BETASOM (an Italian language acronym of Bordeaux Sommergibile or Sommergibili ) was a submarine base established at Bordeaux , France by the Regia Marina during the Second World War . From this base, Italian submarines participated in the Battle of the Atlantic from 1940 to 1943 as part of the Axis anti-shipping campaign against the Allies .
115-792: Axis naval co-operation started after the signing of the Pact of Steel in June 1939 with meetings in Friedrichshafen , Germany, and an agreement to exchange technical information. After the Italian entry into the war and the Fall of France , the Italian Royal Navy established a submarine base at Bordeaux, which was within the German occupation zone . The Italians were allocated a sector of
230-675: A 10-year Non-Aggression Pact in 1934, revealing his plans to only to his closest associates. Relations between Germany and Poland altered from the early to the late 1930s, as Germany sought rapprochement with Poland to avoid the risk of Poland entering the Soviet sphere of influence, and appealed to anti-Soviet sentiment in Poland. Hitler even tried to convince Poland to join the Anti-Comintern Pact. The Soviet Union in turn at this time competed with Germany for influence in Poland. At
345-611: A faction of ultra-nationalists within the government supporting the pact while the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Japanese Foreign Ministry were staunchly opposed to the pact. There was great concern in the Japanese government that such a pact with Germany could disrupt Japan's relations with Britain, endangering years of a beneficial Anglo-Japanese accord , that had allowed Japan to ascend in
460-709: A goodwill gesture to Germany, Italy secretly delivered weapons for the Reichswehr , which had faced major disarmament under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles . Since the 1920s Italy had identified the year 1935 as a crucial date for preparing for a war against France, as 1935 was the year when Germany's obligations under the Treaty of Versailles were scheduled to expire. Meetings took place in Berlin in 1924 between Italian General Luigi Capello and prominent figures in
575-663: A local Nazi government that sought incorporation into Germany) in 1939. Poland rejected Germany's demands and Germany in response prepared a general mobilization on the morning of 30 August 1939. Germany justified its invasion of the Low Countries of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands in May 1940 by claiming that it suspected that Britain and France were preparing to use the Low Countries to launch an invasion of
690-671: A major power and create a Greater Germany that would include Alsace-Lorraine , Austria, Sudetenland , and other German-populated territories in Europe. The Nazis also aimed to occupy and colonize non-German territories in Poland, the Baltic states , and the Soviet Union, as part of the Nazi policy of seeking Lebensraum ("living space") in Central and Eastern Europe . Germany renounced
805-487: A more accommodating stance towards Italy in the Mediterranean. In the summer of 1936, Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano informed Japanese Ambassador to Italy, Sugimura Yotaro, "I have heard that a Japanese–German agreement concerning the Soviet Union has been reached, and I think it would be natural for a similar agreement to be made between Italy and Japan." Initially Japan's attitude towards Italy's proposal
920-548: A population of 47.5 million and France (excluding its colonies) 42 million. The wartime gross domestic product (GDP) of the Axis was $ 911 billion at its highest in 1941 in international dollars by 1990 prices. The GDP of the Allied powers was $ 1,798 billion. The United States stood at $ 1,094 billion, more than the Axis combined. The burden of the war upon participating countries has been measured through
1035-448: A result of Italy's economic difficulties its soldiers were poorly paid, often being poorly equipped and poorly supplied, and animosity arose between soldiers and class-conscious officers; these contributed to low morale amongst Italian soldiers. By early 1940, Italy was still a non-belligerent, and Mussolini communicated to Hitler that Italy was not prepared to intervene soon. By March 1940, Mussolini decided that Italy would intervene, but
1150-476: A result of Italy's support for Japan against international condemnation, Japan took a more positive attitude towards Italy and offered proposals for a non-aggression or neutrality pact with Italy. The Tripartite Pact was signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan on 27 September 1940, in Berlin. The pact was subsequently joined by Hungary (20 November 1940), Romania (23 November 1940), Slovakia (24 November 1940), and Bulgaria (1 March 1941). The Axis powers' primary goal
1265-586: A roof above the pens 5.6 m (18 ft 4 in) thick and 3.6 m (11 ft 10 in) thick above the rear servicing area. On 15 October 1942, the 12th U-boat Flotilla was formed at Bordeaux by the Kriegsmarine under the command of Korvettenkapitän Klaus Scholtz . The first U-boat to use the bunker was U-178 on 17 January 1943. The base was bombed by the British on several occasions, especially in 1940 and 1941, but no significant damage
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#17327654012101380-607: A strategic alliance of Italy with Germany against France since the early 1920s. Prior to becoming head of government in Italy as leader of the Italian Fascist movement, Mussolini had advocated alliance with defeated Germany after the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920) settled World War I . He believed that Italy could expand its influence in Europe by allying with Germany against France. In early 1923, as
1495-539: A trilateral axis. Contentious negotiations between the Italian foreign minister, Galeazzo Ciano , and the German ambassador, Ulrich von Hassell , resulted in a Nine-Point Protocol , signed by Ciano and his German counterpart, Konstantin von Neurath , in 1936. When Mussolini publicly announced the signing on 1 November, he proclaimed the creation of a Rome–Berlin axis. Italy under Duce Benito Mussolini had pursued
1610-474: A war with Germany should Hitler dare to attack Austria. Relations between Germany and Italy recovered due to Hitler's support of Italy's invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, while other countries condemned the invasion and advocated sanctions against Italy. Interest in Germany and Japan in forming an alliance began when Japanese diplomat Hiroshi Ōshima visited Joachim von Ribbentrop in Berlin in 1935. Although at
