The Italian Co-Belligerent Navy (Marina Cobelligerante Italiana), or Navy of the South (Marina del Sud) or Royal Navy (Regia Marina), was the navy of the Italianroyalist forces fighting on the side of the Allies in southern Italy after the Allied armistice with Italy in September 1943. The Italian seamen fighting for this navy no longer fought for Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Their allegiance was to King Victor Emmanuel and Marshal of Italy (Maresciallo d'Italia)Pietro Badoglio, the men who ousted Mussolini. This culminated in the fall of fascism in the south of Italy.
The Italian Navy played an important role once the armistice was signed. Nine cruisers, 33 destroyers, 39 submarines, 12 motor torpedo boats, 20 escorts, three mine-layers, and the seaplane tender Giusseppe Miraglia joined the Italian Co-Belligerent Navy. The two modern Littorio-classbattleships were detained by the Allies in Egyptian waters, while the three older battleships were allowed to serve as training ships. There were additionally four squadrons of seaplanes from the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica).
Present within the Co-Belligerent Navy were the groups "Mariassalto", carrying on the legacy of the Decima Flottiglia MAS frogmen group on the allied side, and the "San Marco" brigade, who were the first allied forces to enter the city of Venice.
The Royal Italian Air Force (RAI) was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was abolished and the Kingdom of Italy became the Italian Republic, whereupon the name of the air force changed to Aeronautica Militare.
The participation of Italy in the Second World War was characterized by a complex framework of ideology, politics, and diplomacy, while its military actions were often heavily influenced by external factors. Italy joined the war as one of the Axis Powers in 1940 with a plan to concentrate Italian forces on a major offensive against the British Empire in Africa and the Middle East, known as the "parallel war", while expecting the collapse of British forces in the European theatre. The Italians bombed Mandatory Palestine, invaded Egypt and occupied British Somaliland with initial success. However, the British counterattacked, eventually necessitating German support to prevent an Italian collapse in North Africa. As the war carried on and German and Japanese actions in 1941 led to the entry of the Soviet Union and United States, respectively, into the war, the Italian plan of forcing Britain to agree to a negotiated peace settlement was foiled.
The Italian Social Republic, known prior to December 1943 as the National Republican State of Italy, but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò, was a Nazi-German puppet state with limited diplomatic recognition that was created during the latter part of World War II. It existed from the beginning of the German occupation of Italy in September 1943 until the surrender of German troops in Italy in May 1945. The German occupation triggered widespread national resistance against it and the Italian Social Republic, leading to the Italian Civil War.
Force H was a British naval formation during the Second World War. It was formed in late-June 1940, to replace French naval power in the western Mediterranean removed by the French armistice with Nazi Germany. The force occupied an odd place within the naval chain of command. Normal British practice was to have naval stations and fleets around the world, whose commanders reported to the First Sea Lord via a flag officer. Force H was based at Gibraltar but there was already a flag officer at the base, Flag Officer Commanding, North Atlantic. The commanding officer of Force H did not report to this Flag Officer but directly to the First Sea Lord, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound.
The Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, or Air Force of the South, was the air force of the Royalist "Badoglio government" in Southern Italy during the last years of World War II. The ACI was formed in Southern Italy in October 1943 after the Italian Armistice in September. As by this point the Italian Kingdom had defected from the Axis and had declared war on Germany, the ACI pilots flew for the Allies.
The Battle of Calabria known to the Italian Navy as the Battle of Punta Stilo, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War. Ships of the Regia Marina were opposed by vessels of the Mediterranean Fleet. The battle took place 30 nmi to the east of Punta Stilo, Calabria.
The Regia Marina (RM) or Royal Italian Navy was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic, the Regia Marina changed its name to Marina Militare.
