The first of the three historical documentaries on the Regia Marina and the Great War, presented last January 11, broadcast by RTV San Marino, is the one concerning the city of the lagoon, Venice.
The largest and most advanced base of the Italian naval theater in the Upper Adriatic, the one that kept Pola in check, the main Austro-Hungarian base which was only 70 miles from the Serenissima. This was Venice, the city of the lagoon that protected the sea side of the Italian army and contributed with its own means, MAS, armed pontoons, ships and seaplanes to constantly attack the sea wing of the Habsburg army.
If absurd Venice had fallen, the Austro-Hungarians would have had the free way to encircle our troops on the Earth's face and occupy the entire Po Valley with their own cities, their agriculture and their own factories.
Italy would therefore lose the war and would leave the conflict and the Central Empires at that point would have had the quid of human resources and means to use on the French front instead of failing during the last great German maneuvers between March and July of the 1918.
Venice also meant much more during the First World War: from the Sant'Andrea seaplane base, the most important in the world with its 100 seaplanes and its highly efficient arsenal within which simple but innovative war solutions were created and built. revealed decisive during the conflict: from the aforementioned armed pontoons, to the self-propelled torpedo, to submarines, to MAS.
