activities of Denis Davydov. The Boers also deployed the concept of partisan warfare with their kommandos during the Second Boer War of 1899-1902. Imperial Russia also made use of partisans in World War I, for example Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz. By region Italian On 28 October 1922, Benito Mussolini and his fascist paramilitary troops, the Blackshirts, marched on Rome, seizing power, and the following day Mussolini became Duce (Prime Minister) of Italy. He thenceforth established a dictatorship centred around his fascist doctrine, and in 1936 Mussolini formed the Axis powers with Nazi Germany. In July 1943, fascist Italy crumbled; Mussolini was turned in by the monarchy and placed under arrest by his government. Soon after, the nation fell into civil war. The Italian resistance movement, alongside the Italian Co-Belligerent Army, fought the Fascists and Italian Social Republic as well as Nazi forces who had begun to occupy Italy around the time of the armistice of Cassibile One of the most important episodes of resistance by Italian armed forces after the armistice was the battle of Piombino, Tuscany. On 10 September 1943, during Operation Achse, a small German flotilla, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Karl-Wolf Albrand, tried to enter the harbour of Piombino but was denied access by the port authorities. Eventually, after a drawn-out period of combat, the Italian partisans achieved victory. This was assisted by the fall of the Third Reich, which effectively nullified the attacks from German occupation, the ensuing uprising in April 1945 which pushed out all remaining German forces, the fall of Genoa and Milan on the 26 April, that of Turin two days after. That same day, Mussolini was captured and executed by Italian partisan Walter Audisio. Polish The order to organize partisan groups was issued by Marshal of Poland Rydz-Smigly on 16 September 1939. The first sabotage groups were created in Warsaw on 18 September 1939. Each battalion was to choose 3 soldiers who were to sabotage enemy's war effort behind the front lines. The sabotage groups were organized before Rydz-Smigly's order was received. Independently, the Separated Unit of the Polish Army created in late 1939 in Poland is often recognized as he first partisan unit of World War II. The situation amongst the Polish partisans and the situation of the Polish partisans were both complicated. The founding organizations that lead to the creation of the Home Army or Armia Krajowa, also known as AK, were themselves organized