14 September 1942: attack of the English at the Italian base of Tobruch

(To Marina Militare)
14/09/15

The German-Italian Army is in El Alamein. One more leap and the war in Africa will be over. Put on the ropes, the British command of the Middle East decides to attack, with an amphibious operation, the Italian base of Tobruch, the port of which is essential to ensure supplies to the front in Egypt. The plan provides for the occupation of the city and the port for 24 hours, the sinking or capture of the naval units present and the destruction of the deposits and infrastructure. The basic assumption of the entire program was the weakness of the defenses in hand, according to the order of operation, to "less than a regiment of poorly efficient Italian soldiers".

The operation begins on the moonless night of September 13, 1942. To the north of Tobruch 380 Royal Marines will disembark, transported by the large Sikh and Zulu destroyers (Force "A"); at the same time there will be a land attack by 83 raiders (Force "B"); this will be followed by the landing south of 180 destroyers carried by 15 torpedo boats and 3 motor boats (Force "C"); strategic coverage is ensured by the cruiser Coventry and 4 escort fighters (Force "D"); a group of signalers disembarked from a submarine (force "E") will indicate the beaches to run over.

The first to act, at 22:00, are the men of Force "B" who, disguised with German uniforms and weapons, reach the southern ridge of the Tobruch peninsula with the task of eliminating, ruthlessly and in silence, two coastal batteries , one from the Army and one from the Navy. The personnel of the first station managed, however, to raise the alarm, thus allowing the sailors of the SP 5 battery to oppose by nailing the British raiders. The Marine Command, Admiral Giuseppe Lombardi, former head of the Information Service, undoubtedly takes over the direction of the operations and orders the dispatch of a nucleus of the 3rd Battalion San Marco, the "Italian soldiers of low efficiency" mentioned above to the area . During the night, lit only by gunshots and hand grenades, the San Marco counterattack annihilates the Commandos.

At 01:00 the Marine Command receives a communication from the Motozattera MZ 733 - at sea as a security guard together with the MZ 759 - "Enemy torpedo boats were trying to force the obstructions. I'm going to attack". Shortly afterwards, confirmation arrives from the MZ 756, which laconically communicates that it has rejected a group of enemy boats. The effective action of the motor rafts, small amphibious units, is not surprising. They are 200-ton spacecraft designed for the non-invasion of Malta and have been engaged for months to ensure vital traffic with the front lines, fighting enemy aircraft every day and night. Iron hulls, concrete protection, men of steel. Well armed thanks to the rich loot of British "out of order" machine guns made in June in Tobruch which integrates the 76 gun and the 20 regulation machine gun. Every sailor not engaged in the engine or rudder has his own weapon. Commanded by young officers fresh from the Academy or by experienced Nocchieri chiefs and crews of old lines, the light-hearted "sea mules" deliver painful kicks, now not only to the planes, but also to the frankly unfortunate Force "C".

It is therefore the turn of the Royal Marines of Force "A". Operations are compromised from the start due to incorrect reporting of landing points. The artillerymen of the Regia Marina, after having nailed the Commandos, returned to their usual profession and when, at 5 am, the Sikhe Zulu fighters approach the coast, disguised as Italian ships and flying a false flag (legitimate ruse de guerre until no fire opens), English words, hell breaks loose: the 120/50 and 102/35 guns of the Dandolo batteries (which still had to test its newly installed pieces, will do it live) and Tordo, frame the target scoring 7 hits on the Sikh, which was set on fire and sunk, and 6 on the Zulu. The rest of the British ashore are counterattacked, at this point, by an improvised company put together with 40 Italian sailors SV (various services), 30 German colleagues who spontaneously presented themselves to Admiral Lombardi to take orders and 90 Carabinieri, greeted by Lombardi with a cry of "We're all right, guys, the carabinieri have arrived!". The Marines surrender en masse and are captured. They are tough professionals and therefore know when to flag down.

The work is completed, after dawn, by a group of Italian fighter-bombers Mc. 200, now obsolete and usually destined for monotonous escort missions on the sea. But today, finally, we change music. First a 50 kg bomb seals the fate of the Sikh, then the torpedo boat MTB 312 and the motor launches ML 352 and 353 sink, also damaging the MTBs 308, 310 and 313. A series of actions by the Luftwaffe that will sink the cruiser Coventry will follow during the day also attributing the Zulu, already crippled and unable to exceed 25 knots, and the MTB 308 and 310, also previously damaged, as we have seen, by the small Mc. 200. MTB 314 is finally recovered intact, having run aground on a sand bank. At the end of the roundups on the ground and the recovery of the shipwrecked, there will be 625 prisoners, mostly rescued from the motor rafts, including the commander of the Sikh and an unfortunate US journalist. The secret archive of the Sikh, sunk in shallow water, is recovered and the British will only discover this further misfortune in exactly one year. Even the flag of the Royal Marines falls into Italian hands, and is still among the trophies of our Navy.

An accurate reconstruction of this Italian victory, realized in 1973 by the Pavese writer Mino Milani and illustrated by Maestro Attilio Micheluzzi, was recently published, thanks to the kind availability of the Ivaldi publisher and the screenwriter, in the June issue of Newsletter of the Navy.

(in the photo below the captured Royal Marines banner)