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52-501: Junio Valerio Borghese was born in Artena , Province of Rome , Kingdom of Italy . He was born into a prominent noble family of Sienese origin, the House of Borghese , of which Pope Paul V was a notable member. His father, Livio Borghese, was the 11th Prince of Sulmona and younger brother to the more famous Scipione Borghese . Borghese was the second son of the prince and, as such, had

104-626: A final mission, Operation Toast, was planned. This was aimed at sinking the newly converted shipping liner now the aircraft carrier Aquila , just completed in Genoa. For this Mariassalto men would make use of two British chariots, as they had none of their own SLCs available. On 18 April 1945 the destroyer Legionario , carrying two high-speed motorboats equipped with chariots sailed from Venice for Genoa led by Captain Chavasse SOE and Forza. Both chariots were deployed and succeeded in penetrating

156-679: A good combat reputation fighting on the frontline against the Allies at Anzio and on the Gothic Line . In the last months of the war Xª MAS units were dispatched to the eastern Italian border against Josip Broz Tito 's partisans who marched into Istria and Venezia Giulia . On April 26, 1945, in what is now the Piazza della Repubblica in Milan , Borghese finally ordered the Xª MAS to disband. He

208-566: A purely military unit. The X Flottiglia gained a reputation for never firing a shot at any Italian military units fighting with the Allied forces. In April 1945 when the US command discovered that the British had granted permission to Marshal Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia , and his Communist troops, to occupy northeastern Italy from Venice to the east, Borghese moved the bulk of the X Flottiglia from

260-412: A secret sabotage base, but were captured. The Decima was mostly employed in anti-partisan actions on land, rather than against the Allies at sea. Their actions were mostly reprisals following the massacre of soldiers of "Decima" by partisans– see Bardelli's homicide. Their anti-partisan actions usually took place in small villages, where the partisans were stronger. However, the Xª MAS units also earned

312-586: The Decima Flottiglia MAS ("10th Assault Vehicle Flotilla"), or Xª MAS with Roman numerals , which continued active service in the Mediterranean and pioneered new techniques of commando assault warfare. The Roman numeral was in memory of Caesar's famous Decima Legio. After Italy's surrender to the Allies on 8 September 1943 , the Xª MAS was disbanded. While some of its sailors joined

364-545: The 1ª Flottiglia Mezzi d'Assalto ("First Assault Vehicle Flotilla"), formed in 1939 as a result of the research and development efforts of Majors Teseo Tesei and Elios Toschi of the naval combat engineers . The two resurrected Paolucci's and Rossetti's concept of human torpedoes. In 1941, Commander Vittorio Moccagatta re-organised the First Flotilla into the Decima Flottiglia MAS , and divided

416-644: The Comando Raggruppamento Subacquei e Incursori Teseo Tesei is the frogman corp currently serving the Italian Republic . Prince Valerio Borghese escaped capital punishment after the war (thanks to James Jesus Angleton of the CIA) in the cold war context and remained an active neo-fascist activist: He attempted a failed fascist coup in the early 1970s (the infamous golpe Borghese ). The Golpe Borghese and its leader are spoofed in

468-735: The Fronte Nazionale . Following a last minute aborted coup d'état plot which fizzled out on the night of 8 December 1970 (the Feast of the Immaculate Conception ), referred to as the Golpe Borghese , he was forced to cross the border to avoid arrest and interrogation. In 1984, ten years after Borghese's death, the Supreme Court of Cassation ruled that no coup d'état attempt had happened. Nevertheless,

520-689: The Italian Naval Academy in Livorno . The Decima MAS saw action starting on June 10, 1940, when Fascist Italy entered World War II. In more than three years of war, the unit destroyed some 72,190 tons of Allied warships and 130,572 tons of Allied merchant ships. Personnel from the unit sank the World War I-era Royal Navy battleships HMS  Valiant and HMS  Queen Elizabeth (both of which, after months of work, were refloated and returned to action), wrecked

572-651: The Mariassalto (Naval Assault) unit. In World War I , on November 1, 1918, Raffaele Paolucci and Raffaele Rossetti of the Regia Marina rode a human torpedo (nicknamed Mignatta or "leech") into the harbour of Pula , where they sank the battleship Jugoslavija , of the navy of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs , formerly the Austro-Hungarian battleship SMS  Viribus Unitis , and

