The Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) over Kefalonia and Corfu, September 1943, by Maurizio Marras
Aircraft wrecks, WW2, WW2 in Greece, WW2 WrecksBy researcher and author Maurizio Marras
Photos submitted to www.ww2wrecks.com by Maurizio Marras and used by permission
After the fateful date of the armistice 8 September 1943, the Regia Aeronautica, such until 18 June 1946, did not immediately become “co-belligerent”, a name that moreover never appears in any official document, because of the clauses, of the so-called “short armistice” signed in Cassibile on 3 September 1943, referred [1][2]in particular to condition 4, with mandatory ratification “in the Long Armistice” of 29 September 1943, on the battleship HMS Nelson in Malta, between Badoglio, Head of the Italian Government and General “Ike” Dwight D. Eisenhower, then Allied Commander of the Western Mediterranean.
A legal clarification is needed here; if even then, it was considered by legal custom, the necessity of the declaration of war, by both parties to consider “official” the state of belligerence between two contenders, considering their soldiers “legitimate fighters” and not “frank shooters” if taken prisoner, with all the consequences of the specific case, the Military Court of Rome with the “discussed” sentence “Stork” of 2013 [3] however, traced a furrow for the law of war, where the difference between military justice and criminal abuse of authority is indicated, as suffered by our militaries, even of the RA: a military in uniform is a fighter of the nation, not just a simple “partisan”, therefore the act of shooting against him, without impartial judgment, assumes the character of a criminal act! Other considerations are irrelevant for the purposes of this research!
Returning to the Regia Aeronautica, General S.A. Paolo Moci describes in his enjoyable book, [4] describes when, just appointed Lieutenant Colonel, he organizes his escape from Rome with five other companions, including an officer of the SIA-SIM[5], with secret correspondence, in the morning of September16, 1943, with an SM 79 “beaten” by German anti-aircraft and muskets RR.CC. RA (Carabinieri for the Air Force), guarding the airport of the Urbe (then “still” of the Littorio), to reach Brindisi, with a stop in Lecce. Immediately after the first arrangement and some “pleasantries” more or less of “practice”[6], he met in the order Badoglio and General D.A. (Air Division acting as Air Squadron) Renato Sandalli, then CSM RA[7] and Minister of Aeronautics and Transport. Given the great experience and ability of Moci immediately received from the same CSM the appointment of Capo Operational Office of his General Staff, to deal with the reconstruction of the remaining aeronautical departments.
The first decision of the Office of the T.C. Moci was the adoption of the tricolor cockade, also used on the last plane of Francesco Baracca in 1918 until today, sanctioned and adopted by provision of the Major State on September 17, 1943[8] and then approved by the A.A.C.C[9] on September 21, 1943.
Paolo Moci also writes about his first meeting after a few days, with the Commodore (Air Brigadier General) of the Royal Air Force Robert Foster, appointed aeronautical manager of the Allied Armistice Commission; together with General Sandalli and General Enrico Grande, newly appointed Underchief R.A., replacing General Giuseppe Santoro, who remained in those days in regular service in Rome, the collaboration between the allied air forces and the Regia Aeronautica began to be defined, then deployed in the organization chart of the DAF[10], after 13 October 1943.
In fact, thanks to the availability of Foster, who visited bases and RA personnel in Puglia, always remained motivated or even thanks to skilled Commanding Officers, the principles of a collaboration between Regia Aeronautica, before the declaration of war on Nazi Germany on 13 October 1943 in Madrid, began to be established.
In the meantime it was allowed to the 4 ° Stormo from Lecce -Galatina, with reconnaissance flights armed with MC 202 and 205 and d to the “divers” to the 5° Stormo = Wing[11], based on Manduria near Taranto, on Reggiane RE 2002 of the groups 101° and 102°[12], to respond to requests for help from the Balkan coast, especially the Ionian Islands of Corfu and Kefalonia; first request from Corfu on 13 September with protocol telegram No. 17292. It should be noted that all communications between the Acqui Division Command in Kefalonia and Brindisi took place through the radio stations of the respective Marine Commands, equipped with powerful radio stations and ciphers not completely decipherable by the Germans, initially through Corfu, then in the last days of resistance, even directly from Kefalonia.