1725-758: The Eastern Front , Vlasov's forces were recognized by Germany as an ally, particularly by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler . After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of war between Japan and the United States, Germany supported Japan by declaring war on the US. During the war Germany denounced the Atlantic Charter and the Lend-Lease Act that the US adopted to support
1840-552: The Far East as part of an agreement between Italy and Germany; Italy had agreed to convert the surviving Betasom submarines, larger than German U-Boats and thus more suited for transport missions, in exchange for the transfer from the Kriegsmarine to the Regia Marina of an equal number of Type VIIC U-Boats, which would be manned by Italian crews and thus continue the Italian participation in offensive submarine operations in
1955-599: The Kriegsmarine , older Italian submarine commanders (some were 40 years old) were replaced with younger officers, who possessed more aggression and stamina; a "submarine school" was created in Gotenhafen , where commanders, officers and bridge crews of the BETASOM submarines were trained according to the German model (the submarine Reginaldo Giuliani was assigned to this task, in cooperation with German naval units). Italian submarines also underwent improvement work, such as
2070-653: The Kriegsmarine . Ammiraglio Cagni , the newest Betasom submarine and the only one still on patrol at the time of the armistice, broke off her patrol and reached Durban in South Africa in compliance with the armistice orders. After the Armistice the base was seized by the Germans. Some of the Italian personnel joined the Germans independently of the Italian Social Republic . During this period
2185-896: The Mediterranean Sea and transit the Straits of Gibraltar to reach the Atlantic Ocean ; all succeeded. In 1941, the four surviving Italian submarines based in Italian East Africa ( Africa Orientale Italiana , AOI) sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to BETASOM after the fall of colony during the East African Campaign . In 1941, it was decided to return some of the boats to the Mediterranean. Perla , Guglielmotti , Brin , Argo , Velella , Dandolo , Emo , Otaria , Mocenigo , and Veniero made
2300-661: The Middle East . The Caribbean held additional strategic significance to the United States . The southern United States Gulf of Mexico coastline, including petroleum facilities and Mississippi River trade, could be defended at two points. The United States was well positioned to defend the Straits of Florida but was less able to prevent access from the Caribbean through the Yucatán Channel . Bauxite
2415-764: The Netherlands were captured by Nazi Germany . The French island of Martinique was perceived as a possible base for Axis ships as British relationships with Vichy France deteriorated following the Second Armistice at Compiègne . The September 1940 Destroyers for Bases Agreement enabled the United States to build bases in British Guiana , and on the islands of Great Exuma , Jamaica , Antigua , Saint Lucia and Trinidad. Declaration of war on 8 December 1941 removed United States neutrality assertions which had previously protected trade shipping in
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#17327654012102530-637: The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the country of Slovakia . On 23 August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , which contained a secret protocol dividing eastern Europe into spheres of influence. Germany's invasion of its part of Poland under the Pact eight days later triggered the beginning of World War II. By the end of 1941, Germany occupied a large part of Europe and its military forces were fighting
2645-526: The Soviet Union in 1941, the Nazi regime's stance towards an independent, territorially-reduced Russia was affected by pressure beginning in 1942 from the German Army on Hitler to endorse a " Russian Liberation Army " led by Andrey Vlasov . Initially the proposal to support an anti-communist Russian army was met with outright rejection by Hitler, however by 1944 as Germany faced mounting losses on
2760-839: The West who have invariably hindered the progress and often threatened the very existence of the Italian people ". Italy condemned the Western powers for enacting sanctions on Italy in 1935 for its actions in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War that Italy claimed was a response to an act of Ethiopian aggression against tribesmen in Italian Eritrea in the Walwal incident of 1934. Italy, like Germany, also justified its actions by claiming that Italy needed to territorially expand to provide spazio vitale ("vital space") for
2875-832: The partisans , supported by the Allies, contended the Social Republic's forces and its German allies. Some areas in Northern Italy were liberated from the Germans as late as May, 1945. Mussolini was killed by Communist partisans on 28 April 1945 while trying to escape to Switzerland. The Dodecanese Islands were an Italian dependency known as the Italian Islands of the Aegean from 1912 to 1943. Operation Neuland 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 Operation Neuland (New Land)
2990-501: The Allied powers prior to entry into the alliance, as imperialism directed at dominating and exploiting countries outside of the continental Americas . Hitler denounced American President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's invoking of the term "freedom" to describe US actions in the war, and accused the American meaning of "freedom" to be the freedom for democracy to exploit the world and the freedom for plutocrats within such democracy to exploit
3105-484: The Allies, but otherwise lacked comparable coordination and ideological cohesion. The Axis grew out of successive diplomatic efforts by Germany, Italy, and Japan to secure their own specific expansionist interests in the mid-1930s. The first step was the protocol signed by Germany and Italy in October 1936, after which Italian leader Benito Mussolini declared that all other European countries would thereafter rotate on
3220-559: The Atlantic each sank an average of 200 gross tons per day, while German U-boats each averaged 1,115 gross tons per day during the same period. Italian submarines, had only been in the Atlantic for a few months and had not had yet the time to adapt to the new operational conditions, whereas the U-boats had been operating there for more than a year. To improve the performance of the Italian submarines, several measures were taken, following
