"Personal" armies during WW2 ?

[Coaster]

I wasn't sure where best to post this question, so apologies if it's the wrong place.

I'm curious to know what examples there were of Axis fighting units who weren't under the direct control of any national government, but rather under the personal control of their unit commander and owed loyalty to him above any loyalty to a government. Let us discount units that were loyal to a head-of-state (like Adolf Hitler).

As an example of what I'm talking about: After the 1943 armistice in Italy, J.V. Borghese re-organized the Decima MAS to be, in effect, his own "private army" outside of the direct control of the RSI or Mussolini. This new Decima MAS were under Borghese's control and were not required to swear an oath of loyalty to the RSI government, and Borghese even made his own personal treaties with the Germans while commanding this unit, independent of the RSI administration. The Decima MAS in this period also had its own propaganda apparatus, its own auxiliary corps, and its own recruiting facilities, again all de-facto independent from the official RSI government. Borghese also was able to plan several of his own combat operations with this unit without consulting any direct authority in the RSI government. This autonomy got to the point where Mussolini tried to arrest Borghese, to regain control of the Decima MAS, but under German pressure he was pushed to release Borghese back to his unit.

[Coaster]

Really, nobody has other examples to share?

What about some of the irregular "bande" that helped the Italians in Africa? Were any of them controlled by their individual "chiefs" rather than by a national government?

[pat99]

look at chinese warlords (bandits ?) whose allegiances shifted