helmet, sometimes adorned with Black Brigades' skull insignia. German M35 helmets were also used as were M33 black MVSN helmets. Helmets were often sprayed with various camouflage pattern as was very common in that period. Combat gear and carrying equipment was the same of army soldiers. Samurai magazine vest, originally intended for elite army units, was widely used and so were a vast sorting of pouches, magazine-holders, holsters, both official issue (Italian or German) and privately made, carried on Italian M1908 olive-green leather carrying equipment. Ranks The Black Brigades wore a simple fourragère denoting rank. Weapons Carcano Rifles and Carbines MAB38 FNAB-43 TZ-45 Beretta M34 Beretta M35 Glisenti Model 1910 Bodeo M89 Breda M30 Breda M35 Organization The Black Brigades were not actually brigade-sized units. The Italian word brigata has a looser meaning as a synonym of "group" or "assembly". Most Black Brigades were typically weak battalions or strong companies, each comprising 200 to 300 men; the size of a brigade however varied greatly depending on the city where it was based and where it recruited its men, with Black Brigades of major cities comprising thousands of men (the 8th Black Brigade "Aldo Resega" of Milan, for instance, had over 4,000 troops, and the 1st Black Brigade "Ather Capelli" of Turin had over 2,000). There were 41 territorial brigades. The territorial brigades were numbered 1 through 41. There were also seven "independent" and eight "mobile" brigades. The mobile brigades were numbered 1 through 7, plus the Second Arditi Brigade. Piedmont Regional Inspectorate I Brigata Nera "Ather Capelli" Turin II Brigata Nera "Attilio Prato" Alessandria III Brigata Nera "Emilio Picot" Aosta IV Brigata Nera "Luigi VIale" Asti V Brigata Nera "Carlo Lidonnici" Cuneo VI Brigata Nera "Augusto Cristina" Novara VII Brigata Nera "Bruno Ponzecchi" Vercelli Lombardy Regional Inspectorate VIII Brigata Nera "Aldo Resega" Milan IX Brigata Nera "Giuseppe Cortesi" Bergamo X Brigata Nera "Enrico Tognu" Brescia XI Brigata Nera "Cesare Rodini" Como XII Brigata Nera "Augusto Felisari" Cremona XIII Brigata Nera "Marcello Turchetti" Mantua XIV Brigata Nera "Alberto Alfieri" Pavia XV Brigata Nera "Sergio Gatti" Sondrio XVI Brigata Nera "Dante Gervasini" Varese Veneto regional Inspectorate XVII Brigata Nera "Bartolomeo Asara" Venice XVIII Brigata Nera "Luigi Begon" Padua XIX Brigata Nera "Romolo Gori" Rovigo XX Brigata Nera "Francesco Cappellini" Treviso XXI Brigata Nera "Stefano Rizzardi" Verona XXII Brigata Nera "Antonio Faggion" Vicenza Emilia Regional Inspectorate XXIII Brigata Nera "Eugenio Facchini" Bologna XXIV