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624-489: The Supreme Court of Cassation in 1949. With his record as a war hero and his support of Fascism, he became a figurehead for pro-fascist, anti-communist groups in the immediate post-war period, acquiring the nickname Black Prince . Borghese wrote a supportive introduction, affirming his political ideology of an idealistic neo-fascist new aristocracy meritocratically based purely on character, to far right revolutionary-conservative theorist Julius Evola 's book Men Among

676-542: The armistice of Italy on September 8, 1943, the Xª MAS was disbanded. The Badoglio government in the south of Italy under Allied occupation declared war on Germany and became a co-belligerent . Some Decima MAS sailors joined the Allied cause to fight against Nazi Germany and what remained of the Axis as part of the Italian Co-Belligerent Navy . A new unit was formed, led by Forza and joined by some of

728-506: The freighter Wien using limpet mines . They had no underwater breathing sets , and thus had to keep their heads above water to breathe. They were discovered and taken prisoner as they attempted to leave the harbour. In the 1920s, sport spearfishing without breathing apparatus became popular on the Mediterranean coast of France and Italy. This spurred the development of modern swimfins , diving masks and snorkels . In

780-595: The frog prince in Italy, after his time in the Frogmen assault Unit Dècima MAS . Latterly regarded as a political outcast and shunned by his ancestrally blue blood social connections for his "heretical" political extremism and disregard for the external norms of modern aristocratic etiquette and behaviour, Borghese died under mysterious circumstances in Cádiz , Spain, on 26 August 1974, aged 68. The death certificate records

832-592: The heavy cruiser HMS  York and the destroyer HMS  Eridge , damaged the destroyer HMS  Jervis and sank or damaged 20 merchant ships , including supply ships and tankers. During the course of the war, the Decima MAS was awarded the Golden Medal of Military Valour and individual members were awarded a total of 29 Golden Medals of Military Valour , 104 Silver Medals of Military Valour and 33 Bronze Medals of Military Valour . Following

884-531: The raid on Souda Bay ), human torpedoes (the raid on Alexandria ) and Gamma frogmen (against Gibraltar ). During the campaign, Decima MAS took part in more than a dozen operations which sank or damaged five warships (totalling 78,000 tons) and 20 merchant ships (totalling 130,000 GRT). In 1943, after the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was ousted , Italy left the Tripartite Pact . Some of

936-525: The 1930s Italian sport spearfishermen began using industrial or submarine-escape oxygen rebreathers , starting scuba diving in Italy. This new type of diving came to the attention of the Regia Marina which founded the first special forces underwater frogman unit, later copied by the Royal Navy and United States Navy . Capitano di Fregata (Commander) Paolo Aloisi was the first commander of

988-727: The Allies, Borghese chose to continue fighting with the Italian Social Republic (RSI) alongside the German Armed Forces ( Wehrmacht ). On 12 September 1943, he signed a treaty of alliance with Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine . Many of his colleagues volunteered to serve with him, and the Decima Flottiglia was revived, headquartered in Caserma del Muggiano , La Spezia . By the end of the war, it had over 18,000 members, and Borghese conceived it as

1040-525: The Allies. Borghese was then tried and convicted of collaboration with the Nazi invaders, but not of war crimes , by the Italian Court. He was "sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, discounted to 3 years, due to his glorious expeditions during the war, his defence of northeast borders against Tito's IX Corps and his defence of Genoa harbour". He was released from jail after four years' imprisonment by

1092-603: The Italian destroyer Grecale sailed from Bastia in Corsica to La Spezia carrying three speedboats, and Italian frogmen including Luigi Durand De La Penne , and two British chariots. One chariot broke down and was abandoned, though the other successfully sank Bolzano . However, the Gamma men were unsuccessful in their attack on the U-boat pens. All the participants escaped, linking with partisan groups on land. In April 1945

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1144-813: The Ligurian and Piedmontese area to the Veneto. The X Flottiglia built a line of defence on the Tagliamento river where they resisted until the arrival of the Allied troops. In this action, the X Flottiglia lost over eighty per cent of the fighting sailors dispatched to the front against Tito's troops, and the Italian Communist Partisans allied with Tito. At the end of the war, Borghese was rescued by Office of Strategic Services officer James Angleton , who dressed him in an American uniform and drove him from Milan to Rome for interrogation by