Aquila was an Italian aircraft carrier converted from the transatlantic passenger liner SS Roma. During World War II, Work on Aquila began in late 1941 at the Ansaldo shipyard in Genoa and continued for the next two years. With the signing of the Italian armistice on 8 September 1943, however, all work was halted and the vessel remained unfinished. She was captured by the National Republican Navy of the Italian Social Republic and the German occupation forces in 1943, but in 1945 she was partially sunk by a commando attack of Mariassalto, an Italian royalist assault unit of the Co-Belligerent Navy of the Kingdom of Italy, made up by members of the former Decima Flottiglia MAS. Aquila was eventually refloated and scrapped in 1952.
The Decima Flottiglia MAS was an Italian flotilla, with marines and commando frogman unit, of the Regia Marina.
The Battle of the Mediterranean was the name given to the naval campaign fought in the Mediterranean Sea during World War II, from 10 June 1940 to 2 May 1945.
The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice that was signed on 3 September 1943 between Italy and the US and UK during World War II. It was made public five days later.
The Royal Italian Army (RE) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfredo Fanti signed a decree creating the Army of the Two Sicilies. This newly created army's first task was to defend against the repressive power in southern Italy, exemplified by rulers like Francis II of the Two Sicilies. The Army of the Two Sicilies combated against outlaws and against other armies during this time of unification. After the monarchy ended in 1946, the army changed its name to become the modern Italian Army.
Inigo Campioni was an Italian naval officer during most of the first half of the 20th century. He served in four wars, and is best known as an admiral in the Italian Royal Navy during World War II. He was later executed by the Italian Social Republic for refusing to collaborate.
Impero was the fourth Littorio-class battleship built for Italy's Regia Marina during the Second World War. She was named after the Italian word for "empire", in this case referring to the newly (1936) conquered Italian Empire in East Africa as a result of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. She was constructed under the order of the 1938 Naval Expansion Program, along with her sister ship Roma.
The Italian Co-belligerent Army, or Army of the South were names applied to various division sets of the now former Royal Italian Army during the period when it fought alongside the Allies during World War II from October 1943 onwards. During the same period, the pro-allied Italian Royal Navy and Italian Royal Air Force were known as the Italian Co-belligerent Navy and Italian Co-belligerent Air Force respectively. From September 1943, pro-Axis Italian forces became the National Republican Army of the newly formed Italian Social Republic.
The Royal Italian Army, reformed in 1861 and existed until 1946, participated in World War II. The Royal Army started with the unification of Italy (Risorgimento) and the formation of the Kingdom of Italy. It ended with the dissolution of the monarchy. The Royal Army was preceded by the individual armies of the independent Italian states and was followed by the Italian Army of the Italian Republic.
The Adriatic campaign of World War II was a minor naval campaign fought during World War II between the Greek, Yugoslavian and Italian navies, the Kriegsmarine, and the Mediterranean squadrons of the United Kingdom, France, and the Yugoslav Partisan naval forces. Considered a somewhat insignificant part of the naval warfare in World War II, it nonetheless saw interesting developments, given the specificity of the Dalmatian coastline.
Roma, named after two previous ships and the city of Rome, was the third Littorio-class battleship of Italy's Regia Marina. The construction of both Roma and her sister ship Impero was due to rising tensions around the world and the navy's fear that only two Littorios, even in company with older pre-First World War battleships, would not be enough to counter the British and French Mediterranean Fleets. As Roma was laid down almost four years after the first two ships of the class, some small improvements were made to the design, including additional freeboard added to the bow.
The Ministry of the Navy was a ministry of the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 to 1946 and of the Italian Republic from 1946 to 1947. Under the Kingdom of Italy, it oversaw the Regia Marina, while under the Italian Republic, when its name became Ministero della marina militare, it oversaw the Marina Militare. The ministry was abolished in 1947, when it merged with the Ministry of Aeronautics and the Ministry of War to form the Ministry of Defence.
Ruggero Bonomi was an Italian Air Force general during the Spanish Civil War and World War II. He was deputy commander of the Corpo Aereo Italiano and commander of the Auxiliary Naval Air Force; after the Armistice of Cassibile he became the last State Undersecretary for the Air Force of the Italian Social Republic.
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