3335-627: The Atlantic south of Lisbon to patrol. The base was opened in August 1940 and in 1941 the captured French passenger ship De Grasse was used as a depot ship before being returned to the Vichy Government in June 1942. Admiral Angelo Parona commanded the submarines at BETASOM under the operational control of Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Karl Dönitz . Dönitz was the "Commander of the Submarines" ( Befehlshaber der U-Boote ) for
3450-647: The Atlantic. Of the transport submarines, two were sunk by the Allies, three were captured in the Far East by the Japanese after the Armistice of Cassibile , the Italian surrender of September 1943 and ceded to the Germans and two were captured in Bordeaux by the Germans. The U-Boats ceded to Italy were still training in Danzig with their new Italian crews when the armistice was announced and were immediately retaken by
3565-565: The Directorate and avoiding an immediate armed conflict. The Four Power Directorate proposal stipulated that Germany would no longer be required to have limited arms and would be granted the right to re-armament under foreign supervision in stages. Hitler completely rejected the idea of controlled rearmament under foreign supervision. Mussolini did not trust Hitler's intentions regarding Anschluss nor Hitler's promise of no territorial claims on South Tyrol. Mussolini informed Hitler that he
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3680-862: The Fascist regime's support prior to intervention against Yugoslavia. The intention of the Fascist regime was to create a " New Roman Empire " in which Italy would dominate the Mediterranean . In 1935–1936 Italy invaded and annexed Ethiopia and the Fascist government proclaimed the creation of the " Italian Empire ". Protests by the League of Nations , especially the British, who had interests in that area, led to no serious action, although The League did try to enforce economic sanctions upon Italy, but to no avail. The incident highlighted French and British weakness, exemplified by their reluctance to alienate Italy and lose her as their ally. The limited actions taken by
3795-570: The German Kriegsmarine . About 1,600 men were based at BETASOM. A postal system was operated, using a distinctive stamp cancellation and overprinted Italian stamps. These are generally rare and have been counterfeited. The base could house up to thirty submarines, it had dry docks and two basins connected by locks . Shore barracks accommodated a security guard of 250 men of the San Marco Regiment . A second base
3910-492: The German military, such as von Seeckt and Erich Ludendorff , over military collaboration between Germany and Italy. The discussions concluded that Germans still wanted a war of revenge against France but were short on weapons and hoped that Italy could assist Germany. However at this time Mussolini stressed one important condition that Italy must pursue in an alliance with Germany: that Italy "must ... tow them, not be towed by them". Italian foreign minister Dino Grandi in
4025-820: The German units and 34,512 t for the Italian ones. The strategic significance of Italy's participation in the Battle of the Atlantic was small, as the number of Italian submarines that operated in the Atlantic was 30 at its peak, whereas the Kriegsmarine committed over 1,000 submarines to the battle of the Atlantic between 1939 and 1945. Italian submarines operating in the Atlantic sank 109 Allied merchant ships totalling 601,425 tons, and lost 16 boats. Admiral Dönitz decided in mid-1941 to build protective U-boat pens in Bordeaux. Construction began in September 1941, of reinforced concrete , 245 m (804 ft) wide, 162 m (531 ft) deep, and 19 m (62 ft) high, with
4140-429: The Italian postage stamps on hand were overprinted to show loyalty to Mussolini's rump state . The last two U-boats left Bordeaux in August 1944 and the Allies occupied the base on 25 August. The German naval personnel attempted to march back to Germany but were captured by US forces on 11 September 1944. In 1940, all twenty-eight Italian submarines which were to be based at BETASOM initially had to sail from bases on
4255-598: The Italian nation. In October 1938 in the aftermath of the Munich Agreement, Italy demanded concessions from France to yield to Italy in Africa. Relations between Italy and France deteriorated with France's refusal to accept Italy's demands. France responded to Italy's demands with threatening naval manoeuvres as a warning to Italy. As tensions between Italy and France grew, Hitler made a major speech on 30 January 1939 in which he promised German military support in
4370-432: The Italian prime minister Benito Mussolini in September 1923, when he wrote in the preface to Roberto Suster's La Germania Repubblicana that "there is no doubt that in this moment the axis of European history passes through Berlin" ( non v'ha dubbio che in questo momento l'asse della storia europea passa per Berlino ). At the time, he was seeking an alliance with the Weimar Republic against Yugoslavia and France in
4485-439: The Lesser Antilles. These eleven submarines would patrol independently to disperse Allied ASW resources until exhaustion of food, fuel or torpedoes required them to return to France. The second patrol of U-156 was under the command of Werner Hartenstein . On the evening of 15 February, U-156 surfaced after nightfall, two miles off Aruba . Hartenstein commenced his attack at 0131 on 16 February, when he fired two torpedoes at
4600-477: The Nazi Party came to power in Germany. Hitler had advocated an alliance between Germany and Italy since the 1920s. Shortly after being appointed Chancellor of Germany , Hitler sent a personal message to Mussolini, declaring "admiration and homage" and declaring his anticipation of the prospects of German–Italian friendship and even alliance. Hitler was aware that Italy held concerns over potential German land claims on South Tyrol, and assured Mussolini that Germany
4715-534: The Nazi Party publicly promoted the expansion of Germany into territories held by the Soviet Union. Germany justified its war against Poland on the issues of German minority within Poland and Polish opposition to the incorporation of the ethnically German-majority Free City of Danzig into Germany. While Hitler and the Nazi party before taking power openly talked about destroying Poland and were hostile to Poles, after gaining power until February 1939 Hitler tried to conceal his true intentions towards Poland, and signed
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4830-489: The Reichskommissariats established in the east ( Reichskommissariat Ostland in the Baltics, Reichskommissariat Ukraine in Ukraine) were established as colonies for settlement by Germans. In Norway, under Reichskommissariat Norwegen , the Quisling regime , headed by Vidkun Quisling , was installed by the Germans as a client regime during the occupation , while king Haakon VII and the legal government were in exile . Quisling encouraged Norwegians to serve as volunteers in
