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MEDITERRANEAN
December 13 – Italian cruisers Alberico Da Barbiano and Alberti Di Giussano are sunk off Tunisia by British destroyers.
AFRICA
Mid December – British Commonwealth forces commence the big offensive action known as “Crusader”. The Italian Carabinieri Parachute battalion joins the battle against the Commonwealth forces with the other Italo-German forces and charged to protect the “Ariete” Division, which was withdrawing after a successful attack of British armored forces. Although the amount of Italian 75 mm guns in North Africa remained the same as it was in 1940, the Italians had doubled the amount of 100/17 guns to 24 and added twelve 88/55′s, giving each Division 60 guns for a 10:1 ratio of artillery to battalion compared to the 6:1 it had during Graziani’s first attacks from Libya. Coupled with Rommel’s German forces, the Axis war machine had doubled the firepower of what Graziani had available in 1940.
MEDITERRANEAN
December 17 – First battle of Sirte ends indecisively.
December 18 - Force K, the British Flotilla assigned to protect Malta and its shipping, hits an Italian moored minefield 20 miles east of Tripoli. The cruiser HMS Neptune and destroyer HMS Kandahar are sunk, the cruiser HMS Aurora is badly damaged and the cruiser HMS Penelope is slightly damaged. The site of the stricken ships limping back to the Grand Harbour brought a sense of fear into the Maltese people, who depend on the protected convoys to survive.
AFRICA
December 18-20 – The Carabinieri Parachute battalion repeatedly engage the British Commonwealth forces at the Eluet el Asel fork in the Cerenaic Djebel. After holding the violent attacks of the British forces, the Carabinieri Parachute battalion get the order to withdraw and shoot their way out of an encirclement with a brave attack near Lamluda fork along the Balbia road. They finally reached the Italian lines after suffering 35 dead and 251 missing. For their bravery and sacrifice, the Carabinieri Parachute battalion’s Flag of Arm was decorated with the silver medal to the military valor.
ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT
December 19 – The H.M.S. Valiant and H.M.S.Queen Elizabeth, while moored in the port of Alexandria, are critically damaged by explosions under their keels planted by Human Torpedo’s operated by Italian
Painting of the Human Torpedo entering the defenses of the port of Alexandria
frogmen of the Decima Flottiglia MAS. The damage was so great that these two ships were deemed unseaworthy. Along with the Battleships, the tanker Sagona and the British Destroyer Jervis were also severely damaged. Two Italian frogmen are captured, Lt. Luigi Durand de la Penne and Lt Bianchi. They refused to divulge any information until moments before the explosion (because they were being interrogated right above the area of the keel where the explosion was to occur). This attack, which neutralized the ability of the British to oppose the Italian Regia Marina with its battleships, allowed deeply needed convoys to supply Axis forces in Africa. See Map.
LIBYA
December 28 – CAM (Corpo d’Armata di Manovra – Mobile Army Corps) joins the DAK in attacking the XXII Armoured Brigade. “Trieste” Division captures key documents in a British Command Tank.
AUCHINLECK NOTES OF JANUARY, 1948
The partial successes of Italy’s armored division, the “Ariete”, at Bir Gobi on November 19, Sidi Rezegh on November 23, El Duda on December 1 and Alam Hanza on December 15 caused Auchinleck to write in his journal :
“The Italian M-13 tanks which, as a result of the previous campaign, we had inclined to dismiss as valueless, fought well,and had an appreciable effect on the battle.”
Sources: Battle Maps Credit to Afrika Korps; Ballantine’s Illustrated History of World War Two; Campaign Book, No. 1; Major K.J. Macksey, M.C.
Siege: Malta 1940-1943 by Ernle Bradford
World War II : 4,139 Strange and Fascinating Facts.
World War II, Time Life Books, Italy at War; World War II, Time Life Books
The War in the Desert,Destroyers of World War 2 and Cruisers of World War 2 by Mike J. Whitley; courtesy Stefan Schlemmer.
“The North African Campaign 1940-1943: A Reconsideration”; Lucio Ceva.
Decisive Campaigns of the Second World War; Edited by John Gooch: Journal of Strategic Studies. Volume 13. March 1990.
“Of Myths and Men: Rommel and the Italians in North Africa,1940-1942″; James J. Sadkovich.
The International History Review, XIII. 2 May 1991, pp.221-440.
I Paracadutisti Italiani 1937/45; Giuseppe Lundari, Pietro Compagni. Editrice Mili e Italiano-Serie “De Bello” 09
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Your site is really nice , althrough you do NOT mention anything about the participation of Italy in the Balkan Front and especially about the attack to Greece on 28th of October 1940 and later.
Thank you