August 1943
| 3/4 | August | Operation B.G.7 (attack on Gibraltar shipping by human torpedoes from Olterra). |
| 17 | August | The Allies completed the occupation of Sicily. Many Axis troops managed to flee across the Straits of Messina. |
| 17-24 | August | First Quebec Conference (code name Quadrant) attended by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Mackenzie King. |
| 23 | August | The Battle of Kursk ended with a defeat for German forces, and they lost the initiative on the Eastern Front. |
Italian submarine patrols in the Mediterranean during August 1943
| Velella (…2 August) | Argento (…3 August*) | Diaspro (…3 August) |
| Menotti (…11 August) | Galatea (3-18 August) | Sirena (3-20 August) |
| Giada (4-9 August) | H.1 (9-10 August) | H.2 (12-13 August) |
| Settembrini (15-23 August) | Jalea (15-23 August) | Diaspro (15-22 August) |
| Nichelio (15-23 August) | Bajamonti (16-17 August) | H.1 (17-18 August) |
| Rismondo (25-26 August) | H.4 (25-26 August) |
Loss of Argento
On 3 August, Argento (T.V. Leo Masina) was still on patrol off Pantelleria, when she was detected by radar at 5,500 yards by the U.S. destroyer Buck (DD-420)(Lt Cdr George S. Lambert, USN), which dropped twenty-seven depth charges in three runs. With the destroyer USS Nicholson (DD-442), Buck had been escorting a convoy of six Liberty ships (Washington, Howell, Morris, Piez, Bell, and Webster from Licata to Oran). The submarine was forced to the surface and immediately came under fire from Buck. Argento fired two torpedoes at her attacker but missed and was finally sunk. Four men were killed, and forty-five survivors were picked up, including Masina. The American destroyer did not have much time to enjoy her victory: barely two months later, she was sunk by U-616 with heavy loss of life.
Operation BERTA
The same evening, Ciro Menotti (T.V. Giovanni Manunta) landed a party of two officers and sixteen other ranks from the San Marco ‘N’ Battalion (Italian marines) to raid the Berka aerodrome south of Benghazi (Operation BERTA). They were equipped with motorcycles to allow them to reach their objective quickly. The submarine used its new ‘Rari’ (radiolocalizzatore or a radar emissions detector) to avoid detection. This had its drawbacks, as Manunta assumed—wrongly— that the radar at Benghazi had detected the submarine and decided not to wait for the saboteurs and returned to base. It did not really matter, as the commandos were all captured before they could accomplish their mission.
Operation B.G.7
During the night of 3/4 August, three maiali were launched from Olterra to attack Gibraltar shipping. The three teams were formed by C.C. Ernesto Notari/ S.C. Pal. Andrea Gianoli, Ten. G.N. Camillo Tadini/S.C. Pal. Salvatore Mattera and Ten. A.N. Vittorio Cella/S.C. Pal. Eusebio Montalenti and they succeeded in damaging three ships: the Norwegian Thorshovdi (9,944 GRT, built 1937), the British Stanridge (5,975 GRT, built 1943) and American Harrison Gray Otis (7,176 GRT, built 1943). Notari lost his diver Andrea Gianoli, who was wounded and captured by the British, but the other members of the mission all managed to return to their base. This was the last action of the Decima Flottiglia MAS before the armistice.
On the afternoon of 4 August, the USAAF carried out a large-scale raid on the submarine base at Naples. Seventy-seven B.17 bombers dropped 924 500-lb bombs, causing severe damage to the city. The torpedo boat Pallade and two or three fishing vessels were sunk, the liner Lombardia was set afire, and the minelayer Vieste was damaged, but the submarines escaped damage.
At the end of the afternoon on 9 August, the venerable H.1 (T.V. Augusto Marraccini), on a defensive patrol in the Gulf of Genoa, witnessed from 20,000 metres an Italian destroyer being torpedoed. This was Vincenzo Gioberti, the victim of the submarine HMS Simoom (Lt G.D.N. Milner, DSC, RN). About two hours later, the British submarine was sighted withdrawing from the scene, but the distance was too great — 8,000 metres—and H.1 was unable to gain an attacking position.
After midnight on 10 August, the light cruisers HMS Aurora and Penelope bombarded Castellamare di Stabbia. A shell hit the submarine FR.113 aft; the light cruiser Giulio Germanico, and the corvettes Libellula, Farfalla, Cicala, and Grillo were also damaged.