4945-410: The Rome–Berlin axis, thus creating the term "Axis". The following November saw the ratification of the Anti-Comintern Pact , an anti-communist treaty between Germany and Japan; Italy joined the Pact in 1937, followed by Hungary and Spain in 1939. The "Rome–Berlin Axis" became a military alliance in 1939 under the so-called " Pact of Steel ", with the Tripartite Pact of 1940 formally integrating
5060-479: The Ruhr", and said that "If England and France push through Belgium and Holland into the Ruhr, we shall be in the greatest danger", and thus claimed that Belgium and the Netherlands had to be occupied by Germany to protect Germany from a British-French offensive against the Ruhr, irrespective of their claims to neutrality. Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 involved issues of lebensraum , anti-communism , and Soviet foreign policy. After Germany invaded
5175-461: The Soviet Union, nearly capturing Moscow. However, crushing defeats at the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Kursk devastated the German armed forces. This, combined with Western Allied landings in France and Italy , led to a three-front war that depleted Germany's armed forces and resulted in Germany's defeat in 1945. The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was created from the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. Shortly after Germany annexed
5290-436: The Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, the Slovak Republic declared its independence from the rump Second Czechoslovak Republic . The new Slovak State allied itself with Germany. The remainder of the country was occupied by German military forces and organized into the Protectorate. Czech civil institutions were preserved but the Protectorate was considered within the sovereign territory of Germany. The General Government
5405-442: The U-boats but achieved good results considering the deficiencies of their boats (among which were the lack of modern torpedo fire-control systems, and their slower speed surfaced and submerged). Comparing the tonnages sunk by U-boats to the Italian submarines and their losses (16 Italian submarines lost against 247 U-boats), the "exchange rates" (gross tonnage sunk divided by the number of submarines lost) were respectively 40,591 t for
5520-441: The United Kingdom. Romania 's oil gave the country a disproportionate importance in the global conflict. In 1940 and 1941, Romania supplied 94% and 75% of Germany's oil imports respectively. Italy – which lacked both natural and synthetic output – was even more reliant on Romanian oil than Germany. The loss of Romania's oil – following the country's defection from the Axis in August 1944 – resulted in Hitler's first admission that
5635-488: The Venice meeting, on 25 July 1934, Austrian Nazis assassinated Dollfuss. Mussolini was outraged as he held Hitler directly responsible for the assassination that violated Hitler's promise made only weeks ago to respect Austrian independence. Mussolini rapidly deployed several army divisions and air squadrons to the Brenner Pass , and warned that a German move against Austria would result in war between Germany and Italy. Hitler responded by both denying Nazi responsibility for
5750-416: The Versailles treaty and remilitarized the Rhineland in March 1936. Germany had already resumed conscription and announced the existence of a German air force, the Luftwaffe , and naval force, the Kriegsmarine in 1935. Germany annexed Austria in 1938 , the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, and the Memel territory from Lithuania in 1939. Germany then invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia in 1939, creating
5865-403: The Waffen-SS , collaborated in the deportation of Jews, and was responsible for the executions of members of the Norwegian resistance movement . About 45,000 Norwegian collaborators joined the pro-Nazi party Nasjonal Samling (National Union), and some police units helped arrest many Jews. However, Norway was one of the first countries where resistance during World War II was widespread before
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#17327654012105980-589: The Western Atlantic. The relatively ineffective anti-submarine warfare (ASW) measures along the United States Atlantic coast observed by U-boats participating in Operation Paukenschlag encouraged utilizing the range of German Type IX submarines to explore conditions in what had previously been the southern portion of a declared Pan American neutrality zone. A 15 January 1942 meeting in Lorient included former Hamburg America Line captains with Caribbean experience to brief commanding officers of U-156 , U-67 , U-502 , U-161 and U-129 about conditions in
6095-400: The Western powers pushed Mussolini's Italy towards alliance with Hitler's Germany anyway. In 1937 Italy left the League of Nations and joined the Anti-Comintern Pact , which had been signed by Germany and Japan the preceding year. In March/April 1939 Italian troops invaded and annexed Albania . Germany and Italy signed the Pact of Steel on May 22. Italy was ill-prepared for war, in spite of
6210-501: The Windward Passage after launching its last torpedoes on 23 February. The second patrol of U-161 was under the command of Albrecht Achilles . Achilles and his first watch officer Bender had both visited Trinidad while employed by Hamburg America Line before the war. U-161 entered Trinidad's Gulf of Paria harbor at periscope depth during daylight through a deep, narrow passage or Boca . An electronic submarine detection system registered its passage at 0930 on 18 February 1942, but
6325-406: The area. The first three U-boats sailed on 19 January with orders to simultaneously attack Dutch refinery facilities on 16 February. U-161 sailed on 24 January to attack Trinidad, and U-129 followed on 26 January. U-126 sailed on 2 February to patrol the Windward Passage between Cuba and Hispaniola ; and five large Italian submarines sailed from Bordeaux to patrol the Atlantic side of
6440-465: The assassination and issuing orders to dissolve all ties between the German Nazi Party and its Austrian branch, which Germany claimed was responsible for the political crisis. Italy effectively abandoned diplomatic relations with Germany while turning to France in order to challenge Germany's intransigence by signing a Franco–Italian accord to protect Austrian independence. French and Italian military staff discussed possible military cooperation involving