5° Stormo
The situation of the 5th Wing in Manduria (TA) on 8 September, after the intense and tragic days since the landing in Sicily and then Calabria, was as follows:
Aircraft: 24 Reggiane Re 2002, of the first series (from MM 7309 to MM8408), of which 22 efficient, divided into 208^e 209^ Sqd [13] 5 aircraft each, 238^and 239^Sqd 7 aircraft of which 6 efficient per department[14];
Personnel: 42 pilots in all, with various levels of training, also given the painful losses suffered by the Allied landing in Sicily and Calabria; about 150 specialists various categories with prevalence in the 101st group and about 200 between non-commissioned officers and airmen government role.
Hence the story of the missions from the book of General Giuseppe Pesce, assisted by the well-known author (formerly M.llo armiere Aeronautica Militare = gunsmith AF) Nicola Malizia[15], as well as from volume III° of the unforgettable series of the late Sergio Govi [16].
Ten days after 8 September, the first order of operations arrives at the 5th wing, No. 84/SO.3-18/9/1943, to rescue the Italian troops in Corfu, sia della Acqui Division, both escaped from the Albanian and Greek coasts: objective the port of Igoumenitsa in Greece, in front of Corfu.
In the late morning, three Reggiane Re 2002 of the 238 ° Squadriglia, pilots Leutenants Mario Parodi, Commander Sqd, Eolo Morichelli D’Altemps, Second Leutenant Stelio Zaganelli, take off from Manduria (Taranto), even if the latter is forced immediately to a landing off-field, near Lecce, due to problems with the Piaggio engine, the true “black beast” of the Reggiane aircraft; the other two aircraft continue the mission, dropping their 250 kg bombs on the docks of the Greek port. In the morning too, from Manduria two other stormtroopers, but of the 208° Sqd, pilots Captain Dino D’Ottaviano, Commander Sqd and Leutenant Ugo Bassi intervene between the Butrint Channel/Vivari and the island of Corfu, attacking with 100kg bombs boats used by the Germans. To complete the same mission, three more aircraft of the 239th SQD intervene. With Lieutenants Vito Valenza, S.L. Gaetano Pezzano and Sergeant Augusto Garotti after an hour of flight, at the height of Corfu, are attacked by three Arado196 A-3[17]of the (See)Aufklärungsgruppe 126 (Maritime Reconnaissance Group), with 20 mm wing guns in fighting, who manage to shoot down Lieutenant Vito Valenza, who descended to low altitude to verify the presence of another ammarrato seaplane, most likely a Cant. Italian Z 506, from Corfu-Albania, already attacked by the Arado, who had not been seen from Valenza. But he managed to save himself, jumping with the parachute into the sea, collected by German boats that sent him or prisoner in Germany, until the end of the conflict; his aircraft was recently found on the seabed.[18]
In all missions there is always the anomalous operation of the Allocchio Bacchini B-30 shortwave (HF) radio apparatus [19], always inferior to the similar Anglo-American and German ultra-shortwave equipment, made with better materials.
Therefore our “hunters” are forced to the classic signals “movement of wings” and arms, a system valid only when they are side by side!
In the afternoon of September 18, 1943, the last mission with two other Re2002, one of the 209^ Sqd (M.llo Renato Danieli) and the other of the 239 ^, S.Ten. Silvio Leonesio, always 102 ° group, on a mission with a 250 kg bomb, disperse on the sky of Corfu a Stukas squadron of the X Fliegerkorps, StG3[20]; our hunters then drop their bombs on boats in the Butrint/channel and return to base.
At 06.30 am on September 19, after yet another concession of the Allied Commission, always Leonesio with the SM Aldo Dagnino (239 ^ Sqd), take off for offensive reconnaissance on the route Corfu-Paramithia-Gjirokastër-Koritza-Vlora-Manduria; on the airport of Koritza sighting Dozens of German aircraft with the classic white band, “Mediterranean” in the fuselage, typical of all Axis aircraft, from the end of 1940 until those days, most likely still carried by their aircraft! They move away quickly after dropping their 100kg bombs and on their return, before Corfu, they spot other German boats. On the basis of their information, at h 10.55 of september19 itself, three Reggiane of the 238^ armed with two bombs of 100 kg type “naval mine” each, with Lieutenants Parodi, Ruggiero and Felice Fox take off, even if almost immediately Ruggiero is forced to return for engine problems.
