Mario Falangola (August 9, 1880 – July 14, 1967) was an Italian admiral during World War II.

Early life and career

Mario Falangola was born in Rome in 1880 and was admitted to the Italian Naval Academy in

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

in 1899, graduating as ensign in 1902.Paolo Alberini, Franco Prosperini, ''Dizionario biografico Uomini della Marina 1861-1946'', Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare, pp. 219-220. In 1911-1912, with the rank of Lieutenant, he participated in the Italo-Turkish War aboard the armored cruiser ''Giuseppe Garibaldi''. When Italy entered World War I, Falangola was initially embarked on the

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

''Leonardo Da Vinci'', but after a short time he was transferred to the submarine service; in 1916 he became commander of the submarine ''Argo'', and later of the submarine ''F 7''. At the command of the latter, Falangola sank on 12 February 1918 the small Austro-Hungarian auxiliary vessel ''Pelagosa'' (245 GRT), and on August 11, 1918 the troop transport ''Euterpe'' (2,270 GRT), causing the loss of 555 Austro-Hungarian troops. He was later given command of the submarine ''Lorenzo Marcello''; in total, for his actions in command of submarines during World War I, Falangola received three Silver Medals of Military Valor and two Bronze Medals of Military Valor, as well as two promotions for war merit. In the interwar period, with the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, he commanded in 1929 the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s ''Tigre'' and ''Leone'', and in 1932 the battleship ''Giulio Cesare''. That same year he was promoted to

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

and appointed Naval Commander of Sicily and then commander of the

La Spezia Naval Base La Spezia Naval Base is one of the Italian Navy's most important and historic bases. The base lies in the central-western zone of the Gulf of Spezia, close to the historic centre of La Spezia. History Construction It was Napoleon Bonaparte who f ...

. In 1935 he was promoted to Vice Admiral and appointed inspector of the new constructions and commander of the submarine fleet; in October of the same year he attended the testing of the first SLC manned torpedoes, in

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest city ...

. The positive results of the test led him to order the building of a further two SLCs. In 1937 it became

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

, and in 1939 he was briefly given command of the Corps of Port Captaincies.

World War II and aftermath

He later became commander of the Submarine Squadron (consisting of the whole Italian submarine fleet); he held this role at the entrance of Italy into World War II (June 10, 1940) and kept it until December 1941, directing the submarine operations of the Regia Marina in the

Battle of the Mediterranean 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. For the most part, the campaign was fought between the Italian Royal Navy (''Regia ...

. On December 9, 1941, immediately after writing a long report which highlighted deficiencies of the Italian submarine branch (in terms of training, technical characteristics of submarines, operational doctrine, cooperation with the Air Force), Falangola was removed from office and appointed commander of the Corps of Port Captaincies, and was replaced in command of the submarine fleet by Admiral Antonio Legnani. A fervent

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

, after the 8 September 1943 armistice Falangola immediately spoke out in favor of cooperation with the German forces, and during meetings at the Ministry of the Navy he tried – without much success – to convince other officers to do the same. He immediately joined the

Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...

, and on September 30, 1943 he became Commissioner for the Navy for the Open City of Rome. He left this office on December 25, 1943, again assuming the general command the Port Captaincies that had remained in the territory of Italian Social Republic; he held this role until April 1945. His sons, Carlo and Ettore, also joined the RSI as officers in Junio Valerio Borghese's '' Decima Flottiglia MAS''; they were employed against the Italian resistance and were both captured and executed by the partisans. Having joined the German troops in their retreat towards

Brenner Pass The Brenner Pass (german: link=no, Brennerpass , shortly ; it, Passo del Brennero ) is a mountain pass through the Alps which forms the border between Italy and Austria. It is one of the principal passes of the Eastern Alpine range and has ...

, at the beginning of May 1945 Falangola gave himself up in Bolzano to the Northern Italy National Liberation Committee, which in turn handed him over to the local U.S. command, that interned him in a POW camp in Coltano,

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

, where he remained for a short time. After his release, he was deprived of his rank by the Italian authorities for having adhered to the Italian Social Republic, and he was sentenced to four years (later condoned) by a military court in Rome. The sentence, however, was repealed once by the Supreme Military Court "for not having committed the crime", and then a second time for an amnesty. He was discharged from the Navy in June 1945. In 1955, his service record was reviewed and the cancellation from the rolls with loss of rank was revoked. He died in Rome on 14 July 1967.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falangola, Mario 1880 births 1967 deaths Italian military personnel of World War I Regia Marina personnel of World War II Italian admirals Italian military personnel of the Italo-Turkish War