Legion of Death (military unit)

{{Expand Slovenian|date=May 2019}}

The Legion of Death ({{langx|sl|Legija Smrti}}) was a regimental-size Slovenian anti-Communist militia of the Second World War.{{Cite book |last=Munoz |first=Antonio J. |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Slovenian_Axis_Forces_in_World_War_II_19/s9AMAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22Legion%20of%20Death%22%20%20ww2&dq=%22Legion%20of%20Death%22%20%20ww2&printsec=frontcover |title=Slovenian Axis Forces in World War II, 1941-1945 |date=1998 |publisher=Axis Europa |isbn=978-1-891227-04-2 |language=en}} The units that would call themselves the Legion of Death began recruiting and organizing against the Partisans in May 1942.{{Cite book |last=Tomasevich |first=Jozo |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/War_and_Revolution_in_Yugoslavia_1941_19/fqUSGevFe5MC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Legion%20of%20Death%22%20italy&pg=PA107&printsec=frontcover |title=War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration |date=October 2002 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-7924-1 |pages=101-108 |language=en}} Eventually they would consist of three battalions when the Blue Guard Styrian battalion was incorporated into the Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia, the anti-Communist militia of the Fascist Italians who occupied Slovenia at the time. It mainly fought against the Communist Yugoslav Partisans.{{Cite book |last=Plut-Pregelj |first=Leopoldina |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Historical_Dictionary_of_Slovenia/jbhJDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Legion%20of%20Death%22%20%20ww2&pg=PA85&printsec=frontcover |title=Historical Dictionary of Slovenia |last2=Kranjc |first2=Gregor |last3=Lazarevic |first3=Žarko |last4=Rogel |first4=Carole |date=2018-02-22 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-1106-2 |pages=57, 85, 483 |language=en}}

The unit reached a strength of 1,731 members in October 1942, but plans for further expansion were never realized. The unit was mainly led by former Yugoslav Royal Army officers.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} When the Italians capitulated in 1943, the unit was disbanded and its members absorbed into the Slovene Home Guard units.