The rest carry out the mission on the boats at anchor but the violent anti-aircraft reaction, assisted by the air protection of three Arado-196, shoots down the King 2002 MM 8649 of Felice Fox, M.A.V.M. to the Memory, which falls into the sea, in flames. Shortly before noon, three other aircraft of the 208 ^ Sqd leave to hit boats off the coast of Plataria, with 250 kg bombs, pilots Captain Dino D’Ottaviano, Commander Sqd, M.lli Augusto Albanesi and Ugo Aldrovandi, sinking two boats and continuing the strafing on barracks and anti-aircraft positions ofthe coast.
Throughout September 19 the orders of operations are issued by “Superaereo” (SM Aeronautica) but on the same date the “Command (intermediate) Fighter” becomes operational under the orders of General H.H. Ferruccio Ranza, ace of the WWI, former Commander of the 4 ^ Air Squadron. The first order of the new Command arrives by telephone on the morning of September 20, for three Kings 2002 who leave at h 12.55 always with D’Ottaviano, Albanesi and Aldrovandi, arriving after an hour on the objective, always the bay of Plataria, dropping the bombs-pieces of 12 kg on the barracks of the coast and strafing the boats, with return unscathed.
Missions on Kefalonia
On 21 September the first mission on Kefalonia, following the telegram arrived in Marina-Brindisi from the Acqui Division Command at 23.40 on 20 September, deciphered at h 13.00 on 21/9, immediately transmitted to the Fighter Command and then to Manduria, three Kings 2002 of the 208 ^ Sqd leave at h 17.30 ofthe same day, with 14 bombs- pieces each and sub-wing tanks, piloted by Captain D’Ottaviano, Lieutenant Bassi and Serg.Magg. Stagni, reaching the “Acrophore of Bliote”, actually Cape Vliotis[21], cutting and machine-gunning.
The next day, at h 08.00 two more RE2002 of the 209^ Sqd, pilots Captain Montuori and S.M. Micheli, after an hour of flight reach and hit, strafing for a long time at low altitude, all the troops positioned in the important road junction of Kardakata, between the peninsula of Paliki, occupied entirely by the Germans, north-west of Kefalonia and the inlet of Aghia Kiriaki , where they were flowing from the night of the 17th, the battalions of the troops and alpine of the 1^e 104^ Gebirgsjäger division, mainly responsible for the massacres against our soldiers, by order of the [22]OKW![23]
It is necessary to specify, following several statements by veterans of the Acqui, including that of Antonio Lo Muzio during the presentation of the book by the well-known aeronautical researcher Gigi Iacomino, that the strafing also involved Italian departments, given that at Capo Vliotis was under construction (incomplete),[24] a 120/50 battery of the Regia Marina and that, in the directress to Kardakata, Dilinata, Davgata and Razata the last fighting on the island was underway, with the last Italian counterattack on the 21st and badly concluded on September 22nd, due to the German breakthrough up to the capital of the island, Argostoli and the complete occupation insular. Our soldiers, always reports Di Muzio, were convinced that the enemy also used captured Italian planes (asI knew about the tricolor cockade?!?) However, I have not found any “official” confirmation of this testimony and others like it, either from the Italian or German sides, which do not even confirm sightings of Italian aircraft over Kefalonia. However, the choice of targets was made on the basis of the request of the Acqui Division Command, with the clashes on the island constantly evolvingfrom September17 until 22 September, even the lack of pre-established air cooperation with simpleprotocols, unlike the Germans[25], makes the possibility of let at least one “friendly fire” happened!
The intervention of the Regia Aeronauticais not only aviatory: two chosen airmen, already in service at the seaplane base of Argostoli, accompanied the Lieutenant (STV) of Vascello Vincenzo Di Rocco, the Chief Helmsman of 2^cl. Papetti Federico, the second Chief Mechanic De Candia Giovanni: Radaelli Mario and Sessa Antonio at the “journey of hope”[26], that is the attempt of General Gandin, Italian Commander of the island and the Acqui, to send someone to Brindisi on the night of September18, to explain the dramatic situation on the island. The journey lasted seventy-two hours and only the nautical expertise of Commander Di Rocco, with the help of all the crew, prevented the umpteenth tragedy of a boat originally intended only to load wounded and sick on seaplanes and boats, in the bay of Watza-Argostoli.
