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BETASOM (an Italian language
acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
of ''Bordeaux Sommergibile'' or ''Sommergibili'') was a submarine base established at
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
, France by the Italian '' Regia Marina Italiana'' during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. From this base, Italian submarines participated in the Battle of the Atlantic from 1940 to 1943 as part of
the Axis The Zappos Theater, originally known as Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts, is a mid-sized auditorium located at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. The venue hosts a variety of events, including charity benefits, concerts an ...
anti-shipping campaign against the Allies.


Establishment

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
naval co-operation started after the signing of the
Pact of Steel The Pact of Steel (german: Stahlpakt, it, Patto d'Acciaio), formally known as the Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy, was a military and political alliance between Italy and Germany. The pact was initially drafted as a t ...
in June 1939 with meetings in
Friedrichshafen Friedrichshafen ( or ; Low Alemannic: ''Hafe'' or ''Fridrichshafe'') is a city on the northern shoreline of Lake Constance (the ''Bodensee'') in Southern Germany, near the borders of both Switzerland and Austria. It is the district capital (''K ...
, Germany, and an agreement to exchange technical information. After the Italian entry into the war and the Fall of France, the
Italian Royal Navy The ''Regia Marina'' (; ) was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the ''Regia Marina'' changed its name to ''Marina Militare'' ("M ...
established a submarine base at Bordeaux, which was within the German occupation zone. The Italians were allocated a sector of the Atlantic south of Lisbon to patrol. The base was opened in August 1940, and in 1941 the captured French passenger ship was used as a
depot ship A depot ship is an auxiliary ship used as a mobile or fixed base for submarines, destroyers, minesweepers, fast attack craft, landing craft, or other small ships with similarly limited space for maintenance equipment and crew dining, berthing and ...
before being returned to the Vichy French Government in June 1942. Admiral
Angelo Parona Angelo Parona (23 April 1889 – 14 May 1977) was an Italian admiral during World War II. Early life and career Parona was born in Novara, Piedmont, on 23 April 1889, son of Emilio Parona and Elena Tarella. He entered the Naval Academy in Liv ...
commanded the submarines at BETASOM under the operational control of ''
Konteradmiral ''Konteradmiral'', abbreviated KAdm or KADM, is the second lowest naval flag officer rank in the German Navy. It is equivalent to ''Generalmajor'' in the '' Heer'' and ''Luftwaffe'' or to '' Admiralstabsarzt'' and '' Generalstabsarzt'' in the ' ...
'' (Rear Admiral) Karl Dönitz. Dönitz was the "Commander of the Submarines" (''
Befehlshaber der U-Boote The ''Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote'' or BdU (Eng: "Commander of the U-boats") was the supreme commander of the German Navy's U-boat Arm (''Ubootwaffe'') during the First and Second World Wars. The term also referred to the Command HQ of the U- ...
'') for the German '' Kriegsmarine''. About 1,600 men were based at BETASOM. The base could house up to thirty submarines, and it had dry docks and two basins connected by
locks Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...
. Shore barracks accommodated a security guard of 250 men of the
San Marco Regiment The 1st San Marco Regiment (Italian: ''1° Reggimento San Marco''), located in Brindisi, is an amphibious formation of the Italian Navy. They are the Italian marines. Until the middle of the 1990s the unit was known as the San Marco Battalion (' ...
. A second base was established at
La Pallice La Pallice (also known as ''grand port maritime de La Rochelle'') is the commercial deep-water port of La Rochelle, France. During the Fall of France, on 19 June 1940, approximately 6,000 Polish soldiers in exile under the command of Stanisła ...
in
La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wi ...
, France. This second base allowed submerged training which was not possible at Bordeaux.


