The Antonio Gramsci Battalion was formed on 9 November 1943 from captured Italian soldiers who wished to continue the war by resisting Nazi German forces in Albania. In the beginning its forces amounted to 137 men who chose their own leaders: Terzilio Cardinali (commander), Alfredo d'Angelo (political commisar), Giuseppe Monti (vice commander) and Dominico Bogatai (vice comisar). One Albanian partisan, Sami Kotherja, was also appointed to battalion command. The battalion was composed of two companies.