I conclude on Kefalonia with another figure of Officer of the Regia Aeronautica, Captain Arnaldo Brezzi or Nando Bezzi, exact name not yet defined, that is, the one who accompanied Colonel (Oberst) Hermann Busch, head of the Seaplane Service of the Luftwaffe in Romaniaat the time[27], as bearers of a message even from Mussolini and / or the OKW[28] to General Gandin on September 13 morning, to convince him to surrender and leave with them for Vienna, via Athens.
In reality, from my research (which I hope someone else concludes), it cannot be a Brezzi of Alessandria, as hypothesized by an Officer of the Comando of the Acqui, [29]because Senator Brezzi had only one son Andrea, MOVM[30] RA pilot but died on December 21, 1940 in the Vojussa valley aboard the “Picchiatello” Ju-87 B MM 5806. He had no brothers and it seems highly unlikely that he had cousins in the Air Force[31].
On Nando Bezzi the reference couldgo to the pilot captain (I °or 4 ° Stormo) from the extended name Giovannangelo, di Ravenna, awarded with the War Cross in 1943, as per the medal list, Historical Office AM.
Since STV Di Rocco was also present on their arrival at the Command, as a communications officer, his testimony reports that the “German” spoken by the Italian officer was better than his “Italian”; therefore the last hypothesis remains, configures the possibility that he was the liaison officer of the RA with the Luftwaffe in Greece.
Raids on Corfu
On 24 September the 5th Wing was ordered to intensify attacks on the island. At h 07.25 of the same day take off from Manduria five Kings 2002 of the 102 ° group, pilots Cap. Montuori, M.llo Rizzi (209 ^), S.Ten. Pezzano, SM Zaffagnin i and Sgt Garotti (239 ^), accompanied by five MC 205 of the 4th Wing, as a fighter escort and after an hour of flight they are south of Corfu, against the boats and the Stukas; the SM Zaffagnini attacks a formation of JU-87 D and shoots one down, on the vertical of the city of Corfù, chasing three others, who had attempted an answer, until Ioannina, knocking down a second. On his return, Zaffagnini gets rid of his 100 kg bombs on a boat at Lake Lefkimmi, sinking it. Commodore Foster from the ACC, urged to intervene even allied aircraft, more performing, responds by asking to know the exact Italian positions on the Ionian islands[32].
In the afternoon of the 24th, the torpedo boat “Stocco” was diverted from escort to a convoy to[33] intervene against the German landing forces in the bay of Alonaki, south-west of Corfu but was attacked by about fifteen JU 87Ds. A message of help was sent to Marina-Brindisi, [34]immediately turned to the Fighter Command, which sent four MC 202 of the 21st Gr. CT, but arrived on the ship during its sinking. In the early afternoon, two Kings 2002 of the 209 ^ and five of the 101 ° group, pilots Lanfredi, Melotti, D’Ottaviano, De Filippi, Stagni, Ruggero, Morichelli and Zaganelli, for anti-naval operations. Immediately after take-off, Zaganelli suffers the engine stop, forcing him to a ruinous off-screen landing in the countryside of Brindisi, after getting rid of the bombs but leaving seriously injured and unable to service, for long hospitalization. Once the others arrived on a dozen naval targets, they strafed and bombed, triggering a violent anti-aircraft reaction, causing damage to the aircraft of Ten. Morichelli D’Altemps, removing about one square meter of wing coating, without however preventing him from returning to the base. The S Ergente Lanfredi does not arrive in Manduria, forced to land in Leverano, due to various mechanical problems.
At 5.30 pm on September 25, 1943, the last message arrives from Corfu: “… we ignore fate Stocco. Our situation despairate. Send evacuation vehicles as a matter of urgency. Destroyed secret publications, about to destroy radio as well.”
Here too the summits and executions of Italian officers and soldiers, always mainly by the German “alpine”, already “experts in quick manners” with prisoners and fierce reprisals, even with unarmed civilian populations, in every theater employed[35].
During the umpteenth meeting of the ACC aviation subcommittee, Commodore Foster announces that he has been authorized to deploy the Curtiss P-40 (RAF and SAAF)[36] on Corfu: too late!
