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The Raid on Alexandria, December 19th 1941. Decima Flottiglia MAS

The ”Decima Flottiglia MAS” was a commando unit of the “Regia Marina” (Italian Royal Navy) which was famous for its daring raids during WW2 with human torpedoes and small attack crafts.

The roots of this unit lay in the Abyssinian Crisis in 1935/1936, when Italy and Great Britain were on the verge of war. The Italians faced the most powerful fleet of the world and had to find ways to inflict serious damage with scant resources and therefore invented techniques which are still in use by naval commando units today.

Badge of the ”Decima Flottiglia MAS”

Prehistory:

On 25th of November a German U-Boot attacked the British Mediterranean Fleet, consisting of three battleship, the Qeen Elizabeth, the Valiant, the Barham and their destroyer escort.

The U 331 under the command of the Lt. von Tiesenhausen managed to approach the convoy undetected and fired 4 torpedoes at the Barham, which sunk with 859 (862 ?) crewmen aboard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD0d_J4y_s4 (Britischer Beitrag mit Aufnahmen der Explosion)

This incident, and the sinking of the Ark Royal on the 13th of November, gave Italy superiority in the Mediterranean with her 5 Battleships ( in comparison to 2 British)

The British, afraid to endanger their remaining naval power, stationed their remaining 2 battleship at the fortified bay of Alexandria.

The attack:

Ernesto Forza was in charge of the” Decima Flottiglia MAS” in December 1941. He and Junio Valerio Borghese, the commander of the submarine “Scirè”, which played an important role during this operation, made up their mind and came to the conclusion that an attack with the human torpedo “Maiale” (pig) would be worth a try.

The „Maiale“

The plan was to approach Alexandria with “Scirè”, the only Italian submarine capable of transporting the 3 “pigs”, to release them some miles before the harbor and then to attack the battleships in the night.

The „Scirè“

The operators should place their charges to the hulls of the assigned ships and then release a certain number of floating mines which should go off an hour later, setting the leaked oil on fire.

After that the operators should land on assigned parts of the beach and be picked up by a submarine, the “Zaffiro”, in the Nile Delta. However, everybody was aware of the little chance the operators had to escape.

Air reconnaissance was enforced to gain information about the site, escort and security vessels etc.

Forza and Borghese intensified the training of the operators. Particular attention was paid to approach by night. Security measures were high and no one of the operators knew the exact target.

Finally Forza assembled “everybody”, held a speech and underlined the importance and the danger of the upcoming mission and then asked for volunteers.

The final attack team, chosen because they were the “pick of the bunch”, consisted of:

1. Lieutenant Luigi Durand de la Penne / Diver Emilio Vianchi
2. Engineer Captain Antonio Marceglia / Diver Spartaco Schergat
3. Gunner Captain Vincenzo Martellotta / Diver Mario Marino

The “Scirè” left the harbor of La Spezia on the 3rd August, however without the “pigs”. The whole procedure should look like a normal “patrol” mission.

Outside of La Spezia a lighter approached the “Scirè” in the twilight which carried the 3 torpedoes, 221,222 and 223. The operators checked their crafts for the last time and left with the lighter.

“Operation EA 3” had started.

On the 9th of December the “Scirè” reached Leros and entered Port Lago; ostensibly a damaged submarine which had to be repaired. The Italians even flew 6 technicians in to improve the cover.On the 10th the operators were flown in and Borghese gave them a final briefing at the 13th with the latest aerial photographs.

The operation should be lead by Borghese who would be in the submarine. Forza went to Athens on the 9th and supplied the team with photographs, weather bulletins, intelligence reports etc.

On the 14th the “Scirè” left Leros with the operators on board. One of the many dangers which had to be faced by Borghese and his crew where the minefields, which where about 20 miles NW of the harbor.

Borghese simply “trusted his luck”. Another problem was to reach the exact point where the operators should be released submerged and against underwater currents.

Borghese finally decided, after he had postponed the operation because of bad weather for 24 hours, to attack on the 18th. Athens reported that the two battleships were in the harbor.

At 18:40 the “Scirè” arrived nearly exactly at the starting point. The submarine surfaced and released the 6 operators who headed directly for Alexandria. One of the reserve operators, who`s task was to close the cylinders which contained the “pigs” after the (!) the submarine had submerged lost his consciousness but could be rescued and survived.


The operators entered the port with only their heads above the water surface, when 3 destroyers came in  They felt heavily the depth charges going off. On one occasion Martellotta and Marino were only 20 meters beside a destroyer.

The three crafts lost contact while entering the harbor and proceeded on their own to their designated targets.

Marceglia and Schergat managed reach their target, the “Queen Elizabeth” undiscovered, overcame the torpedo net and placed their charge.

They sank their craft, swam to the beach and went into the city. Their they wasted a lot of time because the Sterling they had was not common in Alexandria and they had to change their money (!!) before they could buy a ticket for the train to Rosetta.

They finally managed to reach Rosetta. When they tried to get to the beach to swim to the waiting submarine they were encountered by Egyptian policemen and handed over to the British authorities.

De La Penne and Bianchi reached the “Valiant” undiscovered. Here their problems began. De La Penne managed to overcome the torpedo net but lost contact to Bianchi. Then his craft sank to the bottom in a depth of 17 meter and it was immobilized because a piece of wire was entangled in the propeller.

So he moved the craft by force, for 40 minutes, using his compass to navigate.

HMS Valiant

HMS Queen Elizabeth

He primed the fuse, emerged and tried to reach the beach. After a couple of minutes however a searchlight picked him up and a burst of machine gun brought him to a stop.

He was brought to the “Valiant” where he met Bianchi who was caught earlier.

The two were locked in cell in the near of the charge. However they both kept silent and survived the detonation.
Both the “Valiant” and the “Queen Elizabeth” sank in the harbor.

The third team, Martellotta and Marino, should attack the aircraft carrier (which one ?) when it was in the harbor. As the carries was not their the two switched to their second task, the oil tankers.

Martellotta however was drained and started to vomit so he took off his mask and attacked the tanker surfaced. They placed the charge and set off the floating mines. The two went ashore, destroyed their equipment but were caught immediately by Egyptian policemen. The tanker, however, was sunk.

This operation which crippled the “Valiant” and the “Queen Elizabeth” for over one year gave the Royal Italian Navy absolute superiority in the Mediterranean, enabling it to supply the Afrikakorps in a critical stage of war.

The German and Italian staffs however did not fully exploit this advantageous situation.

All six operators received the gold medal for gallantry in war when their returned from prison.

The one who pinned the medal to de la Penne`s chest in 1944 was Admiral Morgan who was the commanding officer of the “Valiant” in 1941.

Luigi Durand de la Penne

This post is mainly based on the book “Sea Devils“, which was written by Borghese after the war. Borghese`s political background and subjectivity make it not easy to write down the real course of events.

Junio Valerio Borghese, note the „Eisernes Kreuz I+II“

The attack on Alexandria of the 19th of December 1941 was the plot for the movie “The Valiant” and is shown at the beginning of “The silent enemy”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEyqK…eature=related

Although absolutely inaccurate, this scene gives a good idea of how the attack could have looked like.