Unione Nazionale Protezione Antiaerea

[1][2][3][4][5] The UNPA was established on 31 August 1934 as a volunteer organisation, reformed on 14 May 1936, and militarized[clarification needed] on 18 June 1940, eight days after Italy's entry into the Second World War.

In 1937 it had about 150,000 members, organized into provincial, municipal, and district commands; the central headquarters were located in Rome.

UNPA members were authorized to move freely within the cities during air raids; they were not armed, with the exception of provincial commanders, but were equipped with helmets and gas masks.

It also issued regulations aimed at minimizing the risk of fires in case of firebombing, such as ordering to remove all flammable materials from attics and ensuring that all buildings were provided with basic firefighting equipments such as shovels, pickaxes, fire extinguishers, buckets of water, sand and earth.

[10][11][12] In 1941 UNPA was transferred under the control of the Ministry of the Interior; after the Armistice of Cassibile in September 1943, it remained active in the Italian Social Republic.