by Gabriele Malavoglia (Author)
General Rupnik, with Anton Kokalj, Ernest Peterlin and Janko Kregar, constituted the Slovenska Domobranska Legija (Slovenian Legion of Guards) on 24 September 1943, supported by representatives of the pre-war political parties in the Ljubljana region and organised it into 3 Battalions. It must be emphasised, however, that while Rupnik was inclined to collaborate with the Germans and was convinced of the victory of the Third Reich, Peterlin wanted to form a heavily armed unit, with heavy machine guns, mortars and cannons of various calibre (with the secret aim of having an armed force ready to carry out a nationalist and independence uprising), but the Germans never approved such a project. To call young people to enlist, a vibrant appeal, signed by Rupnik himself, was published on the same day in the main Slovenian Catholic newspaper, 'Slovenec'. On 30 September, following the German occupation of the province of Ljubljana, the Germans renamed the Legion into the Slovenian Territorial Guard (Slovensko Domobranstvo in German Slowenische Landwehr), effectively taking control of it.