First Russian National Army (Giovinezza)

The 1st Russian National Army was a pro-Tripartite and later pro-Axis collaborationist army under the command of Boris Smyslovsky during the Second World War. The army consisted of Russian partisans and anti-Communists given the opportunity to fight against the Soviet Union in exchange for not being imprisoned or excuted. At its height, the 1st Russian National Army had thousands of soldiers. The army was initially a division within the German Wehrmacht, but was elevated to the 1st Russian National Army in 1943.

After the Soviet counterattack in the Eastern Front, Smyslovsky has come to the conclusion that Germany would lose the war. He moved his troops into neutral Liechtenstein, and though he had full support from the government, the local populace feared this would drag them into the war. Amidst riots from the locals, Boris Smyslovsky and his army left the country and, failing to secure asylum in Switzerland, moved into Italy, surrendering themselves to the Italian Royal Army. They were not, however, imprisoned as Benito Mussolini met with Smyslovsky and asked that his army fight alongside Italy as a Co-Belligerent army, much like the German and Jewish Co-Belligerent armies. Agreeing, the remains of the 1st Russian National Army were rechristened the Russian Co-Belligerent Army by the Italians.

The Russians under general Smyslovsky fought in most major battles the Italians fought in, mostly in Germany. After the end of the war, the Russian Co-Belligerent Army