Operational detail

From June 1940, three Italian submarines patrolled off the Canary Islands and Madeira, followed by three more off the
Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
. When these patrols were completed, the six boats returned to their new base at Bordeaux. Their initial patrol area was the Northwestern Approaches. Dönitz was pragmatic about the Italians, seeing them as inexperienced, but useful for reconnaissance and likely to gain expertise.The Italian submarine force in the battle of the Atlantic
/ref> In November 1940 there were 26 Italian boats at Bordeaux. Initially, their activity did not meet much success; unacquainted with Atlantic weather conditions, Italian submarines sighted convoys but lost contact and failed to make effective reports. As co-operation between the two navies was not working well, Dönitz decided to reassign the Italian boats to the southern area where they could act independently. In this way, about thirty Italian boats achieved more success, though without much impact on the most critical areas of the campaign. Dönitz considered the Italians as displaying "great dash and daring in battle, often exceeding that of Germans", but less toughness, endurance and tenacity. By 30 November 1940, Italian submarines in the Atlantic each sank an average of 200 gross tons per day, while German
U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...
s each averaged 1,115 gross tons per day during the same period. Italian submarines, however, had only been in the Atlantic for a few months at this time, and had not had yet the time to adapt to the new operational conditions, whereas the U-boats had already been operating there for more than a year. In an attempt to improve the performance of the Italian submarines, several measures were taken: taking cue from the ''Kriegsmarine'', older Italian submarine commanders (some were 40 years old) were replaced with younger officers, who possessed more aggressiveness and stamina; a "submarine school" was created in
Gotenhafen Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in th ...
, where commanders, officers and bridge crews of the BETASOM submarines were trained according to the German model (the submarine ''Reginaldo Giuliani'' was assigned to this task, in cooperation with German naval units). Italian submarines also underwent improvement work, such as the reshaping of their excessively large conning towers. These measures significantly improved the performance of the remaining Italian submarines (in 1941, about half were recalled to the Mediterranean following heavy submarine losses in that theatre); the average tonnage sunk by BETASOM submarines rose from 3,844 Gross Register Tons (GRT) in 1940 to 27,335 GRT in 1942 (and, respectively, from 7,779 GRT to 68,337 GRT per actually operating submarine). The tonnage sunk for every lost submarine was 32,672 GRT in 1940 (opposed to 188,423 GRT for German submarines), 20,432 GRT in 1941 (70,871 GRT for Germans submarines), 136,674 GRT in 1942 (68,801 GRT for German submarines) and 13,498 GRT in 1943 (11,391 GRT for German submarines). Between February and March 1942, five BETASOM submarines (along with six German U-boats) took part in
Operation Neuland Operation Neuland (New Land) was the German Navy's code name for the extension of unrestricted submarine warfare into the Caribbean Sea during World War II. U-boats demonstrated range to disrupt United Kingdom petroleum supplies and United ...
, sinking 15 of the 45 Allied merchant ships destroyed during this operation. The top scoring BETASOM aces,
Gianfranco Gazzana-Priaroggia Gianfranco Gazzana Priaroggia (30 August 1912 – 23 May 1943) was an officer in the Italian Royal Navy (''Regia Marina''), and was the highest-scoring Italian submarine captain of World War II. World War II During the war, Gazzana-Priaroggia ser ...
(90,601 GRT sunk) and
Carlo Fecia di Cossato Carlo Fecia di Cossato (25 September 1908 – 27 August 1944) was an officer in the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy), in command of submarines and torpedo boats during World War II. He was credited with the confirmed sinking of 23 enemy ships (16 ...
(96,553 GRT sunk), were among the few Italian recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Gazzana-Priaroggia's boat, ''Leonardo da Vinci'', was the top-scoring non-German submarine of World War II, with 17 ships sunk totalling 120,243 GRT. Another notable Betasom commander was Salvatore Todaro, known for his habit of towing to safety the lifeboats containing the survivors of ships he had sunk. Italian naval historian Giorgio Giorgerini writes that Italian submarines did not perform as well as the U-boats, but achieved good results considering the deficiencies of their boats (among which were the lack of modern torpedo fire-control systems, and their slower speed both surfaced and submerged). Comparing the respective tonnages sunk by U-boats compared to the Italian submarines and their respective losses (16 Italian submarines lost against 247 U-boats), the respective "exchange rates" (gross tonnage sunk divided by the number of submarines lost) were respectively 40.591 t for the German units and 34.512 t for the Italian ones. The strategic significance of Italy's participation in the Battle of the Atlantic was however small, as the number of Italian submarines that operated in the Atlantic was 30 at its peak, whereas the Kriegsmarine committed over 1,000 submarines to the battle of the Atlantic between 1939 and 1945. Overall, Italian submarines operating in the Atlantic sank 109 allied merchant ships totalling 601,425 tons, and lost 16 boats.


German U-boat activities

Admiral Dönitz decided in mid-1941 to build protective
U-boat pens A submarine pen (''U-Boot-Bunker'' in German) is a type of submarine base that acts as a bunker to protect submarines from air attack. The term is generally applied to submarine bases constructed during World War II, particularly in Germany and ...
in Bordeaux. Construction began in September 1941. Constructed of reinforced concrete, wide, deep, and high, with a roof above the pens thick, and thick above the rear servicing area. On 15 October 1942, the
12th U-boat Flotilla The 12th U-boat Flotilla (German ''12. Unterseebootsflottille'') was a German U-boat flotilla formed on 15 October 1942 at Bordeaux under the command of ''Korvettenkapitän () is the lowest ranking senior officer in a number of Germanic-speaki ...
was formed at Bordeaux by the ''Kriegsmarine'' under the command of ''
Korvettenkapitän () is the lowest ranking senior officer in a number of Germanic-speaking navies. Austro-Hungary Belgium Germany Korvettenkapitän, short: KKpt/in lists: KK, () is the lowest senior officer rank () in the German Navy. Address The off ...
''
Klaus Scholtz Klaus Scholtz (22 March 1908 – 1 May 1987) was a commander in the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) of Nazi Germany during World War II. He commanded the Type IXB U-boat . Scholtz was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. ...
. The first U-boat to use the bunker was on 17 January 1943.