1196-624: The National Republican Navy ( Marina Nazionale Repubblicana ) of the RSI with its headquarters in Caserma del Muggiano , La Spezia . By the end of the war, it had over 18,000 members, and although Borghese conceived it as a purely naval unit, it gained a reputation as a savage pro-fascist, anti-communist, anti-resistance force in land campaigns alongside the German forces, under the command of SS General Karl Wolff . The Mariassalto

1248-588: The Royal Italian Navy ( Regia Marina Italiana ). As commander of Sciré Borghese took part in several raids using SLC. The first of these, in September and October 1940, were directed at Gibraltar . The September raid was abandoned when the harbour was found to be empty. In the October raid, Borghese took Sciré deep into Gibraltar Bay , making a difficult submerged passage in order to release

1300-625: The Ruins [1] . He later wrote a memoir of his wartime exploits, published as Sea Devils in 1954. He was associated with the Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI), the neo-fascist party formed in the post-World War II period by former supporters of the dictator Benito Mussolini . Later, advocating a harder line which the MSI was not able or willing to uphold, he broke from the MSI to form an even stauncher neofascist formation, known as

1352-878: The Russian countess Darya Vasilyevna Olsufeeva (Moscow, 1909 – Rome, 1963), sister of Alexandra "Assia" Vasilyevna Olsufeeva, wife of Andrea Busiri Vici . They had four children: Artena Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 219538414 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:31:54 GMT Decima Flottiglia MAS 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 The Decima Flottiglia MAS ( Decima Flottiglia Motoscafi Armati Siluranti , also known as La Decima or Xª MAS ) ( Italian for "10th Assault Vehicle Flotilla")

1404-708: The SLC as close to the target as possible. For this he received the Medaglia d'Oro al Valor Militare (MOVM), despite the mission's overall lack of success. In May 1941 a further attempt ended in failure, but on 20 September 1941, a successful mission damaged three merchant ships in the harbour. After this last attack, he was promoted to Capitano di Fregata , and named commander of the Decima MAS' sub-surface unit. On 18 December 1941, he reached Alexandria in Sciré and launched

1456-478: The Xª MAS men who were stationed in German-occupied northern and central Italy enlisted to fight for Mussolini's newly formed Italian Social Republic ( Repubblica Sociale Italiana or RSI) and retained the unit title, but were primarily employed as an anti- partisan force operating on land. Other Xª MAS men in southern Italy or other Allied-occupied areas joined the Italian Co-Belligerent Navy as part of

1508-523: The attempt is well known in Italy and film director Mario Monicelli made a biting satire of it called Vogliamo i colonnelli (1972) ( We want the Colonels , as the Fascist Greek colonels were pulling the strings behind the scenes). The main character (played by Ugo Tognazzi ) is a bombastic neo-fascist politician called Tritoni ( Triton ), a clear allusion to Borghese, who was sometimes called

1560-528: The beginning of the war, these "frogmen" were trained to fight undercover and underwater with small submarines and assault boats armed with a variety of torpedoes—pioneering tactics that remain a standard for Special Forces around the world today. At the start of the Second World War , Borghese took command of submarine Vettor Pisani , and in August 1940 was in command of submarine Sciré , which

1612-551: The cause of death as " acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis "; however, since Borghese was visited by a physician who found him in good shape just a few days before, it has been suggested that the circumstances of his death, characterized by a sudden onset of abdominal pain immediately after supper, could be compatible with arsenic poisoning . He is buried in the Borghese family chapel in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore , Rome. He

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1664-632: The command of the Germans), and not to be employed against other Italians. Borghese was recognized as the leader of the corps. The main themes in the Xª MAS's ideology became " honour " in defending Italy from the " betrayal " of the armistice with the Allies and a call to defend the territorial integrity of Italy against the Allies. The corps had its own weekly magazine, L'orizzonte ("The Horizon"), in which authors such as Giovanni Preziosi wrote vehemently anti-Semitic articles about Jewish conspiracies . The magazine had problems in its distribution, as it

