Battle of Magdalene
| Battle of Magdalene | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Operation Achse of Italian Campaign of Second World War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Nazi Germany |
 Kingdom of Italy | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Carl-Hans von Hardenberg Helmuth Weidling |
Bruno Brivonesi Carlo Avegno † Renato Barsotti | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 3,000 Ships | 2,980 Ships | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
12 killed 250 captured |
26 killed 57 injured | ||||||
The Battle of La Maddalena or Battle of La Maddalena was fought between 9 and 13 September 1943, as part of the larger events of Operation Achse of the Second World War.
Immediately after the announcement of the Armistice between Italy and the Allies on the evening of September 8, 1943, the German Wehrmacht units stationed in Sardinia implemented the long-planned contingency plan for this circumstance, retreating in an orderly fashion toward the north of the island to begin the evacuation to Corsica through the waters of the Strait of Bonifacio . In this context, the capture of the island of La Maddalena was of considerable importance, as it was home to an important naval base of the Italian Royal Navy and the site of numerous coastal and anti-aircraft artillery batteries that could potentially interfere with the German evacuation. Taking advantage of the confusion that reigned among the Italian command, caught off guard by the announcement of the armistice, a German unit then seized, in a coup de main, the key locations of the La Maddalena base on the morning of September 9. the commander of the Italian naval forces in Sardinia, Admiral Bruno Brivonesi , and the commander of the island's defenses, Admiral Aristotle Bona, were taken prisoner, but the reaction of some units prevented the Germans from taking complete possession of the island.
Organized by a few junior officers such as Major Renato Barsotti and Captain Carlo Avegno (who later fell in the fighting), the Italian units mounted a counterattack on September 13, recapturing many of the lost positions and taking numerous Germans prisoner; agreements between the high commands then led to the peaceful evacuation of Wehrmacht units from La Maddalena, completed on September 16.
Background
[edit]From July 25th to September 8th
[edit]After the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy during the unification process, the island of La Maddalena became a military base and coastal defence facility under the auspices of the Kingdom of Sardinia.[1] Additionally, in 1857, the base was abandoned and was re-established as part of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy in 1887 and was designated for primary operation in the Tyrrhenian Sea. During this time, various amenities were established on the base, including Harbour Sheltorage Facilities, Supply Depots, Repair Facilities for the Italian Royal Navy, and a new modern Fortification System. In the 1920s, the Italian Navy upgraded the base to a Second Category Naval Base and established it as a Submarine Station and Maritime Arsenal. During the Second World War, the base was used mainly to provide logistical and support services to the Italian Naval Services operating in the Mediterranean. In addition, after Mussolini was removed from power on 25 July 1943 and Marshal Pietro Badoglio was appointed to be the head of the government, Mussolini was held on the Island of Ponza until he was moved to the villa on La Maddalena.[2][3][4]
The plans of the Italians and the Germans
[edit]
Brivonesi held the title of the senior Royal Navy official in Sardinia, however, he was not the overall authority for operational command for all military operations on that island. He reported, at the same time, to both General Basso for all military operations related to that island and to the Navy General Staff (Supermarina), leading to confusion due to dual dependency, creating conflicting directives and order sets.[5]
The defence of La Maddalena was the responsibility of Admiral Aristotele Bona, while the naval base itself was under the command of Captain Carlo Avegno, and the arsenal under Naval Engineer Colonel Giovanni Battista Ferracciolo.[6][7] When the time of the announcement of the armistice, there were very few naval vessels stationed at La Maddalena, consisting of a couple of corvettes (the Minerva, and Danaide), the submarine Filippo Corridoni, and the auxiliary vessel Antonio Pacinotti. The garrison of the island was the responsibility of the 391st Coastal Battalion, whose infantry units were positioned predominantly along the beaches. Even though there were many Navy personnel stationed at the naval base, most were untrained for combat activity and in many cases not even issued weaponry, making it near impossible for organised resistance to occur. The island itself was protected by a ring of coastal and anti-aircraft artillery, some of which was positioned on the nearby island of Capraia.[8]
Battle
[edit]September Coup d'état
[edit]
On 8 September 1943 the Germans maintained only small contingents on the island of La Maddalena: groups of specialists assigned to the maritime signal station and the weather station on the Guardia Vecchia height, to the torpedo depot at Villamarina, to the food depot near the Garibaldi Hospital, to the fuel depot at Spalmatore, and to a radio station in the town of La Maddalena. German personnel also manned two coastal artillery batteries (named “Stresa” and “Greta”) positioned on the Sardinian coast facing La Maddalena; in the harbor there were several Kriegsmarine vessels, including four landing barges, one motor torpedo boat, two minesweepers and two motor launches, as well as a motor tanker under repair at the arsenal. A naval officer, frigate captain Helmut Hunaüs (also rendered as Uneus), acted as liaison between the Germans and the Italian command on the island.[9]