6555-530: The beached torpedo. Hartenstein kept U-156 submerged north of Aruba after daybreak. At nightfall the crew buried the sailor who died when the gun exploded, and the captain received permission to sail to Martinique , where the injured crewman was put ashore. The crew used hacksaws to shorten the damaged gun barrel by 40 centimeters, and used the sawed-off gun to sink two ships encountered after all torpedoes had been expended sinking two other ships. U-156 started home on 28 February 1942. The third patrol of U-67
6670-497: The case of an unprovoked war against Italy. Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940. Italy justified its intervention against Greece in October 1940 on the allegation that the Kingdom of Greece was being used by Britain against Italy, Mussolini informed this to Hitler, saying: "Greece is one of the main points of English maritime strategy in the Mediterranean". Italy justified its intervention against Yugoslavia in April 1941 by appealing to both Italian irredentist claims and
6785-413: The command of Antonio de Giacomo sank two ships. Under the command of Nicolai Clausen U-129 spent its fourth patrol intercepting bauxite freighters southeast of Trinidad. The unexpected sinkings caused a temporary halt to merchant ship sailings. The Allies broadcast suggested routes for unescorted merchant ships to follow when sailings resumed. The U-boats received the broadcast and were waiting at
6900-436: The command of Jürgen von Rosensteil. In coordination with the attacks on Aruba and Willemstad , U-502 waited to ambush shallow draft Lake Maracaibo crude oil tankers en route to the refineries. After three tankers were reported missing, the Chinese crews of surviving tankers refused to sail; and Associated Press broadcast a report that tanker traffic had been halted in the area. U-502 moved north and started home via
7015-535: The command of Ugo Giudice sank three ships. The Marcello -class submarine Morosini under the command of Athos Fraternale sank three ships. The Aruba refinery was within deck gun range of deep water. Grand Admiral Erich Raeder would have preferred shelling the refinery as the opening action of Operation Neuland. On the basis of experience with the relative damage caused by deck guns in comparison to torpedoes, U-boat officers chose to begin by torpedoing tankers to cause large fires of spreading oil. Results of
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#17327654012107130-436: The date was not yet chosen. His senior military leadership unanimously opposed the action because Italy was unprepared. No raw materials had been stockpiled and the reserves it did have would soon be exhausted, Italy's industrial base was only one-tenth of Germany's, and even with supplies the Italian military was not organized to provide the equipment needed to fight a modern war of a long duration. An ambitious rearmament program
7245-464: The demand. In response, Hitler promised that he would accept Austria's independence for the time being, saying that due to the internal tensions in Germany (referring to sections of the Nazi Sturmabteilung that Hitler would soon kill in the Night of the Long Knives ) that Germany could not afford to provoke Italy. Galeazzo Ciano told the press that the two leaders had made a "gentleman's agreement" to avoid interfering in Austria. Several weeks after
7360-421: The dispute over the Free State of Fiume . The term was used by Hungary 's prime minister Gyula Gömbös when advocating an alliance of Hungary with Germany and Italy in the early 1930s. Gömbös' efforts did affect the Italo-Hungarian Rome Protocols , but his sudden death in 1936 while negotiating with Germany in Munich and the arrival of Kálmán Darányi , his successor, ended Hungary's involvement in pursuing
7475-497: The early 1920s . In 1923 the French occupied the Ruhr region when Germany defaulted on its reparations payments. Although Germany began to improve economically in the mid-1920s, the Great Depression created more economic hardship and a rise in political forces that advocated radical solutions to Germany's woes. The Nazis, under Hitler, promoted the nationalist stab-in-the-back legend stating that Germany had been betrayed by Jews and Communists. The party promised to rebuild Germany as
7590-425: The early 1930s stressed the importance of "decisive weight", involving Italy's relations between France and Germany, in which he recognized that Italy was not yet a major power, but perceived that Italy did have strong enough influence to alter the political situation in Europe by placing the weight of its support onto one side or another, and sought to balance relations between the three. In 1933, Adolf Hitler and
7705-404: The fact of Albanian , Croatian , and Macedonian separatists not wishing to be part of Yugoslavia . Croatian separatism soared after the assassination of Croatian political leaders in the National Assembly of Yugoslavia in 1928 including the death of Stjepan Radić , and Italy endorsed Croatian separatist Ante Pavelić and his fascist Ustaše movement that was based and trained in Italy with
7820-488: The fact that it had continuously been involved in conflict since 1935, first with Ethiopia in 1935–1936 and then in the Spanish Civil War on the side of Francisco Franco 's Nationalists . Mussolini refused to heed warnings from his minister of exchange and currency, Felice Guarneri , who said that Italy's actions in Ethiopia and Spain meant that Italy was on the verge of bankruptcy. By 1939 military expenditures by Britain and France far exceeded what Italy could afford. As
7935-485: The few Italian recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . Gazzana-Priaroggia's boat, Leonardo da Vinci , was the top-scoring non-German submarine of World War II, with 17 ships sunk totalling 120,243 GRT. Another notable Betasom commander was Salvatore Todaro , known for his habit of towing to safety the lifeboats containing the survivors of ships he had sunk. The Italian naval historian Giorgio Giorgerini writes that Italian submarines did not perform as well as
8050-414: The impasse with Italy over Austria by sending Hermann Göring to negotiate with Mussolini in 1933 to convince Mussolini to press Austria to appoint Austrian Nazis to the government. Göring claimed that Nazi domination of Austria was inevitable and that Italy should accept this, as well as repeating to Mussolini of Hitler's promise to "regard the question of the South Tyrol frontier as finally liquidated by
8165-449: The industrial Ruhr region of Germany. When war between Germany versus Britain and France appeared likely in May 1939, Hitler declared that the Netherlands and Belgium would need to be occupied, saying: "Dutch and Belgian air bases must be occupied ... Declarations of neutrality must be ignored". In a conference with Germany's military leaders on 23 November 1939, Hitler declared to the military leaders that "We have an Achilles heel ,