Once these operational cycles have ended, the activity temporarily ceases, because the activity protocols of the Italian departments have not yet been defined, also given that the declaration of war on Germany, now a purely formal act, will be declared in Madrid, at the German embassy, in a “daring” way only on October 13th[37].
On September 30, General Angelo Tessore of the Fighter Command, gathered in Manduria all the department commanders, illustrating the situation with the Anglo-Americans and praising the staff, for the activity just accomplished.
Conclusions
I believe that it would finally be time to definitively shed light on all the facts related to 8 September 1943, [38]both for our national historical memory, and to carefully examine the activity of departments such as the 5th Wing, which defining one of the pillars of our current Aeronautica Militare could seem reductive and rhetorical. Inreality, without courage, sacrifice and even a bit of youthful exuberance, “seasoned” by “Risorgimento” education, always taken to the extreme of the twenty years of fascism, that minimum carried out with numerous sacrifices, would not have been possible. In fact, although not sufficient to achieve the impossible objective of saving the Acqui Division and our soldiers in Kefalonia and Corfu, given the tactical-strategic premises of our pre-armistice deployments, [39]these actions certainly marked a at the beginning of the reconstruction of our Armed Forces, in the first anti-fascist and then also republican institutions, in a union with the enemies of the axis, [40]who became our allies, first wary then enthusiastic about leaving to our airmen, the most dangerous missions on the Balkan region[41].
Bibliography (for reference notes):
- Angelo Lodi, “L’Aeronautica italiana nella guerra di liberazione”, Edizioni Bizzarri, 1975;
- Antonio Duma, “Quelli del Cavallino rampante”, Edizioni Rivista Aeronautica 2005, vol.II°.
- Byron Tesapsides, “Die deutsche Luftwaffe in Griechenland”, 2011, ISBN 960-630-743-3
- Elena But Rossi:
- “L’inganno reciproca, l’armistizio tra l’Italia e gli anglo-americani del settembre 1943”, Ministero per i beni culturali ed ambientali, Ufficio Centrale per i beni archivistici, 1993;
- “Una nazione allo sbando”, Il mulino 1993/2003;
- “Una guerra a parte, i militari italiani nei Balcani”, Il Mulino 2011, with Maria Teresa Giusti;
- “Cefalonia”, Il Mulino 2016;
- “Italy among the great powers”, Il Mulino 2019;
- Enrico Leproni, “Il meglio di Aerofan” supplement 2002, pag.25-36, Editore GAE;
- Ermanno Bronzini, “La battaglia di Cefalonia, diario di un reduce”, curated by Elena Aga Rossi, Il Mulino 2019;
- Gianpiero Piva, “Luftwaffe, tutte le operazioni “, 2001 Delta Editrice;
- Luigi Iacomino, “L’Aeronautica militare in Capitanata nella guerra di liberazione”, last edition 2012, Editori Associazioni “L’Epitaffio” and G.M.R.S.F.;
- Luigi Iacomino, “Saette nel cielo, storia del 101° Gruppo Volo”, Claudio Grenzi editore, 2010;
- Giulio Lazzati, “Stormi d’Italia, storia dell’aviazione militare italiana”, Mursia 1975-1997;
- Giuseppe Pesce, Nicola Malizia, “Il 5° Stormo, nel cinquantenaire della sua costituzione, 1934-1984”, Ufficio Storico AM, editore Mucchi 1984.
- Hermann Frank Meyer, “Il massacro di Cefalonia e la 1^Divisione da montagna tedesco”, 2013-2014, Gaspari editore;
- Marco De Paolis, Isabella Insolvibile, “Cefalonia, il processo, la storia, i documenti”, Ed. Viella 2017;
- Paolo Moci, “Following the flag, life of a pilot”, Giorgio Apostolo editore, 2001;
- Sergio Govi, “Dal Re 2002 al Re 2005”, Giorgio Apostolo editore, 1984;
- Sergio Govi, “I Reggiane dall’A alla Z”, Giorgio Apostolo editore, 1985;
We thank all the members of the Association “History and modelling of Linate (https://www.facebook.com/storiamodellismo.Linate), for the incentive to undertake this article but in particular Franco Zoni, also for the documentary material provided; then I ei colleghi M.lli AM, retired MRM marconist Alvise Polacco, curator of the Apollonio archive and the LGT motorist Gabriele Brancaccio, in service at the 4th Wing,; then Gigi Iacomino, Bruno Fochesato, Gianpiero Piva, Byron Tesapsides, Sebastiano Parisi and Salvo Fagone, aviation enthusiasts and lovers as well as authors; a warm thought to the late Earl Young, historical aeronautical collector, as well as former specialist assembly of the USAF and Lockheed Martin and Antonio Inguscio, as well as to those who are on the FB groups related to the Regia Aeronautica and directly, in this period, by mail or phone, they gave me useful indications.
