The action of the Suda Bay has been defined by historians as a perfect, almost mathematical action, carried out with a unique synchronism by six men who, with extraordinary audacity and will of steel, had achieved an exceptional degree of efficiency.
It is the dawn of March 26, 1941, six men aboard as many explosive motorboats are heading for the heart of the English base in the Bay of Suda, on the island of Crete. I am Lieutenant Luigi Faggioni, Lieutenant Angelo Cabrini, Chief Gunner Alessio De Vito, Chief Engineer Tullio Tedeschi, 2nd Chief Mechanic Lino Beccati and Gunner Sergeant Emilio Barberi. These are extraordinarily courageous men, endowed with great skill and seafaring skills who, after having passed three barrage orders to protect the English vessels, manage to sink the British heavy cruiser Y and to heavily damage the tanker Pericles, which sank later.
The attack plan worked flawlessly: the raiders got as close as possible to the targets, stabilized the rudder, then launched the "explosive boats" at maximum speed against the enemy targets, after letting themselves be thrown into the sea.
At sunrise, the British realized that it was not an air strike, but an assault from the sea. The inaccessible Suda base had been violated by Italian Navy men who, in a few minutes, had destroyed twenty thousand tons of British ships. All six of the heroic feats survived, but were taken prisoner by the British. Upon returning home, he was awarded the gold medal for military valor. Six men of different rank, but equal in courage, ability, and combative tenacity inspired by the most authentic traditions of the Italian Navy.
Suda's action is told in the 1954 film "Siluri Umani", produced by Carlo Ponti and Dino De Laurentiis, with the technical and historical assistance of Admiral Bragadin.
Angelo Cabrini and Tullio Tedeschi have recently been named after the two material authors of the sinking of the opposing major unit, the two homonymous UNPAV-type fast vessels destined for the Incursori Operating Group.