8280-460: The initial attacks on Aruba and Curaçao were diminished by weapon failures; and subsequent attempts to shell the Aruba refinery were discouraged by defensive fire from larger numbers of larger caliber coastal artillery and patrols by alerted aircraft and submarine chasers . An important link in petroleum product transport from Venezuelan oil fields was a fleet of small tankers designed to reach
8395-469: The interests of the major Axis powers were even at variance with each other. The Axis ultimately came to an end with its defeat in 1945. Particularly within Europe, the use of the term "the Axis" sometimes refers solely to the alliance between Italy and Germany, though outside Europe it is normally understood as including Japan. The term "axis" was first applied to the Italo-German relationship by
8510-863: The international community in the first place. The response to the pact was met with similar division in Germany; while the proposed pact was popular amongst the upper echelons of the Nazi Party, it was opposed by many in the Foreign Ministry, the Army, and the business community who held financial interests in the Republic of China to which Japan was hostile. On learning of German–Japanese negotiations, Italy also began to take an interest in forming an alliance with Japan. Italy had hoped that due to Japan's long-term close relations with Britain, that an Italo-Japanese alliance could pressure Britain into adopting
8625-470: The masses. At the end of World War I, German citizens felt that their country had been humiliated as a result of the Treaty of Versailles , which included a war guilt clause and forced Germany to pay enormous reparations payments and forfeit territories formerly controlled by the German Empire and all its colonies. The pressure of the reparations on the German economy led to hyperinflation during
8740-429: The military aims of Germany, Italy, Japan, and later followed by other nations. The three pacts formed the foundation of the Axis alliance. At its zenith in 1942, the Axis presided over large parts of Europe, North Africa, and East Asia, either through occupation, annexation, or puppet states . In contrast to the Allies, there were no three-way summit meetings, and cooperation and coordination were minimal; on occasion,
8855-511: The muzzle of the gun barrel was splayed open. Following the attack, U-156 sailed past Oranjestad , 14 miles to the west, and fired three torpedoes at the Shell tanker Arkansas berthed at the Eagle pier . One struck the ship, causing minor damage, one missed its mark and disappeared in the water, and the third beached itself. On February 17, four Dutch marines were killed as they attempted to disarm
8970-464: The opportunities for success resulting from the surprise of this operation. The Caribbean was strategically significant because of Venezuelan oil fields in the southeast and the Panama Canal in the southwest. The Royal Dutch Shell oil refinery on Dutch-owned Curaçao , processing eleven million barrels per month, was the largest in the world; the refinery at Pointe-à-Pierre on Trinidad
9085-610: The passage. Glauco also made the return voyage but was sunk by the Royal Navy off Cape Spartel . The submarine cruiser Ammiraglio Cagni was dispatched from the Mediterranean to patrol off South Africa in October 1942. On completion she returned to Bordeaux, transferring to BETASOM in February 1943. She was converted there for transport to the Far East but was overtaken by the Italian Armistice in September 1943 and
9200-764: The peace treaties". In response to Göring's visit with Mussolini, Dollfuss immediately went to Italy to counter any German diplomatic headway. Dollfuss claimed that his government was actively challenging Marxists in Austria and claimed that once the Marxists were defeated in Austria, that support for Austria's Nazis would decline. In June 1934, Hitler and Mussolini met for the first time, in Venice . The meeting did not proceed amicably. Hitler demanded that Mussolini compromise on Austria by pressuring Dollfuss to appoint Austrian Nazis to his cabinet, to which Mussolini flatly refused
9315-476: The percentage of gross national product (GNP) devoted to military expenditures. Nearly one-quarter of Germany's GNP was committed to the war effort in 1939, and this rose to three-quarters of GNP in 1944, prior to the collapse of the economy. In 1939, Japan committed 22 percent of its GNP to its war effort in China; this rose to three-quarters of GNP in 1944. Italy did not mobilize its economy; its GNP committed to
9430-591: The performing arts, exhibitions, and evening events. Axis Powers The Axis powers , originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis , was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies . Its principal members were Nazi Germany , Fascist Italy and the Empire of Japan . The Axis were united in their far-right positions and general opposition to
9545-471: The reshaping of their excessively large conning towers. These measures significantly improved the performance of the remaining Italian submarines (in 1941, about half were recalled to the Mediterranean following the submarine losses there); the average tonnage sunk by BETASOM submarines rose from 3,844 gross register tons (GRT) in 1940 to 27,335 GRT in 1942 (and, respectively, from 7,779 GRT to 68,337 GRT per submarine). The tonnage sunk for every lost submarine
9660-541: The same time Germany was preparing for a war with Poland and was secretly preparing the German minority in Poland for a war. A diplomatic crisis erupted following Hitler demanding that the Free City of Danzig be annexed to Germany, as it was led by a Nazi government seeking annexation to Germany. Germany used legal precedents to justify its intervention against Poland and annexation of the Free City of Danzig (led by
9775-424: The shallow, narrow entrance of Castries harbor surfaced on electric motors to torpedo two freighters at dockside; and then raced out under fire from machine guns . The two freighters had just arrived with supplies to construct the new US base; and the harbor previously considered immune to submarine attack was later fitted with an anti-submarine net. U-161 started home on 11 March 1942. Luigi Torelli under
9890-485: The signal was dismissed as caused by a patrol boat. After spending the day resting on the bottom of the harbor, U-161 surfaced after dark to torpedo two anchored ships. U-161 then left the gulf with decks awash and running lights illuminated to resemble one of the harbor small craft; and then moved off to the northwest before returning to sink a ship outside the Boca . After sunset on 10 March 1942 U-161 silently entered