Brivonesi returned to his command at La Maddalena at 20:15 on 8 September, only then being informed of the announcement of the armistice; the admiral immediately ordered all Italian personnel to remain at their posts, but took no other measures against the Germans. The morning of 9 September was marked for Brivonesi by a succession of contradictory orders: General Basso informed him of the understanding reached with Lungershausen and ordered him not to oppose the Germans’ passage to Corsica; at the same time, Supermarina ordered the admiral to “make every effort to deprive the Germans of war materiel,” in implementation of the armistice clauses, the text of which was communicated to Brivonesi at 11:00. Between 10:20 and 12:10 Brivonesi therefore issued a series of preparatory orders: Italian artillery positions were instructed not to oppose any landing by Anglo-American units, but to prepare and be ready to fire on the German batteries deployed along the Sardinian coast, on command or immediately if the Germans opened fire first; the corvettes Minerva and Danaide cast off and were deployed off the roadstead of La Maddalena with orders to block the movements of German ships, though still with instructions to “fire only if attacked.” At 11:45 Brivonesi convened his principal subordinates at the Officers’ Club to inform them of the situation; the admiral's speech, later harshly criticized by some of those present, contained no appeal to take up arms against the Germans, but only recommendations concerning obedience and discipline. Returning to the Naval Command building, at 12:25 Brivonesi was confronted by Captain Hunaüs, who informed him that the building was now under the control of his men and that all personnel present were to be considered under arrest.[10]
The German action was extremely rapid, taking full advantage of the Italians’ state of unpreparedness and uncertainty. A contingent of about 200 men from the 16th Paratrooper Company of the 4th “Brandenburg” Regiment, under Colonel Ranke an officer who only a few days earlier had visited La Maddalena and carefully inspected the Italian positions arrived from Palau aboard assault craft and, without a shot being fired, secured the key locations of the base: in addition to the command building, where both Brivonesi and Admiral Bona were taken prisoner, the Germans seized the protected Naval Command site, the Guardia Vecchia signal station, the radiotelegraph station on Isola Chiesa, the Commissariat, the FAM and DICAT commands at Guardia Vecchia and Sasso Rosso, and the military hospital. The officers who had just listened to Brivonesi's speech and had stayed at the Club for lunch were all captured when German troops burst into the building, while machine-gun positions were set up to control the remaining Italian-held facilities, the access roads to the town of La Maddalena, and above all the harbor quays. In many cases the Germans did not storm Italian positions but presented themselves and demanded their surrender, exploiting the lack of communications and clear orders among Italian units and the ideological affinity with the MILMART militiamen; where surrender was refused, the Germans did not press the attack but took up positions nearby, controlling the post from outside and effectively neutralizing it.[11]
The Italian reaction to the attack was initially uncertain. Noticing hostile movements by German ships and troops, frigate captain Corvetti, commander of the 7th Anti-Submarine Group and embarked on the corvette Danaide, decided to go ashore by motor launch to confer directly with Brivonesi; finding the Naval Command occupied by the Germans, Corvetti returned aboard but lingered offshore without taking any initiative. In the afternoon the corvettes Minerva and Danaide, the submarine Corridoni, and the support ship Pacinotti all received orders from Supermarina to sail for Portoferraio, depriving La Maddalena's defenses of their presence. Not all Italian detachments capitulated without resistance, however: the German detachment sent to occupy the Trinità battery was met with rifle fire, disarmed, and taken prisoner by the Italians; at the arsenal Colonel Ferracciolo barricaded himself in defense of the facility, supported by civilian workers led by Costante Castelli, a communist sympathizer. The largest episode of resistance on 9 September was carried out by two junior officers (according to some accounts, Lieutenant Doctor Dettori and Harbor Master Captain Cesare Ramponi): faced with the indecision of the commander of the CREM barracks, the two officers forced open the armory and distributed its contents to a group of sailors, who were immediately sent to garrison Fort Camicia (formerly Fort Carlo Felice). Around 14:30 the fort's garrison opened fire on a truck full of Germans heading toward the arsenal, engaging in a firefight that ended only after the peremptory intervention of Brivonesi, who ordered the cessation of hostilities; two Italian sailors were killed and nine wounded, while the Germans counted four dead and numerous wounded. In the afternoon Brivonesi then negotiated an agreement with Hunaüs, under which the Italians would refrain from hostile acts against German craft sailing between Sardinia and Corsica, provided that the Germans maintained the positions already occupied and attempted no further attacks.
