M40 jacket modified into an M44 for the 5th E. Quagliata Black Alpine Brigade

M40 jacket modified into an M44 for the 5th E. Quagliata Black Alpine Brigade; the jacket is in good overall condition, with several repairs to the inner lining.

On the chest, a cloth badge embroidered with the words "Va BN Alpina Enrico Quagliata" (Go BN Alpina Enrico Quagliata). The Black Brigade was stationed in the Brescia area, where the "Tognu'" Black Brigade was already operating. It was formed on January 14, 1945, with command entrusted to Lieutenant Colonel Arturo Pellegrini. By March, the unit was organized into three battalions, with specific functions related to combat in mountainous areas.

The relatively small size of the uniform would suggest that it was worn by a young soldier; in fact, the presence of very young men in the Quagliata Brigade was not uncommon: the lists in the Historical Archive of the Brescia Resistance and the Contemporary Age mention at least ten boys under the age of 15, the youngest of whom, Ottorino Giromini, was just 11.

From mid-March 1945, the "Adamello" and "Brescia" battalions of the "E. Quagliata” moved to Val Camonica, where from 9 April they participated, alongside the 63rd “M” Battalion of the Tagliamento Legion and the II Battalion of Italian Waffen SS of the 82nd Grenadier Regiment, in the second battle of Mortirolo.