10005-589: The suggested locations. Leonardo da Vinci under the command of Luigi Longanesi-Cattani sank one Allied ship and a neutral Brazilian freighter. There were no survivors from the Brazilian ship, and the sinking was not revealed. U-126 patrolled the Windward Passage under the command of Ernst Bauer . The large 1,331-ton Enrico Tazzoli under the command of Carlo Fecia di Cossato sank six ships. The large 1,331-ton Giuseppe Finzi under
10120-454: The tankers SS Pedernales and SS Oranjestad lying at anchor outside San Nicolaas . Ten minutes later, U-156 moved to within 3 ⁄ 4 mile of the Lago refinery and prepared to bombard it with her 10.5 cm deck gun . However, a crewman failed to remove the tampion from the muzzle, and the first shell detonated in the barrel. One gunner was killed, another was seriously injured, and
10235-583: The time Japan was unwilling to make an alliance against the United Kingdom and France, Oshima informed von Ribbentrop of Japan's interest in forming a German–Japanese alliance against the Soviet Union. Von Ribbentrop expanded on Oshima's proposal by advocating that the alliance be based in a political context of a pact to oppose the Comintern . The proposed pact was met with mixed reviews in Japan, with
10350-463: The turning point of the war in 1943. After the war, Quisling and other collaborators were executed . Quisling's name has become an international eponym for traitor . Duce Benito Mussolini described Italy's declaration of war against the Western Allies of Britain and France in June 1940 as the following: "We are going to war against the plutocratic and reactionary democracies of
10465-421: The war effort remained at prewar levels. Italy and Japan lacked industrial capacity; their economies were small, dependent on international trade , external sources of fuel and other industrial resources. As a result, Italian and Japanese mobilization remained low, even by 1943. Among the three major Axis powers, Japan had the lowest per capita income, while Germany and Italy had an income level comparable to
10580-698: The war was lost. Hitler in 1941 described the outbreak of World War II as the fault of the intervention of Western powers against Germany during its war with Poland, describing it as the result of "the European and American warmongers". Hitler had designs for Germany to become the dominant and leading state in the world, such as his intention for Germany's capital of Berlin to become the Welthauptstadt ("World Capital"), renamed Germania . The German government also justified its actions by claiming that Germany inevitably needed to territorially expand because it
10695-430: The wells in shallow Lake Maracaibo and transport crude oil to the refineries. Approximately ten percent of these tankers were destroyed on the first day of Operation Neuland. Surviving tankers were temporarily immobilized when their Chinese crews mutinied and refused to sail without ASW escort. Refinery output declined while the mutineers were jailed until sailings could resume. Torpedoing ships within defended harbors
10810-578: Was 258.9 million, while the Allied population (excluding the Soviet Union and the United States, which later joined the Allies) was 689.7 million. Thus the Allied powers outnumbered the Axis powers by 2.7 to 1. The leading Axis states had the following domestic populations: Germany 75.5 million (including 6.8 million from recently annexed Austria), Japan 71.9 million (excluding its colonies), and Italy 43.4 million (excluding its colonies). The United Kingdom (excluding its colonies) had
10925-647: Was 32,672 GRT in 1940 (opposed to 188,423 GRT for German submarines), 20,432 GRT in 1941 (70,871 GRT for Germans submarines), 136,674 GRT in 1942 (68,801 GRT for German submarines) and 13,498 GRT in 1943 (11,391 GRT for German submarines). Between February and March 1942, five BETASOM submarines (along with six German U-boats) took part in Operation Neuland , sinking 15 of the 45 Allied merchant ships destroyed during this operation. The top scoring BETASOM aces, Gianfranco Gazzana-Priaroggia (90,601 GRT sunk) and Carlo Fecia di Cossato (96,553 GRT sunk), were among
11040-480: Was disappointed with the Italian military's performance, he maintained overall favorable relations with Italy because of his personal friendship with Mussolini. On 25 July 1943, following the Allied invasion of Sicily , King Victor Emmanuel III dismissed Mussolini, placed him under arrest, and began secret negotiations with the Western Allies. An armistice was signed on 8 September 1943, and four days later Mussolini
11155-677: Was established at La Pallice in La Rochelle , France. This second base allowed submerged training which was not possible at Bordeaux. From June 1940, three Italian submarines patrolled off the Canary Islands and Madeira , followed by three more off the Azores . When these patrols were completed, the six boats returned to their new base at Bordeaux. Their initial patrol area was the Northwestern Approaches . Dönitz
11270-406: Was facing an overpopulation crisis that Hitler described: "We are overpopulated and cannot feed ourselves from our own resources". Thus expansion was justified as an inevitable necessity to provide lebensraum ("living space") for the German nation and end the country's overpopulation within existing confined territory, and provide resources necessary to its people's well-being. Since the 1920s,
11385-659: Was forced to accept German dominance in the two occupied countries. Furthermore, by 1941, German forces in North Africa under Erwin Rommel effectively took charge of the military effort ousting Allied forces from the Italian colony of Libya , and German forces were stationed in Sicily in that year. Germany's insolence towards Italy as an ally was demonstrated that year when Italy was pressured to send 350,000 "guest workers" to Germany who were used as forced labour. While Hitler
11500-539: Was generally dismissive, viewing a German–Japanese alliance against the Soviet Union as imperative while regarding an Italo-Japanese alliance as secondary, as Japan anticipated that an Italo-Japanese alliance would antagonize Britain that had condemned Italy's invasion of Ethiopia. This attitude by Japan towards Italy altered in 1937 after the League of Nations condemned Japan for aggression in China and faced international isolation, while Italy remained favourable to Japan. As
