli" of Gastone and Moscatelli, after liberating Novara, entered in Milan on 28 April, already reached in the previous day by the Garibaldini of Oltrepò pavese led by Italo Pietra and Luchino Dal Verme.