Marina Nazionale Repubblicana

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National Republican Navy
Marina Nazionale Repubblicana

War case of the RSI
active 1943-1945
Country Italy social republicItalian social republic Italian social republic
Armed forces Forze Armate della Repubblica Sociale Italiana
Type Armed forces ( navy )
management
Minister of Defense Rodolfo Graziani
Navy Commander Antonio Legnani
Ferruccio Ferrini
Giuseppe Sparzani
Bruno Gemelli
Important
commanders

Junio ​​Valerio Borghese

Marina Nazionale Repubblicana (MNR) ("National Republican Navy") was the name of the small Italian Navy that, after Italy's surrender on September 8, 1943, waged war on Hitler's side as part of the armed forces of the Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana - RSI) - Germany and the Axis powers continued to the end.

history

Immediately after the unilateral armistice with the Allies ( Armistice of Cassibile ) was announced on September 8, 1943, the German Wehrmacht occupied northern and central Italy and disarmed the Italian armed forces remaining in their sphere of influence ( Axis case ) . According to the armistice regulations, the fleet of the Royal Navy of Italy had made its way to Malta , where it was to be surrendered to the Allies. A small part of the fleet could not or did not want to follow these orders and was therefore captured by the German navy or joined them voluntarily.

In La Spezia the Italian Marine Special Unit Xª Flottiglia MAS was under the command of the frigate captain ( Capitano di Fregata) Junio ​​Valerio Borghese . He gave the order to defend himself against any attack by force of arms, but his unit was not attacked by German armed forces. In the days after the armistice, Borghese decided to continue the war on the German side against the Allies. To this end, he concluded an agreement with German authorities that gave his special unit under German command extensive autonomy . Since all other Italian military units had either been dissolved or drafted by German armed forces, the Xª Flottiglia MAS formed the first military unit of the fascist social republic, whose armed forces did not officially emerge until the end of October 1943.

Until February 14, 1944, when Borghese became Deputy Admiral Chief of Staff, the Xª Flottiglia MAS was only formally subordinate to the National Republican Navy, and even after that it operated largely independently. Until the armistice, Borghese's flotilla was a small special unit that had distinguished itself several times during the war. The special reputation of this unit attracted a relatively large number of volunteers after the armistice, with whom Borghese built a large division (Divisione Decima) , which was used on land against Allied troops and against Yugoslav and Italian partisans . These almost 20,000 soldiers de facto formed a kind of private army of Borgheses and only de jure the essential part of the national republican navy.

While the German side granted Borghese and his troops extensive freedom of action and even had German special naval units trained in Italy, the rest of the national republican navy was hardly trusted. Very few of the Italian sea vessels captured or confiscated in September 1943 were returned. Some of these operated with mixed crews and German IDs under the Italian flag. The National Republican Navy had around 80 smaller sea vessels, mainly MAS boats , submarines of various types, as well as a few corvettes and other boats, of which only ten were temporarily operational. The most important bases were in Genoa , La Spezia, Venice and Pola , where smaller naval commands were also based. The missions were limited to the coastal area and the laying of mines .

The 3rd Marine Infantry Division "San Marco" consisted of only a small part of marines. This division belonged to the national republican army . It is not to be confused with Borgheses Decima MAS .

literature

  • Pier Paolo Battistelli, Andrea Molinari: Le Forze Armate della RSI. Hobby & Work Publishing, Bresso 2007.
  • Carlo Cornia: Monterosa - Storia della Divisione Alpina Monterosa della RSI Del Bianco, Udine 1971.
  • Giuseppe Rocco: L'organizzazione militare della RSI sul finire della Seconda guerra mondiale. Greco & Greco, Milan 1998.
  • Vincent P. O'Hara, Enrico Cernuschi: Black Phoenix. History and Operations of the Marina Repubblicana 1943–1945 , Propeller Press, Chula Vista / CA 2014, ISBN 978-0615-97861-1 .