Gamma Group

The Italians began conducting the first experiments on underwater sabotage and reconnaissance operations at the end of the First World War , against the fleet of their opponent then, the Austro-Hungarian Empire . The idea of ​​secretive submarine warfare in Italy was returned to the end of the 1930s, creating the so-called 10th IAS flotilla . At its base in 1940, the creation of a special secret group of combat swimmers, capable of covertly operating underwater in enemy seaports, began. This group is called Gamma.

To create this group throughout Italy, the selection of the best swimming masters has begun. However, even they were not enough, so soon they began to call in sets from other military branches. The selection criteria were: excellent physical health, ability to behave on and under water, staunch supporters of fascism . All cadets were trained at the 10th IAU Flotilla in La Spezia , as well as at the Maritime Academy in Livorno . One of the initiators of the creation of naval combat swimmers in Italy was Eugenio Wolf (aka Evgeny Wolf). Coming from Chernigov , his family emigrated after the October Revolution , first to Constantinople , and then settled in Taranto . In 1927, he received Italian citizenship.

Initially, the training of swimmers was carried out in a special pool, and only then in the sea itself. They developed special equipment: waterproof overalls, rubber flippers, a mask connected to a cylinder with compressed air, which allowed it to be under water for up to 30 minutes. Particular attention was paid to the secrecy and camouflage of swimmers. They needed to act mainly at night, and therefore on the uncovered parts of the body (face and hands), a special water-indelible paint was applied, black or dark green. The swimmer's head could be masked by a bunch of seaweed and other aquatic greenery. Each diver had a special waterproof backlit compass and a watch on his hand.

For the actions of Italian swimmers, saboteurs, two types of underwater mines were created: "Magnatto" and "Baulillo". The first was a cylindrical metal box, on the one hand it had a rubber suction cup that could be attached to the hull of an enemy ship. Inside the "Magnatto" was 2 kilograms of blasting explosives driven by a clockwork. The mine itself weighed a little, so a well-trained swimmer could take three or four of these mines on a mission at once. The Baulillo mine was similar in shape, but it contained 4.5 kilograms of explosives and had a small screw outside. This mine was attached to the keel of the ship and when it developed a speed of up to 5 knots, the charge propeller began to rotate and the mine detonated.

Thus, the task of the Italian swimmers-saboteurs was to quietly penetrate the enemy port under water, set mines there and return. In practice, it looked like this: the swimmer approached the ship from the side of the bow, moving downstream, until he was at the very side, approximately against its middle. At that moment, he was supposed to silently dive to a depth of several meters and attach mines to the keel of the ship. After completing this operation, the swimmer gave himself up to the liberty of the stream and sought to swim to the shore as soon as possible. Then he had to bury his overalls, mask, flippers, respirator (if any) in the ground and try to avoid captivity.

Gibraltar

The first operation of the Gamma group was a raid on the port of Gibraltar in the summer of 1942 . Initially, a group of swimmers secretly housed in the Villa Carmela near the Spanish port of Algeciras . One of the Italian swimmers Antonio Ramoniono had a Spanish national as his wife, so the place to live in was chosen in Spanish Algeciras. According to legend, they were all supposedly from different countries and lived on fake documents. The location of Carmel’s villa on the Spanish coast was advantageous in that it was located in Algeciras Gulf, where Gibraltar, the British naval base, was on the opposite bank. On the night of July 13-14, 1942, twelve swimmers advanced from Carmela, and the Algecira Gulf with mines crossed quietly into the port of Gibraltar, where they laid mines on several British ships. The subsequent explosions seriously damaged the cargo ships Baron Douglas, Empire Snap, sank the vessels Meta and Suma, as well as two more smaller vessels. All twelve swimmers, guided by the signal of the flashlight of Ramoniono's wife, returned to the Spanish coast. Only one swimmer, Da Valle, was seriously injured after falling under the propeller of a British ship, but managed to get back. In total, ships with a total displacement of 10,000 tons were damaged or sunk. A few months later, the Italians achieved new success, sinking the British ship Ravens Point with a displacement of 2000 tons.

Algeria

At the end of 1942, the situation in North Africa was significantly complicated. The Allied forces dealt a significant blow to the Italo-German forces of Rommel in the second battle of El Alamein . This was facilitated by the significantly increased material and technical supply of the British army , due to the supply of military equipment (including the American one) and provisions through the port of Algeria. Therefore, it was decided with the help of swimmers of the Gamma group to attack the Allied ships in Algeria. The operation plan was complicated by the fact that, unlike Gibraltar, where the Italians had a base, the territory of Algeria was completely controlled by the British and the raid was possible only from the sea and only from the ship. Therefore, the submarine "Ambra" was involved in the raid, on board of which there was a group of swimmers "Gamma". Leaving December 4, from La Spezia, on the 12th, Ambra reached the waters of Algeria and lay on the ground. After reconnaissance, at night sixteen swimmers, leaving the submerged submarine, proceeded to the port of Algeria, where mines were installed. As a result of the operation, the ships of the Ocean Wacher and Berta were sunk, the Empire Centaur transport was severely damaged, and the Armattan and US-59 ships were damaged. In total, vessels with a total displacement of more than 25,000 tons were disabled.

Alexandretta and Mersin

One of the places frequented by British ships from the very beginning of World War II was the Turkish port of Alexandretta in the Mediterranean Sea. Here the British received raw materials - chrome ore . The Italians were observing British ships in the port from their consulate. With the outbreak of war, Turkey declared neutrality and, like a neutral state, it had diplomatic missions of all the warring parties. On June 30, 1943, the Greek ship Orion, with a displacement of 7,000 tons, was loaded with chrome ore and began to leave the port on July 8 when it was suddenly wrecked. Under the guise of their consulate, Italian saboteur swimmers, who arrived under the guise of diplomatic workers, erected mines in the harbor under the "Orion" back in the port. Having completed the task, the Italians went to another Turkish port of Mersin, where they installed mines on the British ship "Keithown" with a displacement of 10,000 tons. “Katown” was damaged, tried to get to Cyprus , but ran aground. Having examined the hull of the vessel, a second charge did not work. Immediately, the British military notified all of their vessels in the ports of the Mediterranean in order to check them for explosives. Meanwhile, the Italians in Alexandretta laid more mines under the vessels of Sicilien Prino and Fernplant. The first ship was able to inspect and defuse Italian mines, the second has already left the port before the alert and a few minutes later went to the bottom with all its cargo.

• 10th MAC Flotilla
• Royal Naval Forces of Italy
• Gibraltar in World War II

• "Underwater saboteurs." B. Bru "Paris" 1955 edition.

• Ferraro, Sito Ufficiale
• Gamma Decima Flottiglia MAS
• Pavone