Italy met the beginning of World War II with a very strong subdivision of submarine saboteurs. After the Italian sailors successfully attacked the Ships, the Italian Navy decided to organize a raid on Malta. At the time, the British island of Malta was London's main outpost in the Mediterranean. It was the possession of Malta that allowed the British fleet to control the main shipping routes from Italy and southern France to Tunisia and Algeria. These routes played a particularly important role in the context of the unfolding fighting in North Africa, where British troops fought Italian and then German troops.
But Malta was not only of military interest to Rome. The dominant ideology, proclaiming the need for the revival of the Roman Empire, regarded Malta as a legitimate part of the Italian state. The island was supposed to become Italian, but this goal was practically unattainable, given the serious military superiority of Great Britain over Italy. Therefore, Italy decided to enlist the support of Germany. A secret plan for Operation Hercules was developed, after which regular German and Italian air raids began both on the island itself and on the British sea convoys that followed it. At the same time, the command of the Italian Navy decided to organize an underwater sabotage operation to weaken the British fleet based off the coast of Malta.
The development of the submarine operation began in April 1941. Teseo Tesei himself was very active in support of the operation - an iconic figure for Italian submarine saboteurs, one of the developers of guided torpedoes and the creators of a flotilla of submarine saboteurs. The operation was to be led by the commander of the 10th MAS flotilla, Captain 2nd Rank Vittorio Moccagatta (pictured), and Major-Engineer Teseo Thesei volunteered to take personal part in this raid. Moreover, he insisted that not only MTM boats, but also guided torpedoes, be used in the raid. The command of the fleet, worried about the safety of the designer, tried to dissuade him from participating in the operation, especially since on a recent medical examination Thesei was found temporarily unfit for diving due to a heart defect. But Thesei, who had a very strong character and was reputed to be an ardent patriot of fascist Italy, was adamant - he demanded personal participation in the operation and the command had to agree with him.
A group of divers had to infiltrate on special boats into Marsa Machet Bay, then blow up the Sant Elmo Bridge and organize sabotage against British submarines and surface ships located in the bay. On the evening of July 25, 1941, a detachment of submarine saboteurs under the command of Moccagatta left the base in Augusta, on the island of Sicily, and headed towards Malta. The detachment consisted of the messenger ship "Diana", 9 exploding MTM boats on board the ship, a special motor boat MTL, designed to transport guided torpedoes "Maiale", two motor boats and a torpedo boat. When the detachment approached Malta by 20 miles, all 9 MTM boats were lowered into the water. However, one of the boats immediately sank, so only 8 boats headed to the island.
To divert the attention of the British Coast Guard, Italian aircraft bombed La Valletta base three times.
At about 3:00 am, being near the Sant Elmo Bridge, Teseo Tesei and the swimmer Costa launched the Maiale guided torpedoes and were about to destroy the barrage nets. However, the swimmers immediately discovered that Costa's torpedo had engine problems. Since the fuses on the boats were supposed to go off at a specific time, Thesei and his partner Pedretti (pictured) on a torpedo headed for the fence. After the swimmers had blown up the barrier, the exploding boats had to follow into the bay. Having got to the bridge, Thesei looked at his watch and saw that it was already 4:30 minutes - the time set for the passage of boats. There was no time to think, otherwise the attack would have failed.
Thesei set the fuse to zero. An explosion sounded a moment later. At the same time, a group of MTM boats headed towards the bay, but since the sailors were not sure that the obstacle had been destroyed, one of the MTM boats was sent to it, on which Karabelli was, who had no time to escape. An explosion thundered. The coast guard of the British base immediately turned on the floodlights, after which a group of Italian boats approaching the bay was discovered. The British began firing at the boats with machine guns, while duty fighters from the British aviation base were raised into the air. The sailors on the remaining boats decided to turn back, but were spotted by British aircraft. As a result, 11 Italian swimmers still managed to get to the torpedo boat.