[1] When the “King of May” Umberto II, released all members of the Royal FF.AA. from the oath to the King, after the Referendum of 2 June 1946: Regia Aeronautica=(italian) Royal Air Force, sine march28, 1923;
[2] Text of clause 4: “Immediate transfer to those locations that will be designated by the Allied Commander-in-Chief, of the Italian Fleet and Air Force with details of the disarmament that will be from him Set”.
[3] Marco De Paolis, Isabella Insolvibile, “Kefalonia, the process, history, documents”, Ed. Viella 2017, bibliography13;
[4] “Following the flag, life of a pilot”, Giorgio Apostolo Editore, 2001 pag.169-182- Bibliography n°14;
Andrea Moci, article of Airplanes in history n°94, West-Ward edizioni 2014.
[5] Aeronautical Information Service, Military Intelligence Service: see Giuseppe Conti, “A secret war, the SIM in the Second World War”, Il mulino, 2009.
[6] An RA officer close to Badoglio “interviewed” him to find out what he knew about the death of Ettore Muti, a comrade in arms of Can, before official meetings.
[7] Chief of Staff of the Royal (italian) Air Force; http://www.aeronautica.difesa.it/organizzazione/csma/passatiCSMA/Pagine/Gen_SA_Sandalli.aspx;
[8] AUSSMA (Archive of the Historical Office of the Air Force Staff, hereinafter USAM), “Co-Belligerence” Fund, envelope 5, chapter 5, para, 1,2,3;
[9] Allied Aviation Commission Control, provided for by armistice clauses.
[10] Desert Air Force: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_African_Tactical_Air Force ; “The Desert Air Force nella campagna d’Italia, gennaio-aprile 1944”, Alberti-Merli, IBN editore 2020.
[11] Antonio Duma, “Those of the Prancing Horse”, Edizioni Rivista Aeronautica 2005, vol.II°, pag. 424 and the pag. 432 to 440, bibliography 2.
[12] Angelo Lodi, “L’Aeronautica italiana nella guerra di liberazione”, Edizioni Bizzarri, 1975Vol1, bibliography 1;
[13] Enrico Leproni, “The Best of Aerofan” supplement 2002, pp.25-36, Editore GAE; bibliografia 5;
[14]Sergio Govi, “Dal Re 2002 al Re 2005”, Giorgio Apostolo editore, 1984, bibliography 15, while in theBibliography 11 of Giuseppe Pesce and Nicola Malizia, “Il 5° Stormo, nel cinquantenario della sua costituzione, 1934-1984”, Ufficio Storico AM, editore Mucchi 1984, On page 146 only 19 aircraft are given efficient.
[15]Ibidem, bibliography 11.
[16] Ibidem, bibliography 15.
[17] http://luftwaffe-zur-see.de/Seeluft/Verlustlisten/Jahr1943.htm;
Byron Tesapsides, “Die German Air Force in Greece” 2011, bibliography 3, .100-111.
[18] Giorgio Viola, Aircraft in History, “The Sunken Witness”.
[19] http://www.radiomilitari.com/b30.html.
[20] Stukageschwader 3, corresponding to our Wing but Strong of about 100-120 aircraft Efficient, on four groups plus Squadron Comando (4/5 aircraft) of the Major Commander Kurt Wherehlmey, veteran of the raids on Malta, from Trapani: Source Byron Tesapsides, ibid., bibliography 3;
Gianpiero Piva, “Luftwaffe, tutte le operazioni “, 2001 Delta editrice, bibliography 7.