On 10 August, for the second time, Maricosom amended its Zeta order to add submarines of I Grupsom (Bajamonti, Galatea, H.1, H.2, H.4, H.6, Rismondo, and Sirena) to those of II and VII Grupsom. They were to intercept possible enemy landings in Corsica, on the south coast of Sardinia, and the southwest coast of mainland Italy.
A week later, Sicily was completely in Allied hands. After midnight on 18 August, Diaspro (T.V. Alberto Donato), operating near Stromboli, fired two stern torpedoes from long range (5,000 metres) at two destroyers. The torpedoes used were Italian-made, set at a speed of 34 knots with a maximum range of 8,000 metres. Two explosions were heard after 7 minutes and 30 seconds; unsurprisingly, they missed. The following night, she emptied her four bow torpedoes at two other destroyers, also at long range, and though Donato claimed to have observed one of the destroyers in a damaged condition, all torpedoes had again missed. Allied anti-submarine forces were becoming so efficient that getting closer was becoming suicidal.
During the night of 19/20 August, west of La Spezia, the Decima Flottiglia MAS tried a new anti-submarine tactic. The sailing vessel Ezilda B. towed the assault craft MTSM-304 (Motoscafo silurante) piloted by T.V. Domenico Mataluno. A submarine was sighted at the range of 5,000 metres. This was almost certainly the French submarine La Sultane (Lieutenant de vaisseau Léon Edmond Bourdin), described as a submarine of the Swordfish class. They closed, and MTSM-304 fired a torpedo, set at a depth of 10 metres, from 500 metres; an explosion was heard; later, VAS-239 also joined in the anti-submarine search, but La Sultane managed to slip away.
On 31 August, Atropo (T.V. Aredio Galzigna) was ordered to lay an experimental minefield of thirty-six mines near Cape San Vito (near Taranto) as part of an exercise. This marked a return to minelaying operations by Italian submarines, which had been abandoned since 1940. The Armistice intervened before an actual operation could be carried out.
Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and Far East
Italian submarine patrols in the Atlantic. Indian Ocean and the Far East during August 1943
| Torelli (…31 August) | Cagni (…) |
On 1 August, about 500 miles south of Port Elizabeth (South Africa), the submarine Luigi Torelli (T.V. Enrico Gropallo) was proceeding to the Far East and met with U-178 (KK Wilhelm Dommes) to be refuelled. The bad weather prevented the operation. It was postponed, but for obscure reasons, two other rendezvous failed. She was finally refueled on 12 August, some 350 miles southeast of Madagascar, and resumed her passage. On the 26th of the month, she reached Sabang, where she was met by the sloop Eritrea, who escorted her to Singapore. She arrived at her destination on 31 August after a trip that had lasted seventy-eight days.
By 22 August, Ammiraglio Cagni (C.C. Giuseppe Roselli Lorenzini) was off St. Helena when she was ordered to interrupt her raiding patrol in the South Atlantic and proceed to Singapore to pick up a rubber cargo. On the 28th of the month, she rounded up the Cape and entered the Indian Ocean.
Italian submarine patrols in the Black Sea during August 1943
| C.B.6 (2-4 August) | C.B.3 (5-7 August) | C.B.6 (7-10 August) |
| C.B.1 (7-10 August) | C.B.6 (16-18 August) | C.B.1 (16-18 August) |
| C.B.4 (17-18 August) | C.B.3 (19-22 August) | C.B.4 (19-22 August) |
| C.B.2 (21-25 August)? | C.B.6 (22-24 August) | C.B.1 (22-24 August) |
| C.B.3 (25 August)x | C.B.4 (25-26 August) | C.B.4 (27-29 August)? |
| C.B.6 (27-30 August) | C.B.2 (27-30 August) | C.B.1 (30 August…) |
August witnessed renewed Italian midget submarine activities in this theatre. At 0300 hrs on the 23rd, in a position 35 miles from Evpatoria, C.B.1 (G.M. Giovanni Re) reported being missed by a torpedo. It may have been fired by the Soviet submarine SC-203. Half an hour later, the Italian submarine fired two torpedoes at a Soviet submarine, probably the same one. They appeared to deviate from their course and missed. An hour later, C.B.6 (S.T.V. Alberto Farolfi) to attack with two torpedoes a Soviet submarine, but they appeared to hit a shoal after a run of about 100 metres. After midnight on 26 August, C.B.4 (S.T.V. Armando Sibille) fired her two torpedoes from only 400 metres at the Soviet submarine SC.203 (Captain 3rd class Vladimir Innokentievich Nemschinov), who was hit and sunk. After the war, her wreck was found in position 45°11.7′ N, 32°46.6′ E with torpedo tubes no.1 and 4 empty, so she was probably the attacker of C.B.1 on 23 August.