The British, surveying the area of the bridge, soon fished out a bloody oxygen mask with chunks of meat. This was all that remained of the renowned combat swimmer Teseo Thesei. The attack on Malta marked the first major defeat of the 10th MAS Flotilla. The loss of Italian combat swimmers was 15 killed and 18 captured by the British. In addition, the Italians lost 2 powerboats, 8 exploding boats, an MTL boat and 2 guided torpedoes, as well as 2 air support fighters shot down by the British. Among the dead were the famous Major Teseo Tesei, his partner Second Corporal Pedretti, the commander of the surface detachment, Captain 3rd Rank Giorgio Jobbe, the chief of medical services, Captain Bruno Falcomata, and the commander of the 10th Flotilla, Captain 2nd Rank Vittorio Moccagatta. In honor of the fallen heroes, the submarine detachment of the 10th MAS flotilla was named Teseo Thesei, and the surface detachment of the flotilla was named Vittorio Moccagatta.
The failure of the attack on Malta was only the first in a series of further Italian defeats in the Mediterranean. The situation was very bad for the Italian fleet. Therefore, already in October 1941, the command of the fleet decided to re-send the 10th MAS flotilla, which had recovered slightly after the July fiasco, against the British military base. This time the target was the Egyptian Alexandria. The operation was scheduled for December 1941.
On December 3, 1941, the Italian submarine Shire left the base in La Spezia. There were three Maiale guided torpedoes on board. The captain of the 2nd rank, Prince Valerio Junio Borghese, was appointed commander of the operation. In the Aegean Sea, a submarine picked up six combat swimmers who were to fly torpedoes. They were Lieutenant Luigi Durand de la Penne, Emilio Bianchi, Vincenzo Martellotta, Mario Marino, Antonio Marcella and Spartaco Sherga.
On December 19, 1941, the Shire submarine, at a depth of 15 meters, fired three guided torpedoes with crews of two combat swimmers on each torpedo. The harbor of Alexandria was just over two kilometers away. This time, the combat swimmers managed to sneak into the harbor unnoticed. However, this time it was not without problems either. The torpedo, driven by Emilio Bianchi and Luigi de la Penne, had an engine failure. Bianchi began to lose consciousness and was forced to surface in order to stock up on oxygen.
De la Penne (pictured) manually directed a torpedo towards the battleship Valiant.
He managed to plant a magnetic mine directly under the hull of the battleship, but as soon as de la Penne and Bianchi surfaced, they were discovered by British sailors and lifted aboard the mined battleship. De la Penne and Bianchi were put in the hold of the ship. When 15 minutes were left before the explosion, de la Penne called the captain of the battleship Charles Morgan and informed him that the ship was mined. However, the Italian officer did not report the details of the mining. Soon there was an explosion on the battleship, and the Italians themselves were not injured.
Meanwhile, Antonio Marcella and Spartaco Sherga mined the battleship Queen Elizabeth, and at 4:30 they successfully left the Alexandria harbor. Vincenzo Martellotta and Mario Marino searched for the British aircraft carrier, but they never found it, as it left the harbor a little earlier and went to sea. Therefore, the combat swimmers planted a mine on the Norwegian tanker "Sagona", after which they left the harbor territory. Explosions thundered at about 6 o'clock in the morning. The battleship Valiant was put out of action for 6 months, Queen Elizabeth for 9 months, and the tanker Sagona was torn in two and sank. Eight British sailors were killed on the battleship Queen Elizabeth. As for the combat swimmers, they were all taken prisoner - de la Penne and Bianchi immediately upon surfacing, and Marcella, Sherga, Marino and Martellotta were arrested by the local police while trying to leave the harbor and were handed over by the British.