I thank the architect Bruna De Paula for the clarification, clarifying many incorrect reports, on the publications, which have come down to us.
“Bliote is actually Chief Vliòtis – in Greek Cape Vliotis [Akrotìri Vliòtis] – and it is the extreme northern tip of the island that I indicated on the map with the red arrow.
The confusion in the transliteration between the “B” and the “V” depends on the fact that in Italy in ancient Greek there was the letter β [beta] which was pronounced with the sound B, while in Greece both in ancient Greek and in neo-Greek the letter β [life] is pronounced as V. The same happens with the letter “η”, in Italy the pronunciation from ancient Greek for the η [And] is the sound E while in Greece the letter η [ita] corresponds to the sound I. In the area of Capo Vliotis there was a post of the Royal Navy as Elio writes Sfiligoj in his “Qui Marina” Argostoli” a pag. 43″.
[22]Hermann Frank Meyer, “Il massacro di Cefalonia e la 1^Divisione da montagna tedesco”, 2013-2014, Gaspari editore;
bibliography 12 and Elena Aga Rossi “Kefalonia”, Il Mulino 2016, bibliography 4/D.
[23] High command The Whermact, basically Adolf Hitler himself!
[24] “L’Aeronautica italiana a Foggia ed in Capitanata”, available from the author: https://www.facebook.com/gigi.iacomino.37 .
[25]Ermanno Bronzini, “The battle of Kefalonia, diary of a veteran”, edited by Elena But Rossi, Il Mulino 2019,
Bibliography 6, pag.69.
[26] https://www.lavocedelmarinaio.com/2013/09/vincenzo-di-rocco-sottotenente-di-vascello/
[27] Byron Tesapsides, pag.100, bibliography 3;
[28] High command The Whermact: his Chief of Staff General Alfred Jodl, had been able to appreciate the qualities of General Gandin, when he was Chief of the Operations Office of the Italian Supreme Command, up to May 1943.
[29] Ermanno Bronzini, no. 60Ibid, bibliography 6;
[30] https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Brezzi.
[31] Antonio Duma, ibidem, bibliography 2, pag.785.
[32] Elena Aga Rossi, ibidem bibliography 4/D pag. 231, note 202, actually the “reconnaissance” on Kefalonia was on September 22 but he had not located the Italian positions.
[33] At dawn on September 24, the Stocco left Brindisi to escort to Santi Quaranta, together with the corvette Sibilla convoy composed of Steamers Dubac and Probitas and motor-ship Savudrija, which were supposed to embark and evacuate the Division ‘Perugia’, allocated to Albania. During the navigation the Stocco was detached to counter an attempt to disembarkation in Corfu by the forces German. However, the torpedo boat was repeatedly attacked by numerous Bombers German Junkers Ju 87D”Stuka”: the ship managed to shoot down one of the Aircraft attackers, but was then hit in turn, being immobilized with several waterways, and sank west of Corfù (according to another source the Stocco, badly damaged by aircraft, was scuttled by the crew. The Ship’s Captain, a Second Lieutenant and ten seamen, all wounded, were rescued by the population of the islet of Marlera, and on 29 September they embarked on a sailboat driven by fifteen Italian soldiers fleeing from Corfu, managing to arrive in Brindisi on the morning of 30 September.
Source: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco Rapier (destroyers).
[34] Commander Admiral Louis Rubartelli.
[35] Hermann Frank Meyer, ibidem, bibliography 12.
[36] South African Air Force; on 7 April 1944 Maj. Carlo Ruspoli tested a Curtiss P-40M, Kittyhawk III and gave a judgment not excellent but certainly superior to RE 2002, in almost all its performance and reliability; source: “Coccarde Tricolori”, Gregory Choose-Baldassare Catalanotto, Nuovo Studio Tecna 1994, pag.90.
[37] http://www.sergiolepri.it/13-ottobre-1943/
[38] Elena Aga Rossi, works cited in bibliografia 4/A/B/C/D/E.
[39] Angelo Lodi, “L’Aeronautica italiana nella guerra di liberazione”, Edizioni Bizzarri, 1975, bibliography 1;
[40] “Pact of Steel” of May 22, 1939 in Berlin, between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.
[41] Elena Aga Rossi, ““Italy among the great powers”, Il Mulino 2019, bibliografia 4/E.