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Great and Bold World War II Raids

Khalid Elhassan January 3, 2025 16 min

Raid - Italian frogmen in manned torpedoes launched from submarine near Alexandria Harbor, by Ivan Berryman. World Naval Ships

16. Italian Commandos Were Surprisingly Effective

Italian frogmen aboard a manned torpedo. K-Pics

The Italian military in WWII earned a deserved reputation for general ineptness and haplessness. However, there were exceptions, such as some special forces units that displayed great elan and competence. On December 3^rd, 1941, an Italian submarine left La Spezia, Italy, with three manned torpedoes. It stopped at the island of Leros in the Aegean to pick up three crews of two men each to man the torpedoes, then set course for the harbor of Alexandria, Egypt – the British Royal Navy’s Mediterranean headquarters and main base. It was the start of one of WWII’s most daring raids, carried out with great skill and courage. The raiders were members of the Italian Decima Flottiglia MAS, or “10th Assault Vehicle Flotilla” – an Italian navy unit of specially trained frogmen who, as seen below, were quite effective.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.