The Ballila Rifle,When the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy, one idea to hel

The Ballila Rifle,When the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy, one idea to help bolster the ideals of Italian fascism was the creation of a state run youth organization.  Founded in 1926, the Opera Nazionale Ballila (ONB) was such a group formed for boys and girls 8-18.  The curriculum of the ONB emphasized fascist indoctrination and physical education.  Among the activities of the ONB were rifle shooting.  I’m not talking about shooting bb guns or .22’s for the purpose of learning to hunt or shooting cans, but as early military training for the purpose of molding Italian youth into fanatical soldiers.  When they became adults, it was expected of them to form the legions which would reconquer the Roman Empire for Mussolini.For training rifles, a variant of the standard military rifle, the 6.5mm Carcano, was used.  The Ballila Youth Rifle was no different from the Carcano with the exception that it was made smaller so that it could be used by a young child.  The barrel was cut down to 14 inches.  It was also outfitted with a smaller, lighter stock.  The Ballila rifle also retained the folding bayonet to make it as close to the real military rifle as possible.  Most Ballila rifles were produced from surplus Carcano rifles, others were modified forms of the older Carcano Cavalry Carbine from the turn of the century. Typically they were chambered for .22 Long Rifle, 6mm flobert, and in some cases fired special underpowered training rounds made to resemble the 6.5mm Carcano cartridge.The ONB continued to operate up to World War II.  During that time all other youth groups were banned in Italy with the exception of those run by the Catholic Church.  When the German dictator Adolf Hitler observed the ONB in action while visiting Italy, he was inspired to created a similar Nazi organization called the Hitler Youth. -- source link

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