1716-399: The daring raid by three SLCs that heavily damaged the two Royal Navy battleships HMS  Valiant and HMS  Queen Elizabeth and two other ships in the harbour. The six Italian Navy crew that attacked Alexandria harbour all received the Medaglia d'Oro al Valor Militare , and Borghese was named Cavaliere dell'Ordine Militare di Savoia . In May 1943, Borghese took command of

1768-430: The defences but found the hull of Aquila so encrusted with barnacles and seaweed the limpet mines could not be attached to it. The frogmen had to lay the charges on the seafloor of the outer harbour mole and when the charge exploded as planned the ship remained afloat in spite of the attack. All of the frogmen escaped safely. The German commander never put his extensive demolition plans for Genoa into action and thus Aquila

1820-426: The equipment, expertise and manpower of the Xª MAS as an anti-partisan force. The Xª MAS (RSI) took little part in the war at sea. Its equipment had been abandoned in the south, and its naval activities were frustrated by Allied action. In November 1944 four frogmen (Malacarne, Sorgetti, Bertoncin, Pavone), who had stayed under German command, were delivered by fast motorboat and swam into Livorno harbor to set up

1872-558: The invincible Tenth Legion ; On the field she defeated the barbarous enemy, Rome regained peace with honor; when, [in] the ignoble September Eight, the traitor abandoned the Fatherland, arose from the sea the Tenth Flotilla who took up arms with the cry "for the honor". Our [glorious] Tenth Fleet, that humiliated England, victorious at Alexandria , Malta , Souda and Gibraltar ; already victorious over

1924-418: The pioneers such as de la Penne newly released from British POW camps . The new unit was named Mariassalto , but continued to be an elite naval force mounting special operations at sea. In the German-occupied north of Italy. Mussolini set up the Italian Social Republic ( Repubblica Sociale Italiana , or RSI) to continue the war as part of the Axis. Led by Borghese, Decima Flottiglia was revived, as part of

1976-538: The sea, now as well on earth, you will win! [For] Ships of Italy that were wiped away, not in battle but by treachery, our fellows prisoners or dead, we make this pledge for you: We swear that we will return later where God wanted the Tricolour; We swear that we will fight, till we'll have peace with honor. Our [glorious] tenth Flotilla, that humiliated England, victorious at Alexandria, Malta, Algiers and Gibraltar; already victorious over

2028-640: The sea, now as well on earth, you will win! Relationships with the Italian Social Republic were not easy. On January 14, 1944 Benito Mussolini arrested Borghese while receiving him in Gargnano , in order to gain direct control of the Xª MAS. Word of the arrest reached the officers of the Decima , who considered marching on Mussolini's capital at Salò . However, the German command used their influence to have Borghese released, as they needed

2080-629: The title of Patrician of Rome, Naples and Venice and the style of Don Junio Valerio Borghese . However, the press and the English-language historiography routinely used the courtesy style Prince Junio Valerio Borghese . Borghese was first educated in London , England , and, from 1923, he attended the Royal Italian Navy Academy ( Accademia Navale ) in Livorno . In 1929, the naval career of Borghese began. By 1933, he

2132-462: The unit into two parts – a surface group operating fast explosive motor boats, and a sub-surface weapons group using human torpedoes called SLC ( siluri a lenta corsa or "slow-running torpedoes", but nicknamed Maiale or "Pig" by their crews), as well as "Gamma" assault swimmers ( nuotatori ) using limpet mines. Moccagatta also created the frogman training school at the San Leopoldo base of

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2184-697: Was Princess Valeria Maria Alessandra Keun (Smyrna, 1880 – Catania, 1956), daughter of Alfred August Keun and Virgina Amirà. His parents separated in Rome on 31 May 1911. As a consequence of the fact that his father was a diplomat (with the rank of plenipotentiary minister), Junio Valerio spent the first years of his life travelling between Italy and the main foreign capitals, staying in China, Egypt, Spain, France and Great Britain. In Italy, he mostly spent his time in and around Rome. He married in Florence, on 30 September 1931,

2236-624: Was a submarine commander. Borghese took part in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War . During the Italian intervention in the Spanish Civil War , he was in command of the submarine Iride , where he allegedly lost two seamen after his unit was depth-charged by the British destroyer HMS Havock . The elite World War II Italian naval unit Decima Flottiglia MAS is considered by many to be the first modern naval commando squad. Assembled by Prince Junio Valerio Borghese at