Despite the capture of the swimmers themselves, the Italians this time were able to brilliantly recoup the defeat in the attack on Malta. The port of Alexandria was considered one of the key bases of the British fleet. The Italian swimmers managed to disable the British battleships, and since a German submarine torpedoed the British battleship HMS Barham three weeks earlier, the Italian fleet took priority positions in the Eastern Mediterranean. In the spring of 1942 Italian ships completely destroyed the British convoy heading to Malta, and in the summer of 1942 the second British convoy was also destroyed by German submarines and aircraft. In Italy itself, the brilliant attack on Alexandria was seen as a national victory. Prince Borghese and a number of combat swimmers received the highest military award - the medal "For Valor".
In June 1942, Italian saboteurs took part in an operation against the Soviet naval base in Sevastopol, hitting a transport ship, two submarines and a small ship, and in June-September 1942 launched two attacks on the port of Gibraltar, where they also damaged several British ships.
At the end of 1942, Italian swimmers carried out another very successful operation - a raid on Algeria. At that time, a large number of cargo and transport ships belonging to the Allies were in the port of Algeria. On December 4, 1942, the Italian midget submarine Ambra left the La Spezia naval base, carrying 3 guided torpedoes and 10 saboteurs. By the evening of December 10, the submarine approached the port of Algeria at a depth of 18 meters. At 23:45, the combat swimmers and guided torpedoes left the boat. The crew commander of the "Ambre" waited until 3:00 for the swimmers to return, but without waiting, left the port area and moved towards La Spezia.
Meanwhile, the swimmers were able to successfully cope with their tasks. At 5:00, explosions thundered on several ships. The British ship Ocean Vanquisher and the Norwegian Berta sank, the Empire Centaur and Armatan were seriously damaged, and the American landing craft LSM-59 was washed ashore. True, all 16 Italian combat swimmers and saboteurs who participated in the mining of ships were captured.
It should be noted that in addition to the 10th MAS flotilla, in 1941-1942. The 12th squadron of torpedo boats was created, operating on Lake Ladoga and participating in the blockade of Leningrad, and the 4th squadron of torpedo boats, based in the Crimea occupied by German and Italian troops. Attacks continued in the Mediterranean, and at the beginning of 1943 the flotilla was seriously considering a plan to organize sabotage in New York.
However, after the Mussolini regime fell in 1943, the activity of the 10th MAS flotilla at sea dropped sharply, and then ceased altogether. But the convinced fascist Borghese did not intend, unlike many other Italian officers, to go over to the side of the Allies. He pledged allegiance to the pro-Hitlerite Italian Social Republic, and the entire MAS flotilla followed suit. At the same time, its profile of activities changed dramatically. Forced to operate on land, the flotilla turned into a punitive police unit that took part in anti-partisan operations. On account of the flotilla, the execution of 68 civilians in the city of Massa, the murder of civilians in Udine, the execution of 12 civilians in Borto Ticino, the execution of 5 petty criminals in Casteletto Ticino. Before the end of the war, former submarine saboteurs took part in operations against the Yugoslav partisans in the area of the Italo-Yugoslav border.
Of course, the heroic combat swimmers, who could not but arouse admiration for their training and courage, strongly discredited themselves with anti-partisan operations and executions of civilians. It was at this time that Prince Valerio Junio Borghese "worked out" the term that he was given after the victory for participating in war crimes. The former flotilla commander was captured by the partisans and handed over to the command of the allied forces. Valerio Borghese was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but he spent only about four years in prison and was released in 1949. By this time, the political situation in the world had seriously changed, the former ally of the USSR began to be viewed by the United States and Great Britain as the main enemy. The combat experience of underwater saboteurs could come in handy for new purposes. In 1952, the Italian combat swimmers unit was revived under the name COMSUBIN as part of the Italian Navy, which was to play an important role in NATO's plans for the Mediterranean region.
After the war, Valerio Junio Borghese became actively involved in Italian politics, drawing closer to the extreme right-wing circles in Italy, who dreamed of a revival of fascism. At the same time, although he was no longer officially in military service, he continued his previous activities as a saboteur, only already working for the extreme right circles and special services. It was his people who were suspected of involvement in the bombing of the Soviet battleship Novorossiysk in 1955, but that's another story.