End of operations

The base was bombed by the British on several occasions, especially in 1940 and 1941, but no significant damage was suffered, except for the sinking of the
barracks ship A barracks ship or barracks barge or berthing barge, or in civilian use accommodation vessel or accommodation ship, is a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for s ...
''Usaramo''. The base was indirectly attacked by
Operation Josephine B Operation Josephine B (or Operation Josephine) was a military mission in June 1941 during the Second World War. The mission was organised jointly by the Free French and the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), together with the Royal Air ...
in June 1941, a sabotage raid that destroyed the electricity substation that served the base. The remaining BETASOM boats ended their last offensive patrol in 1943, after which seven BETASOM submarines were adapted to carry critical matériel from the
Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...
(''Bagnolini'', ''Barbarigo'', ''Comandante Cappellini'', ''Finzi'', ''Giuliani'', ''Tazzoli'', and ''Torelli'') as part of an agreement between Italy and Germany; Italy had agreed to convert the surviving Betasom submarines, larger than German U-Boats and thus more suited for transport missions, in exchange for the transfer from the Kriegsmarine to the Regia Marina of an equal number of Type VIIC U-Boats, which would be manned by Italian crews and thus continue the Italian participation in offensive submarine operations in the Atlantic. Of the transport submarines, two were sunk by the Allies, three were captured in the Far East by the Japanese after the Italian surrender in the Armistice of Cassibile of September 1943, and ceded to the Germans, and two were captured in Bordeaux by the Germans. The U-Boats ceded to Italy were still training in Danzig with their new Italian crews when the armistice was announced, and were immediately retaken by the Kriegsmarine. ''Ammiraglio Cagni'', the newest Betasom submarine and the only one still on patrol at the time of the armistice, broke off her patrol and reached
Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...
in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
in compliance with the armistice orders. After the Armistice of Cassibile the base was seized by the Germans. Some of the Italian personnel joined the Germans independently of the Italian Social Republic. During this period the Italian
postage stamps A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...
on hand were
overprinted An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage or revenue stamp, postal stationery, banknote or ticket after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative purpos ...
to show loyalty to Mussolini's
rump state A rump state is the remnant of a once much larger state, left with a reduced territory in the wake of secession, annexation, occupation, decolonization, or a successful coup d'état or revolution on part of its former territory. In the last case ...
. The last two remaining
U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...
s left Bordeaux in August 1944, three days before the Allies occupied the base on 25 August. The last remaining German naval personnel attempted to march back to Germany but were captured by US forces on 11 September 1944.


List of submarines operating from BETASOM

In 1940, all twenty-eight Italian submarines which were to be based at BETASOM initially had to sail from bases on the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...
and transit the Straits of Gibraltar to reach the
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
. All twenty-eight did this successfully without incident. In 1941, another four Italian submarines based in
Italian East Africa Italian East Africa ( it, Africa Orientale Italiana, AOI) was an Italian colony in the Horn of Africa. It was formed in 1936 through the merger of Italian Somalia, Italian Eritrea, and the newly occupied Ethiopian Empire, conquered in the S ...
(''Africa Orientale Italiana'', or AOI) reached the base after the fall of that colony during the East African Campaign. All four had to travel around the Cape of Good Hope to get to BETASOM. Transferred from the
Red Sea Flotilla The Red Sea Flotilla (''Flottiglia del mar rosso'') was part of the ''Regia Marina Italia'' (Italian Royal Navy) based at Massawa in the colony of Italian Eritrea, part of Italian East Africa. During World War II, the Red Sea Flotilla was active a ...
during the summer of 1941: In 1941, it was decided to return some of the boats to the Mediterranean. ''Perla'', ''Guglielmotti'', ''Brin'', ''Argo'', ''Velella'', ''Dandolo'', ''Emo'', ''Otaria'', ''Mocenigo'', and ''Veniero'' made the passage. ''Glauco'' also made the return voyage but was sunk by the British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
off Cape Spartel. The submarine cruiser was dispatched from the Mediterranean to patrol off South Africa in October 1942. On completion she returned to Bordeaux, transferring to BETASOM in February 1943. She was converted there for transport to the Far East but was overtaken by the Italian Armistice in September 1943 and was interned at
Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...
.


Post-World War II

The submarine pens have proved to be infeasible to demolish due to their massive reinforced construction which had been designed to withstand aerial bombardment. , after conversion several years previously, approximately of the building are open to the public as a cultural centre for the performing arts, exhibitions, and evening events.


Notes


References


External links


Official site by the city of Bordeaux


* ttp://www.ubootwaffe.net/ U-boat history of boats, operations etc.
Regia Marina


{{DEFAULTSORT:Betasom Italian Navy submarine bases Regia Marina Military history of Italy during World War II Battle of the Atlantic France–Italy relations Buildings and structures in Bordeaux Tourist attractions in Bordeaux