11615-626: Was impossible because of Italy's limited reserves in gold and foreign currencies and lack of raw materials. Mussolini ignored the negative advice. By 1941, Italy's attempts to run an autonomous campaign from Germany's, collapsed as a result of military setbacks in Greece, North Africa , and Eastern Africa ; and the country became dependent and effectively subordinate to Germany. After the German-led invasion and occupation of Yugoslavia and Greece, that had both been targets of Italy's war aims, Italy
11730-400: Was interned at Durban. The submarine pens have proved to be infeasible to demolish due to their massive reinforced construction which had been designed to withstand aerial bombardment. As of 2010, after conversion several years previously, approximately 12,000 m (130,000 sq ft) of the 42,000 m (450,000 sq ft) building are open to the public as a cultural centre for
11845-725: Was not interested in South Tyrol. Hitler in Mein Kampf had declared that South Tyrol was a non-issue considering the advantages that would be gained from a German–Italian alliance. After Hitler's rise to power, the Four Power Directorate proposal by Italy had been looked at with interest by Britain, but Hitler was not committed to it, resulting in Mussolini urging Hitler to consider the diplomatic advantages Germany would gain by breaking out of isolation by entering
11960-515: Was not working well, Dönitz decided to reassign the Italian boats to the southern area where they could act independently. In this way, about thirty Italian boats achieved more success, though without much impact on the most critical areas of the campaign. Dönitz considered the Italians as displaying "great dash and daring in battle, often exceeding that of Germans", but less toughness, endurance and tenacity. By 30 November 1940, Italian submarines in
12075-413: Was pragmatic about the Italians, seeing them as inexperienced, but useful for reconnaissance and likely to gain expertise. In November 1940 there were 26 Italian boats at Bordeaux. Initially, their activity did not meet much success; unacquainted with Atlantic weather conditions, Italian submarines sighted convoys but lost contact and failed to make effective reports. As co-operation between the two navies
12190-628: Was relatively unusual through the battle of the Atlantic. U-boats more commonly deployed mines to permit a stealthy exit. Although results were perceived as less significant, the difficulty of attacks in the Gulf of Paria and Castries by U-161 was comparable to Günther Prien 's penetration of Scapa Flow . Patrol of the Windward Passage by U-126 was well timed to exploit dispersion of ASW forces north and south. U-126 sank some ships within sight of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base . Neuland and Paukenschlag were opened with similar numbers of U-boats; but
12305-604: Was rescued by the Germans in Operation Oak and placed in charge of a puppet state called the Italian Social Republic ( Repubblica Sociale Italiana /RSI, or Repubblica di Salò ) in northern Italy . In order to liberate the country from the Germans and Fascists, Italy became a co-belligerent of the Allies; as result, the country descended in Civil War , with the Italian Co-Belligerent Army and
12420-487: Was satisfied with the presence of the anti-Marxist government of Engelbert Dollfuss in the First Austrian Republic , and warned Hitler that he was adamantly opposed to Anschluss. Hitler responded in contempt to Mussolini that he intended "to throw Dollfuss into the sea". With this disagreement over Austria, relations between Hitler and Mussolini steadily became more distant. Hitler attempted to break
12535-452: Was suffered, except for the sinking of the barracks ship Usaramo . The base was indirectly attacked by Operation Josephine B in June 1941, a sabotage raid that destroyed the electricity substation that served the base. The remaining BETASOM boats ended their last offensive patrol in 1943, after which Bagnolini , Barbarigo , Comandante Cappellini , Finzi , Giuliani , Tazzoli and Torelli were adapted to carry critical matériel from
12650-456: Was territorial expansion at the expense of their neighbors. In ideological terms, the Axis described their goals as breaking the hegemony of the plutocratic Western powers and defending civilization from communism . The Axis championed a number of variants on fascism , militarism , conservatism and autarky . Creation of territorially contiguous autarkic empires was a common goal of all three major Axis powers. The Axis population in 1938
12765-472: Was the code name of the Kriegsmarine extension of unrestricted submarine warfare into the Caribbean Sea during World War II . U-boats demonstrated range to disrupt United Kingdom petroleum supplies and United States aluminum supplies which had not been anticipated by Allied pre-war planning. Although the area remained vulnerable to submarines for several months, U-boats never again enjoyed
12880-519: Was the largest in the British Empire ; and there was Lago Oil and Transport Company , another large refinery on Dutch-owned Aruba where Shell operated the Eagle refinery of Oranjestad . The British Isles required four oil tankers of petroleum daily during the early war years, and most of it came from Venezuela, through Curaçao, after Italy blocked passage through the Mediterranean Sea from
12995-441: Was the name given to the territories of occupied Poland that were not directly annexed into German provinces , but like Bohemia and Moravia was considered within the sovereign territory of Germany by the Nazi authorities. Reichskommissariats were established in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Norway, designated as places the "Germanic" populations of which were to be incorporated into the planned Greater Germanic Reich. By contrast
13110-765: Was the preferred ore for aluminum , and one of the few strategic raw materials not available within the continental United States. United States military aircraft production depended upon bauxite imported from the Guianas along shipping routes paralleling the Lesser Antilles . United States Navy VP-51 Consolidated PBY Catalinas began neutrality patrols along the Lesser Antillies from San Juan, Puerto Rico , on 13 September 1939. The United Kingdom had established military bases on Trinidad; and British troops occupied Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire soon after
13225-400: Was under the command of Günther Müller-Stöckheim . In coordination with the attack on Aruba U-67 moved into Curaçao's Willemstad harbor shortly after midnight on 16 February to launch six torpedoes at three anchored tankers. The four bow torpedoes hit, but failed to explode. The two torpedoes from the stern tubes were effective on the third tanker. The third patrol of U-502 was under
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