There is some uncertainty among scholars as to how Brivonesi managed to inform Admiral Bergamini's battle fleet having sailed from La Spezia in the early hours of 9 September and now approaching La Maddalena after coasting western Corsica to avoid putting in to the island, since the base had been occupied by the Germans. At the moment of the German seizure of the Naval Command at 12:25, Major Renato Barsotti, Brivonesi's deputy chief of staff and liaison officer between Navy and Army at La Maddalena, was on the telephone with the command of the coastal brigade at Tempio Pausania and was able to immediately report the German coup; at 13:05 the corvette Danaide radioed news of the German occupation of the base, a message also received by the battleships and confirmed by a subsequent radio communiqué from General Basso at 13:50. In reports compiled later by Brivonesi, differing in some details, the admiral stated that after negotiating the cessation of the clashes that began at 14:30, and with the full agreement of Captain Hunaüs, he was able to go to the protected Naval Command site and freely communicate by teletype to Supermarina that La Maddalena had been occupied. After reversing course, at 15:30 the Italian fleet was attacked by German aircraft off Asinara: the battleship Roma was hit and sunk with the loss of 1,393 members of her crew, including Admiral Bergamini himself.
Battle
[edit]
The Germans once again demonstrated their military strength on 13 September. After forcing the crew of an Italian motorboat that had been anchored in La Maddalena to leave the boat, they seized the boat and promptly sent it to Palau, where German troops would use the boat for evacuation. The commandeered boat was fired upon by the Italian Punta Tregge battery at 08:40, which drew return fire from German artillery along the Palau coastline. The Nido d'Aquila battery fired on the German cannons for a short period of time but was eventually silenced after being hit by shellfire. Another Italian battery, the Pes, which was located at Villamarina-Guardia del Turco, joined the fight and quickly suppressed the German guns.[12]
At 09:05, the Italian garrison at Fort Camicia began shelling German forces located on Isola Chiesa. The Italian tugboat Porto Quieto assisted the garrison in this endeavor. The Poggio Baccà battery, located on Caprera, participated in the action while other Italian batteries remained silent for the most part. One witness later testified that the Messa del Cervo battery fired off a few random shots to appear to follow orders from its commander, but the shots were of no military value. While the Italian forces were providing covering fire, Captain Avegno led a detachment of sailors and carabinieri from the Faravelli barracks toward Villa Bianca and the Navy Command building, while a second detachment emerged from the submarine barracks.[13]
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The three companies of troops from the 391st Coastal Battalion made their way to the area they were assigned. But none of the companies had the same results on their approach to the Command area. A company that was told to advance in from the north via Punta Villa and Cardaliò was halted in front of the schoolhouse. After that time, they sat idle until the last of the fights had concluded. The two other companies of troops that were coming down from Punta Villa via Vena Longa experienced very heavy close-quarter engagements with German Forces as the troops and Germans moved through the thick brush and through the buildings of La Maddalena.[12]
Troops from a machine-gun section pushed out of Abbatoggia, navigated through the western side of Guardia Vecchia on the island in the north, and hit the Hill from the South at 10:00 am. After serious fighting, the Germans holding the best position had surrendered. Another column of sailors came in from Parco Padule and fought with German troops who were in bunkers in close-proximity to Umberto I.[13]
At 10:26 am, Commander Bondi at the DICAT headquarters contacted all Italian Forces by way of the phone, by messengers, and by bugle calls at the same time to tell them to stop firing. After 10:00 am Admiral Brivonesi was again permitted by the Germans to transmit the same order and to demand the release of any German prisoners of war and that officers in cars flying White Flags would number higher than any other form. However, these orders were widely neglected and therefore the fighting continued. The battle calmed down spontaneously only towards evening; the last shots were fired around 9.50pm, when the machine guns of the Santo Stefano anti-aircraft battery opened fire on a German motorboat, forcing it to run around on the coast, where it was then recovered by a tugboat.[13]
References
[edit]- ^ "Comando Marittimo Autonomo Ovest - Cenni storici". Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ Gian Vincenzo Belli. "Correva l'anno 1943 a La Maddalena". Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ Gian Vincenzo Belli. "La battaglia di La Maddalena". Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ "1945/2015 - 70° Anniversario della fine della Seconda Guerra Mondiale - Marina Militare". www.marina.difesa.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-12-20.
- ^ Gian Vincenzo Belli. "Gli italiani". Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ Gian Vincenzo Belli. "Prospetto illustrativo delle batterie dell'estuario all'8 settembre 1943". Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ Gian Vincenzo Belli. "Il 1943, l'anno della fame e della paura". Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ Gian Vincenzo Belli. "9 settembre 1943". Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ Gian Vincenzo Belli. "I tedeschi". Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ "Danaide". Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ "Danaide". Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ a b Gian Vincenzo Belli. "13 settembre 1943". Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ a b c The Armistice of 8 September 1943 and the Drama of the Naval Battle Forces (PDF). Francesco Mattesini.