BROWNSHIRTS?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmabteilung

Sturmabteilung

SA
Sturmabteilung

The insignia of the SA
Organization overview
Formed c.1919
Superseding agency Schutzstaffel (c.1934 onwards)
Jurisdiction Germany
Headquarters SA High Command, Barerstraße, Munich
48°8′37.53″N 11°34′6.76″E / 48.1437583°N 11.5685444°E / 48.1437583; 11.5685444
Employees 3,000,000 (c.1934)
Ministers responsible Emil Maurice (1920–1921), Oberster SA-Führer
Hans Ulrich Klintzsche (1921–1923), Oberster SA-Führer
Hermann Göring (1923), Oberster SA-Führer
Franz Pfeffer von Salomon (1926–1930), Oberster SA-Führer

Adolf Hitler (1930–1945), Oberster SA-Führer
Organization executives Otto Wagener (1929–1931), Stabschef-SA
Ernst Röhm (1931–1934), Stabschef-SA
Viktor Lutze (1934–1943), Stabschef-SA
Wilhelm Scheppmann (1943–1945), Stabschef-SA
Parent organization NSDAP
Child organization SS (until c.1934)

The Sturmabteilung (German pronunciation: [ˈʃtʊʁmapˌtaɪlʊŋ] ( listen)), Storm Division or Battalion, abbreviated SA and usually translated as stormtroop(er)s, functioned as a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s.

SA men were often called "brownshirts" for the color of their uniforms (similar to Benito Mussolini's blackshirts). Brown-colored shirts were chosen as the SA uniform because a large batch of them were cheaply available after World War I, having originally been ordered during the war for colonial troops posted to Germany's former African colonies.[1]

The SA was also the first Nazi paramilitary group to develop pseudo-military titles for bestowal upon its members. The SA ranks were adopted by several other Nazi Party groups, chief amongst them the SS, itself originally a branch of the SA. The SA was very important to Adolf Hitler's rise to power, but was largely irrelevant after he took control of Germany in 1933; it was effectively superseded by the SS after the Night of the Long Knives, though never formally dissolved.