2288-475: Was against the Italian cruisers Bolzano and Gorizia , which had been taken by the Germans after the Italian surrender. This was to thwart a German plan to sink them where they would block the harbour entrance. The mission also aimed to attack German U-boats in the harbour. British chariots would attack the cruisers whilst Mariassalto's Gamma Frogmen would attack U-boats penned in the harbour. On 2 June 1944

2340-545: Was an Italian flotilla , with marines and commando frogman unit, of the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy). The acronym MAS also refers to various light torpedo boats used by the Regia Marina during World War I and World War II . Decima MAS was active during the Battle of the Mediterranean and took part in a number of daring raids on Allied shipping. These operations involved surface speedboats (such as

2392-538: Was born as Junio Valerio Scipione Ghezzo Marcantonio Maria of the Borghese princes in Rome, in one of the most important families of the Roman nobility, of ancient Sienese origins, with 4 cardinals, a pope and Napoleon Bonaparte 's sister, Paolina , among his ancestors. He was the second son of Prince Livio Borghese of Sulmona (1874–1939), Prince of Rossano, Prince of Vivaro Romano, Prince of Monte Compatri, Duke of Palombara, Duke of Poggio Nativo and Castelchiodato; his mother

2444-586: Was enlisted to help create counterintelligence units for the Americans. In 2006 the admiralty of the Italian republic recognized the Xth M.A.S. RSI veterans as combatants of WWII and gave the association the battle flag. Counter-operations against Italian frogmen by British frogmen in Gibraltar was the subject of a 1958 British film The Silent Enemy based on the exploits of the team of Lionel Crabb . Today

2496-443: Was modified to carry the new secret Italian weapon, the human torpedo . Known as "slow speed torpedoes" ( siluri a lenta corsa , or SLC), and nicknamed "pigs" ( maiali ) for their poor maneuverability, these were small underwater assault vehicles with a crew of two. These were part of the 1ª Flottiglia Mezzi d'Assalto (MAS), the "First Assault Vehicle Flotilla" (later called Decima Flottiglia MAS ), an elite naval sabotage unit of

2548-402: Was never sunk as a blockade to the harbour. Some Xª MAS men who were in German-occupied Italy remained part of the Axis forces, joining the Italian Social Republic under the command of Captain Borghese. His reputation and that of the Xª MAS enabled him to negotiate an agreement with the German forces that gave the Xª MAS significant autonomy, allowed them to fight under an Italian flag (under

2600-419: Was set up at Taranto alongside the British frogman force in the Mediterranean. Forza was pleased to demonstrate Italian expertise in this area to the British, and the group was also keen to be in action, though if they were caught they would almost certainly have been shot. In June 1944 came an opportunity to take action, in Operation QWZ, a joint mission against targets in La Spezia harbour. The attack

2652-448: Was soon arrested by partisans, but rescued by OSS officer James Angleton , who dressed him in an American uniform and drove him to Rome for interrogation by the Allies. Borghese was tried and convicted of war crimes, and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, but was released from jail by the Italian Supreme Court in 1949. The Americans were keenly interested in infiltrating the Italian Communist groups, something which Borghese had done, and he

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2704-1094: Was thought that Borghese's popularity among the Fascist hardliners might reduce Mussolini's influence. Quando pareva vinta Roma antica, sorse l'invitta decima legione; vinse sul campo il barbaro nemico, Roma riebbe pace con onore; quando l'ignobil 8 di settembre, abbandonò la patria il traditore, sorse dal mar la decima flottiglia, che prese l'armi al grido "per l'onore!". Decima flottiglia nostra, che beffasti l'inghilterra, vittoriosa ad Alessandria, Malta, Suda e Gibilterra; vittoriosa già sul mare, ora pure sulla terra, vincerai! Navi d'Italia che ci foste tolte, non in battaglia, ma col tradimento, nostri fratelli prigionieri o morti, noi vi facciamo questo giuramento: noi vi giuriamo che ritorneremo, là dove Dio volle il tricolore; noi vi giuriamo che combatteremo, fin quando avremo pace con onore. Decima flottiglia nostra, che beffasti l'inghilterra, vittoriosa ad Alessandria, Malta, Algeri e Gibilterra; vittoriosa già sul mare, ora pure sulla terra, vincerai! When ancient Rome seemed defeated, arose

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